narciro Posted January 4, 2021 Posted January 4, 2021 How can I increase reliability of Insteon switch On / Off condition? I have a motion routine that controls 15 switches - some switches stay “ON” when off command is sent - about 90% of the time. In an effort to resolve this I created a scene with all 15 switches - however this didn't make any noticeable change. The ISY994i shows that switch is off – however this isn’t true.
Geddy Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 @narciro not sure if I can help since I don't use motion sensors, but perhaps you've got too much interference/traffic by trying to control so many devices at one time. Is the "routine" within the ISY as a program? If in a program maybe a "wait" parameter of just a second or two would help allow the traffic to properly reach the switches you're trying to control. And now you've created a scene to try to help, have you tested with different controllers to see if the scene acts properly if a switch is activating it? Perhaps copy/paste the text of the program here for others to help out. Right click on the program and select "copy to clipboard" then come here and paste that. Good luck!
lilyoyo1 Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 When use use a scene with the Isy, true status is not kept as there is no status with scenes. The Isy assumes the devices turned on. It sounds like you have noise issues. How is communication to those devices if controlled individually? Are all devices in the same area? If not, you could try to break your scene into smaller scenes and turn the scenes on 1 at a time via programs to see if that helps
MrBill Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 21 hours ago, narciro said: I have a motion routine that controls 15 switches - some switches stay “ON” when off command is sent - about 90% of the time. I agree with @lilyoyo1 you have a noise issue. Specifically when the complaint is specifically about OFF being missed it usually means the the loads themselves are generating the line noise. They always turn on because the load doesn't generate noise when it's off, but when they time to turn off arrives there is line noise and the signal gets lost. With as many loads as you have here it may not be each load, for example there might be one load that is creating noise for several switches. Suspects are loads that have transformers or drivers. etc....which leaves open many type of bulbs themselves that have integrated electronics such as LEDs. Try leaving those turned off and see if you can turn off the other switches reliably.
narciro Posted January 5, 2021 Author Posted January 5, 2021 Thank you all for this quick feedback! and I truly appreciate your help. Yes all my switches are connected to an LED bulb to conserve energy but good point there may be a collective amount of "noise" on the copper infrastructure. My original method was listing all 15 switches before making a scene for them. Would you recommend not using a "scene" for the 15 switches, but list each switch> with a wait between> to help noise suppression?
lilyoyo1 Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, narciro said: Thank you all for this quick feedback! and I truly appreciate your help. Yes all my switches are connected to an LED bulb to conserve energy but good point there may be a collective amount of "noise" on the copper infrastructure. My original method was listing all 15 switches before making a scene for them. Would you recommend not using a "scene" for the 15 switches, but list each switch> with a wait between> to help noise suppression? That looks so inefficient. I would fix the issue instead of looking for Band-Aids. Smaller scenes can also work 1
MrBill Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, narciro said: Thank you all for this quick feedback! and I truly appreciate your help. Yes all my switches are connected to an LED bulb to conserve energy but good point there may be a collective amount of "noise" on the copper infrastructure. My original method was listing all 15 switches before making a scene for them. Would you recommend not using a "scene" for the 15 switches, but list each switch> with a wait between> to help noise suppression? I don't think your understanding Line noise and Signal suckers yet. It's not the copper wire. Some brands of bulbs and transformers generate specific powerline noise that blocks the signal. Other devices suck or absorb signal so that it can't make it to other parts of a circuit. Here's a wiki article of troubleshooting Insteon There's another thread I can't seem to find but copy and paste the following into google (without the quotes) "site:forum.universal-devices.com Noise Signal Suckers" there are quite a few related threads on how to locate the offenders. 2
Brian H Posted January 5, 2021 Posted January 5, 2021 Some electronic devices. Have a nice AC rated capacitor across the power line to keep its internal noise off of the power lines. That capacitor will also absorb Insteon power line signals. All it would take is the manufacturer to put a coil on the input before the capacitor to fix the issue but that would add a few pennies to the parts cost of the unit. 2
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