lhranch Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 This is a question about Insteon devices themselves... I seem to get much more traction posting questions here than I do in Insteon's forum. I'm not a fan of the design of the set (air gap) button. Try to pull it with a fingernail, you break the fingernail. Try to pry it with a screwdriver, you bend off the button lip. And when you have to execute that dance move where you plunge it from fully out to fully in and wait for the beep, it's impossible to do (without a half dozen attempts) because whatever tool you are using slips or bounces off the flat front.I figure, certainly I'm not the first person with these complaints, and maybe someone sells a little tool that provides a positive grip on this nasty button and solves both the pull-it-out and push-it-in problems. Is there one?
oberkc Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 I use a little scratch awl to pull out the tab. I find a small screwdriver best to reset the tab. 1
matapan Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 I use a tiny screwdriver used to remove or install small screws in things like eyeglasses. This seems to work best for me. 1
tmorse305 Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 I use this tool. I reduced the width a bit so it fits in the recess. https://www.repairpartsplus.com/Safe-Open-Pry-Tool-p/gpt10113.htm 3
lhranch Posted February 14, 2022 Author Posted February 14, 2022 8 minutes ago, tmorse305 said: I use this tool. I reduced the width a bit so it fits in the recess. https://www.repairpartsplus.com/Safe-Open-Pry-Tool-p/gpt10113.htm Ha ha! I actually have some of these somewhere! Thank you! (I'm going to have to use the icepick tip on my problem switch, because the lip is already sheared off. But this should keep me from shearing more off.)
Geddy Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 @lhranch try taking the face plate off to get slightly better access to the set button. Thankfully this shouldn’t be a process you need to do often. If you find yourself having to factory reset a lot of switches or the same switch a lot of times you might have other issues. 1
lhranch Posted February 14, 2022 Author Posted February 14, 2022 I've had to reset it twice this week. It's an on/off toggle that controls gatepost lamps, located outdoors in a weatherproof junction box. (Desert here, so long-term moisture is not an issue.) At the same installation is a blue-box controlled outlet which disables and enables the gate operator. The blue box has been there several years, faultless operation. I installed the wall switch maybe four months ago to replace an aging mechanical timer. Maybe once a month now, the ISY dashboard reports that it cannot communicate with either unit. I've found that pulling out the air gap on the wall switch, then pushing it all the way in until it beeps, resets the problem and things work fine again for a while. I can't imagine why this would affect my access to the blue-box outlet, unless the switch is getting into some metastable mode where it is throwing hash onto the local powerline and gronking the signal in the area of the gate. If it keeps up this behavior, I'm just going to replace it with a Decora dimmer model instead (I only used the toggle because it was left over and I never switch these lights by hand).
Geddy Posted February 14, 2022 Posted February 14, 2022 @lhranch sounds like a bad switch if you're having to do it that often. That or noise from other electronics is causing communication issues. If it's "always" been this way then replace the switch. Typically Insteon switches don't need continued resets. Having about 30 switches in use (inside and all over a mid size house) have only had to reset one switch in 5 years, and that was due to user error when setting it up in part of a 3 way switch.
lhranch Posted February 15, 2022 Author Posted February 15, 2022 The only complication is that until I moved the switch to the gate, it had been controlling the shoplight in our carport, also an outside switch location, and I never had a lick of trouble with it. ? But as you say, I have many other switches and none of them need this hand-holding.
inovermyhead Posted February 17, 2022 Posted February 17, 2022 I found that a small hemostat (https://www.hopkinsmedicalproducts.com/product/kelly-hemostat-scissors-HMP?option=571002) works well, both for pulling out the set button, then for the long press in.
Geddy Posted February 20, 2022 Posted February 20, 2022 On 2/15/2022 at 12:08 AM, lhranch said: The only complication is that until I moved the switch to the gate, it had been controlling the shoplight in our carport, also an outside switch location, and I never had a lick of trouble with it. This points to possible noise. Perhaps from the gate motor causing signal disruption. Lots of reports of garage door openers causing noise issues. It this is in the same line as a motor operating that gate then it’s highly possible to be noise causing the switch to not send/receive with the ISY994.
lhranch Posted February 20, 2022 Author Posted February 20, 2022 The gate operates maybe a half-dozen times a day. The switch goes incommunicado at arbitrary times at intervals in the range of weeks, and stays that way permanently until I work the air gap button. I don't see a strong case for them being connected.
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