outsider Posted October 15, 2020 Posted October 15, 2020 In trying to track down my problem with not being able to add a 2477D switch module to my ISY-994i/IRPro, I was looking to add some noise filters FilterLinc and Access Point/Range extenders 2443 but was told by my supplier in Canada (Aartech), neither of these were any longer available. Are there any (recommended) alternative devices or do I have to rethink and rewire my setup?
Brian H Posted October 15, 2020 Posted October 15, 2020 (edited) The 2443 Access Point. Was replaced by the 2992-222 Range Extender years ago. If you can't find any of them. It is a 2457D2 LampLinc with the dimmer parts not installed and the missing output outlet covered. Some have used the full featured module in case they later needed a dimmer output or the On/Off module. As both are Dual Band. X10 filters frequently work. As X10 is 120KHz and Insteon is 131.65KHz power line signals. Unfortunately the better one I know of are also discontinued. I don't usually recommend the 5 amp X10Pro XPPF as it seems to get warm if pushed too close to 5 amps. The real large X10Pro XPF 20 Amp one is OK but very large. The FilterLinc on the Smarthome site is marked Sold Out and their is a tab to add your name when it is again in stock. So maybe the FilterLinc may eventually reappear. Edited October 15, 2020 by Brian H
outsider Posted October 16, 2020 Author Posted October 16, 2020 Thank you for your thoughts and information, Brian. All in all, I think it is time for me to move on to something other than power line signaling. It seems the makers of Insteon gadgets have decided the same. I have no idea which way they might decide to go, but, it seems they are going .... So for me the question is more, which way can I go. Over the years, modules have died and had to be replaced. Initially it was all X10, now there is nothing of that left in my system, I think. Usually there was no longer a direct replacement, so gradually, my system moved to Insteon. My central controller is a ISY-994i and the only upgrade or expansion at this time for that seems to be a ZWave plugin. So it seems my only choice right now is to get that plugin and move to ZWave. Seems like the least expensive and least rework for my system. Another consideration: I have had reasonably good experience with the ISY-944 system, and with UD deciding to support ZWave with the plug-in, it sure seems they are leaning the same way. I assume they could have supported any one of a number of other protocols and they chose ZWave. I will have to look around for a bit, but with winter on the way, I'd rather get all the outside work done before it gets too cold. My current issue is with a switch controlling lights in an unheated garage, ....
Brian H Posted October 16, 2020 Posted October 16, 2020 When you do some testing. One added thought. If you have any 2443 Revision 2 Access Points. They are built on the 2413 base main board and share the same power supply issues as our 2413S PLM. I rebuilt a pair myself. Revision 1 models are fine as they use the older main board used in the 2412S PLM.
outsider Posted October 16, 2020 Author Posted October 16, 2020 Yes, I do have one 2443 V 2.A AccessPoint that seems to be dead. When I plug it in,the LED stays off. I even had a look inside as it was used in place where it might have been bumped into, possibly causing some internal damage. Could not see anything obvious and without much in the way of schematic or other test setup, I just closed it up and marked it U/S. At this point, I am seriously considering moving away from Insteon, most likely to ZWave and either get a ZWave add-on to the ISY-994i or try to run both in parallel with ZWave hub (make to be sorted out yet) and gradually move away from Insteon as I have to replace modules. Any thoughts or known gotchas?
lilyoyo1 Posted October 16, 2020 Posted October 16, 2020 3 hours ago, outsider said: Any thoughts or known gotchas? That's a loaded question. Check out the zwave subforum to see what types of things you can potentially run into. I wouldn't jump into zwave until you're ready to invest in at least 5 or 6 devices (depending on size of home). Trying to do 1 device at a time is a sure way to lost hair and AA meetings. Neither insteon nor zwave is perfect. The gotchas though come down to what matters to you. For me, I love uniformity so I could never use zwave for lighting. With zwave, devices turn on 1 at a time so that will always be a non starter when it comes to lights. Looks too amateurish. If that matters to you, zwave will probably drive you crazy. I'd rather deal with insteon issues over that. Should insteon ever cease, I'd switch to control4 in a heart beat
Brian H Posted October 16, 2020 Posted October 16, 2020 4 hours ago, outsider said: Yes, I do have one 2443 V 2.A AccessPoint that seems to be dead. When I plug it in,the LED stays off. I even had a look inside as it was used in place where it might have been bumped into, possibly causing some internal damage. Could not see anything obvious and without much in the way of schematic or other test setup, I just closed it up and marked it U/S. At this point, I am seriously considering moving away from Insteon, most likely to ZWave and either get a ZWave add-on to the ISY-994i or try to run both in parallel with ZWave hub (make to be sorted out yet) and gradually move away from Insteon as I have to replace modules. Any thoughts or known gotchas? Power supply capacitors are probably gone. There is a long thread here on rebuilding them. There is a schematic of the power supply area here somewhere. Maybe in the thread. https://forum.universal-devices.com/topic/13866-repair-of-2413s-plm-when-the-power-supply-fails/
outsider Posted October 17, 2020 Author Posted October 17, 2020 @lilyoyo1 yes, it was, but every body has some favorites and usually for good reasons. In my case, the system pretty well consists only of lights and outlets, with one manual controller. The other controller(s) long ago bit the dust. Some of the lights are controlled by motion sensors, the others run on a time table. One or two I want to have manual control over so I can turn them on and off as needed, for instance the Christmas tree. A couple of circuits are set for 3-way control, where the original builders were too cheap to install them at the start. Nothing fancy and at this point it, I am hard pressed to pick one system over another. All have strengths and weak points. Reading the message boards helps a lot, but in the end it is still very hard to make useful trade offs, when many of the features discussed are of no interest to me. @Brian HHad a long read of the pages and pages of discussion in the link you provided. After looking through my 'rejects' pile, I found another dead 2413S, along with a likely still working 2413U. Thus, along with the 2 which I believe are still working (or maybe not!), and which are most likely reaching their drop dead date, I guess I will have to dig in and try to resurrect the ones I know are dead and then consider updating/fixing the other 2. The one connecting my ISY-994i to the power line is a is a 2413, v 2.1 installed Apr 2015 The other one, supposedly a phase coupler, is a 2443 V 2.A - no date of installation. The 2 defunct ones are one 2413U V1.5 the other a 2413S, also V1.5 I'll have to reread some of the comment in the '2413 Fixing' thread and look around what I can find in the way of replacement capacitors. It will take me some time, though I hope I can report back eventually. Big thanks to all of you folks who have worked on this 'fix'
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