Serial PLM discontinued according to smarthome

[MrBill]

1 hour ago, giesen said:

I have very little confidence even if I did swap everything for Z-Wave that anything would work reliably at all.

@asbril has been successful with z-wave only, he has no Insteon at all.  Personally, I prefer many of the of Insteon features that don't exist in z-wave.

[asbril]

12 minutes ago, MrBill said:

@asbril has been successful with z-wave only, he has no Insteon at all.  Personally, I prefer many of the of Insteon features that don't exist in z-wave.

I have made that full Zwave choice, but I recognize the Insteon has  pros. The Insteon vs Zwave debate is geting old in this forum and I have no intention to contribute to it.

This being said, @giesen's  "     I have very little confidence   " sounds exaggerated. 

My 80+ Zwave mesh network works very well, but he should stay with Insteon for as long as it makes him happy and for as long as it is available.  All alternatives (including Insteon) have their pros and cons and most will reach their EOL or EOU (end of usefulness) at one point of time. Then move on, live with it,  and enjoy.

[lilyoyo1]

49 minutes ago, asbril said:

I have made that full Zwave choice, but I recognize the Insteon has  pros. The Insteon vs Zwave debate is geting old in this forum and I have no intention to contribute to it.

This being said, @giesen's  "     I have very little confidence   " sounds exaggerated. 

My 80+ Zwave mesh network works very well, but he should stay with Insteon for as long as it makes him happy and for as long as it is available.  All alternatives (including Insteon) have their pros and cons and most will reach their EOL or EOU (end of usefulness) at one point of time. Then move on, live with it,  and enjoy.

I'm moving on. I'll be switching to Ra3 and C4 

[hart2hart]

I'm moving on. I'll be switching to Ra3 and C4 

Do I recall reading you’re a dealer / installer? If so, I would love to conversation offline. Don’t want to stir pot here more than necessary.

That said, I too and impressed by Lutron and RA3. My feeling is there will be a few dominant protocols and manufacturers based on who builders start installing on a routine basis. There will likely be low, medium, and high end options.

I’d like to see UDI perhaps on Polisy as a certified controller for RA3. Michel and team are best I’ve ever dealt with.

[Mustang65]

43 minutes ago, asbril said:

I have made that full Zwave choice, but I recognize the Insteon has  pros. The Insteon vs Zwave debate is geting old in this forum and I have no intention to contribute to it.

This being said, @giesen's  "     I have very little confidence   " sounds exaggerated. 

My 80+ Zwave mesh network works very well, but he should stay with Insteon for as long as it makes him happy and for as long as it is available.  All alternatives (including Insteon) have their pros and cons and most will reach their EOL or EOU (end of usefulness) at one point of time. Then move on, live with it,  and enjoy.

I have just purchased my "LAST" PLM and it of course is a USB model. So, as I look at replacing all my Insteon devices one at a time I am now trying to research my replacement options, with one that I hope will be around for years to come and "NOT" require the purchase of a HUB for connectivity. Sitting on the side, I already have an Insteon hub and a Hubitat hub collecting dust.

Maybe a little premature, but I have retired my ISY994I as the Zigbee module (For the Brultech Energy Monitor connection) stopped working and I do not have anymore PLM's for the ISY anyway. I was going to replace the capacitors on the mother board of the old ones, but I have decided against that at this point in time. So my Polisy is up and running using the USB-PLM. If the PLM goes, I will be dead in the water.

Now the new dilemma, which to go with for future installations? Zwave (908MHz) or Zigbee (2.4GHz - crowded frequency). Granted Zigbee does have 915MHz but that I do not think is going to be used.  If you look at the NEW MATTER Alliance, Zigbee is already part of it, but as of my last search Zwave has not joined the Matter Alliance. Is there going to be a Matter hub coming out in the future? Hope not!  I have been  leaning toward the Zigbee based product lines as the companies that produce Zwave products require the device mfr to license ($$) their product which makes the Zigbee products a little less expensive. I am not totally sure but I believe the Matter Alliance fee is $28K, not sure if that was to join or annual.

Either way I need to wait for the Polisy Zwave and Zigbee update to be able to use either one, but I would say the Zwave will be first. I already havef the ConBee2 USB-Gateway and the Zooz S2 stick 700 for Zwave. Just have to wait now.

