linking remotelinc to ISY99ir

[Dinboise]

New owner of isy99ir, Have 2 remotelincs (2,3 years old I think). I use the link management pull down to get to link a remotelinc and it says to get remote lincs into set up mode... No problem. Light blinks. But I press the "O.K." on the message screen and there is no address listed in the next screen though it doen identify the product as a remote link in the line below. So the Isy is not picking up the signal? The remote link does control insteon items (in line switches) in the home so the access points work. I also typed in the address that I found in the battery compartment inthe address line but the Isy tells me it is not formatteed correctly...

 

What am I missing. Sorry I am new and tried to find the answer in the forums but no one seems to have this porblem. The ISY linked up with the switchlinks and appliance lincs that I have. I am reluctant to add the Inline switches to the ISY (and thereby remove the links to the inline switches) because I control them with the remote links. I need to know that I can link the remotelincs to the ISY.

 

Thank you for your instruction.

David

[Sub-Routine]

Yes, you need to enter the address. The address consists of characters 0-9 and A-F. They must be in pairs separated by periods (.).

ISY-99i/ISY-26_INSTEON:Link_Management_Menu#Link_a_RemoteLinc

 

New owner of isy99ir, Have 2 remotelincs (2,3 years old I think). I use the link management pull down to get to link a remotelinc and it says to get remote lincs into set up mode... No problem. Light blinks. But I press the "O.K." on the message screen and there is no address listed in the next screen though it doen identify the product as a remote link in the line below. So the Isy is not picking up the signal? The remote link does control insteon items (in line switches) in the home so the access points work. I also typed in the address that I found in the battery compartment inthe address line but the Isy tells me it is not formatteed correctly...

 

What am I missing. Sorry I am new and tried to find the answer in the forums but no one seems to have this porblem. The ISY linked up with the switchlinks and appliance lincs that I have. I am reluctant to add the Inline switches to the ISY (and thereby remove the links to the inline switches) because I control them with the remote links. I need to know that I can link the remotelincs to the ISY.

 

Thank you for your instruction.

David

[Dinboise]

O.K. Yes I have to enter the address and it starts with an 0 not an O.

 

Hate those alphanumeric ambiguities.

 

It's working now.

David

[oberkc]

What am I missing

 

I have never manually entered an address, including for a remotelinc. While I don't doubt it works, it is prone to typing errors (and other issues). I am concerned that the problem you are seeing is a marginal communication environment, and that your may continue to see problems like this.

 

Yes, you may be able to command other insteon devices. This may be a case where it can communicate with some devices, but not others, including the PLM. Is your PLM on the same circuit as your computer equipment? Is your computer equipment on a filter?

 

As an experiment, you can get an extension cord and plug it into an outlet where you have known good communication between your remotelink and other insteon devices. Run the other end of the extension cord to your plm and plug the plm into the cord. Try the automatic linking again. If you have success, I would take this as a circuit with a lot of interference or signal degredation. Your satisfaction with insteon is at risk if you don't solve this problem, even if you successfully enter your addresses manually.

 

Hopefully, I am wrong.

[Dinboise]

The PLM is plugged into the same circuit as the TV, Stereo junk as it needed to be in visual range of the seating area (for the IR remote)... The computer is elswhere (different circuit). The computer does have an old filterlinc. Also, an old grey boosterlinc was installed when I did this linking but it has been removed.

 

Should I removed the filterlinc?

 

Although I do not use X10 I do have one X10 chime that I want to use - unless there is an insteon chime out there.

 

THank you for the help.

David

[oberkc]

The PLM is plugged into the same circuit as the TV, Stereo junk as it needed to be in visual range of the seating area (for the IR remote)...

 

So it sounds like your PLM/ISY is located remotely from your computer. Out of curiousity, how do you connect your ISY and computer? Do you have an access points on the same circuit as your PLM?

 

My experience suggests that TVs and stereo "junk" can cause communication problems for insteon. If you have a PLM in the same circuit as electronics of this type, I would be very tempted to filter them. I filtered all audio/video stuff.

 

If you continue to suspect that there are communication problems between the remotelinc and ISY, I believe it is worth finding out why.

[Dinboise]

Oberkc- Yes, I ran a cat5e cable in the crawl space to the ISY that sits on top of the armior that the TV is in and the PLM is on the same circuit though not on the same outlet. If I had been thinking I woud have put the PLM in the closet behind the TV which is on a different circuit, but such is hindsight.

 

I have an access point in the room but a different circuit. the other access point is upstairs and I honestly do not know how to tell if my home has 2 phases let alone how to tell which phase is where... But the farthest in line relay does consistently respond to a remote link even when it is in the distant part of the home. SO I think I am O.K.

 

Do you know how to tell about hte phases? IS it just by looking at the fuse box? In the past, I have had trouble with X10 despite a boosterlinc at the dryer and filter at the computer.

