mitch236 Posted April 1, 2010 Posted April 1, 2010 Right now, I have about 70 Insteon devices in my house. If I buy another 70 or so devices, I can replace every light switch in the house. Will that make my Insteon network stronger? I understand that each device can re-transmit commands and so "more devices make the network stronger" but at what point do you start having diminishing returns? I have about 8000sf of living space. I'm not really experiencing network instability now but I would like to have the same switch type (look and feel) in every location but it would be very expensive and for just the look, it may not be worth it.
Michel Kohanim Posted April 2, 2010 Posted April 2, 2010 mitch236, We do have installations with over 300 INSTEON devices and network stability is very good. I do not think you are going to have network issues. The only concern I have is the number of links supported in the PLM: anything above 800 links may have intermittent behavior in correctly updating the status in ISY. If I were you, I would only change those switches that you really want to be part of the network. Others should be left alone for the cost - as you mentioned - does not justify the outcome. With kind regards, Michel
upstatemike Posted April 2, 2010 Posted April 2, 2010 I currently have 878 links in my PLM and am concerned about this stability issue, particularly since I want to expand my system. What is the long term resolution to this limit?
Michel Kohanim Posted April 2, 2010 Posted April 2, 2010 upstatemike, Currently - and unfortunately - there are no resolutions. We have submitted our proposal to SH to let us include a dumb PLM chip (without a database) in ISY and thus be able to support 10s of thousands of links and with improved performance. They are thinking about it .... With kind regards, Michel
aperepel Posted April 2, 2010 Posted April 2, 2010 Michel, would it in theory, remove this ~1 sec lag for programs? Not that they've agreed already, but still wondering.
Michel Kohanim Posted April 2, 2010 Posted April 2, 2010 Hi, I cannot be sure since I do not know if the problem is related to transmission OR slow database processing. If the latter, then yes: things can be improved dramatically. If former, then we are stuck with the delay. With kind regards, Michel
mitch236 Posted April 9, 2010 Author Posted April 9, 2010 mitch236, We do have installations with over 300 INSTEON devices and network stability is very good. I do not think you are going to have network issues. The only concern I have is the number of links supported in the PLM: anything above 800 links may have intermittent behavior in correctly updating the status in ISY. If I were you, I would only change those switches that you really want to be part of the network. Others should be left alone for the cost - as you mentioned - does not justify the outcome. With kind regards, Michel I have a question about the link count. I assume that since you didn't say device count that you mean how many different links are created by programming. So if you have a large installation with 300 devices, as long as you don't have a lot of linking of the devices, it should be fine but if you have a moderate installation but very numerous or complex programs, you could exceed the 800 links with far fewer devices. Am I understanding the theory correctly? Is there an easy way to determine how many links my network contains?
mitch236 Posted April 9, 2010 Author Posted April 9, 2010 Actually, I think I already found it. I am running the links table and then I can get my count. Got it, I'm at 253 so I have alot of room for expansion!! Thanks so much! I am really getting this system down!
mlennox Posted May 14, 2010 Posted May 14, 2010 Currently - and unfortunately - there are no resolutions. We have submitted our proposal to SH to let us include a dumb PLM chip (without a database) in ISY and thus be able to support 10s of thousands of links and with improved performance. They are thinking about it I'm curious what this would mean should you be given the green light to proceed. I'm assuming one would need to purchase a new ISY with the chip included in order to get the functionality?
upstatemike Posted May 14, 2010 Posted May 14, 2010 Currently - and unfortunately - there are no resolutions. We have submitted our proposal to SH to let us include a dumb PLM chip (without a database) in ISY and thus be able to support 10s of thousands of links and with improved performance. They are thinking about it I'm curious what this would mean should you be given the green light to proceed. I'm assuming one would need to purchase a new ISY with the chip included in order to get the functionality? I am happy to buy a new super PLM or even a new ISY if required. I have enough issues now, and they seem to be geting worse as I add devices, that I would embrace any solution that solves the scalability problem.
Michel Kohanim Posted May 15, 2010 Posted May 15, 2010 Hello all, Although quite hypothetical (since we have not gotten any reply back from SH), the least expensive method would be to include the PLM in the new ISY. This will require upgrading to the newer ISY with the embedded PLM. Again, all this is hypothetical and I do not foresee anything happening anytime soon. With kind regards, Michel
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