[lilyoyo1]

6 hours ago, hart2hart said:

Do I recall reading you’re a dealer / installer? If so, I would love to conversation offline. Don’t want to stir pot here more than necessary.

That said, I too and impressed by Lutron and RA3. My feeling is there will be a few dominant protocols and manufacturers based on who builders start installing on a routine basis. There will likely be low, medium, and high end options.

I’d like to see UDI perhaps on Polisy as a certified controller for RA3. Michel and team are best I’ve ever dealt with.

I am. We can chat. Lutron has a great system but the look of their standard switches has always held them back for me. With the new look, it's something Id want in my own home and my name associated with in regards to homes in working on. 

I like the fact that you can substitute standard sunnata switches in non automated areas to keep the same look. There are also supposed to be non rf versions of the dimmer and relay coming as well. This will come in handy (dimmer) for situations where you want to dim from multiple locations. It's a cost savings for customers who value uniformity while at the same time allowing one to still make a little more than they probably would have without. 

Id love for UDI to support RA3. Alot of that comes down to Lutron giving access to their API though. I know @simplextech has said he's already looked into it so that's a plus in that area. Maybe @Michel Kohanimcan check with Lutron too to help facilitate it. 

[lilyoyo1]

5 hours ago, Mustang65 said:

I have just purchased my "LAST" PLM and it of course is a USB model. So, as I look at replacing all my Insteon devices one at a time I am now trying to research my replacement options, with one that I hope will be around for years to come and "NOT" require the purchase of a HUB for connectivity. Sitting on the side, I already have an Insteon hub and a Hubitat hub collecting dust.

Maybe a little premature, but I have retired my ISY994I as the Zigbee module (For the Brultech Energy Monitor connection) stopped working and I do not have anymore PLM's for the ISY anyway. I was going to replace the capacitors on the mother board of the old ones, but I have decided against that at this point in time. So my Polisy is up and running using the USB-PLM. If the PLM goes, I will be dead in the water.

Now the new dilemma, which to go with for future installations? Zwave (908MHz) or Zigbee (2.4GHz - crowded frequency). Granted Zigbee does have 915MHz but that I do not think is going to be used.  If you look at the NEW MATTER Alliance, Zigbee is already part of it, but as of my last search Zwave has not joined the Matter Alliance. Is there going to be a Matter hub coming out in the future? Hope not!  I have been  leaning toward the Zigbee based product lines as the companies that produce Zwave products require the device mfr to license ($$) their product which makes the Zigbee products a little less expensive. I am not totally sure but I believe the Matter Alliance fee is $28K, not sure if that was to join or annual.

Either way I need to wait for the Polisy Zwave and Zigbee update to be able to use either one, but I would say the Zwave will be first. I already havef the ConBee2 USB-Gateway and the Zooz S2 stick 700 for Zwave. Just have to wait now.

I'm confused since you said you don't want to rely on a hub but then talk about using systems that require a hub. 

From my experience with Hue and Control 4, 2.4GHz being an issue for the space is overblown. There are steps a person can take (such as changing channels) to minimize that. With that said, unless someone lives in an apartment, townhouse, or condo; most issues will be kept to a minimum. 

At this point, Matter doesn't matter. It'll be great for those Alexa/Google/Homekit users who want simplicity but for those desiring advanced control, I'm not seeing where it's beneficial. 

[giesen]

@asbril has been successful with z-wave only, he has no Insteon at all.  Personally, I prefer many of the of Insteon features that don't exist in z-wave.

What I said was not a knock at Z-Wave in general, just a knock at Z-Wave (or any RF-only technology) inside metal electrical boxes. Is that the case with@asbril?

Perhaps I'm being dramatic, and the impact of the boxes is not quite as bad as I fear, but I don't plan on being the Guinea pig to find out

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[gregkinney]

On 11/26/2021 at 8:37 PM, mango said:

I recently gleaned a used 2413U, so I think now I am comfortable with replacement PLM's.

but over $200US for a used 2413S? Wow.

If my PLM went out and I didn't have a spare one, nor was I comfortable swapping boards, I would be embarrassed to tell you what I would be willing to pay to keep my entire ISY/Insteon network up and running.