 

Speaking of fiter - you mentioned using a filter on the stereo, I thought those filterlinc's degraded the Insteon signal?

 

THanks for all the help

David

[brad77]

Hate those alphanumeric ambiguities.

For what it's worth, those are hex numbers, which are always going to be either 0-9 or A-F.

[oberkc]

Do you know how to tell about hte phases?

 

I understand that 220 Volts is standard power for houses in the US. This is known as Line-to-Line (L-L) voltage. Each line is 110V relative to a neutral. Each line alternates between postive and negative voltages 60 times per second (Hertz). When one line is +110V, the other line is -110V, with the maximum difference in voltage between the lines of 220V. You have a dryer boosterlinc? You have two phases.

 

All electrical panels that I have seen have two rows of breakers, with every other breaker in a row being on the same phase. If the first row has breakers 1,3,5,7,9, etc... then 1, 5, 9, etc are on one phase and 3, 7, 11, are the other phase. I have no quick way of determining if two outlets in your house are on the same phase or not. Physical inspection of the circuits and panel is the only way I can think. Fortunately, I am not sure that you need to. See the next discussion on access points.

 

I have an access point in the room but a different circuit. the other access point is upstairs and I honestly do not know how to tell if my home has 2 phases let alone how to tell which phase is where... But the farthest in line relay does consistently respond to a remote link even when it is in the distant part of the home. SO I think I am O.K.

 

I would not be overly concerned with reponse to remotelincs and more concerned with whether your access points are on different phases. If you are unsure, the instructions are included with the access point, and available online at smarthome. I recall that it involves installing one access point, putting it into the installation mode by pressing the side button, then installing the second one and confirming proper response of the first. If you are unsure whether you have done this, I recommend going back and re-doing. Failing to have this set up properly could contribute to communication errors. Having this set up properly means that you have one access point on one phase, the other on another phase, and that you don't have to be further concerned with electrical phases.

 

I thought those filterlinc's degraded the Insteon signal?

 

That is certainly not my understanding. While filterlincs were designed specifically for X-10, I understand they work well for insteon as well (I guess intsteon and X-10 frequencies are sufficiently close). I have about 10 filterlincs in my house and they have helped improve my insteon communication. By the way, I have found that many of my TVs and my audio equipment can contribute to insteon communication problems. I filter most of my TVs and my audio equipment. It helps a lot.

[Dinboise]

Thanks

 

I installed the access pints as described so I should not have a problem. I did leave the filterlinc on the computer and removed the boosterlinc. I may get one or two more filter lincs if things are not consistent, but so far so good.

 

Brad77 - I never knew that, good info for this project.

 

David

[brad77]

I installed the access pints as described so I should not have a problem. I did leave the filterlinc on the computer and removed the boosterlinc. I may get one or two more filter lincs if things are not consistent, but so far so good.

Good to hear. I just wanted to add that adding FilterLincs and AF-120 filters went a long way to making my installation much more reliable. Not only do they isolate noise, but they prevent "signal sucker" devices from sapping your INSTEON signals.

[oberkc]

I may get one or two more filter lincs if things are not consistent, but so far so good.

 

As a quick experiment, temporarily unplug your audio equipment and TVs (and anything else on this circuit with the ISY/PLM). See if this helps. Hopefully it does. If so, then there is a very good chance that a filterlink will help.

[Dinboise]

I guess I do not have the coverage I thought. I indeed have a deadish spot in the garage as the I/O linc would not autopopulate when sinking, but did at another outlet. Interesting - it functions as a sensor and as a relay when in the garage and the door opens and closes, though not as intended - the destinction between modes seems meaningless as an "on" command gets the motor moving regardless of sensor status and the "off" does not work at all. (even though it is in momentary c)

 

I put a filter linc at the TV, but the I/O linc (while responding 100% to my commands and provides me with accurate sense information) is not acting like it should.

 

It should be said that I disabled local control, I never set the momentary C mode locally, and I only made settings changes through the ISY99. Since I linked the I/O in the home the sensors were not attatched at that time. Also - the garage circuit is the GFI circuit. Any tips?

 

Thanks

David

[oberkc]

I don't have a good sense about the extent of your setup, but my first steps would be to perform some scene tests to see how broad your problem is, and to baseline you system communication. Assuming some problems are revealed, unplug any device that are generally accepted as potential signal degraders (electronics, plug-in power supplies, CFLs, computer-controlled appliances, etc.) Try the scene tests again. See if you have improvement. Don't stop until you have near 100% success with your scene tests.

 

Others have shut off various circuits throughout the house to see if they could identify those that cause problems. This would tend to limit the search to devices on a given circuit. Of course, this may de-power some of you insteon devices, so you must account for this.

 

The point being, you must identify those devices in your house that can cause communication problems and deal with them. It may be more than one device. There are many posts about dealing with communication errors. It is probably worth checking through them for some ideas.