First impressions while linking and programming devices

[AD8BC]

Two things I ran into last night when trying to get everything working...

 

#1, in the beginning I had the wall wart for the ISY-26 plugged into the piggyback outlet of the PLM--for some reason the ISY seemed to communicate much better when plugged into a separate outlet... or the improvement could be be related to #2, which I discovered at about the same time:

 

#2, I learned not to play with my Insteon switches while the ISY was linking, erasing links, or writing to group tables... in other words, no playing with the links you already made or turning on other lights while the ISY was doing it's hardcore communications...

 

Initially I had problems linking large numbers of devices at once (I assume what takes so long is the clearing of the link tables) as communications errors would start to pop up... by adding links a few at a time and not playing with the Insteon system, this problem went away....

 

OR it could be I have no AccessPoints or SignalLincs. My Insteon system, up until now, anyway, has worked flawlessly without them. It might be time to consider prying my wallet open and purchasing a few, however.

[MikeB]

I definitely try to avoid doing anything on the powerline while I'm programming switches. As you can imagine, the powerline gets flooded pretty easily.

 

As a matter of fact, that's one of my biggest complaints about Insteon. If I have a KeypadLinc with buttons controlling different remote lights, to turn them on I need to conciously hit one, wait a second or two, then press the second otherwise I risk the commands not getting through.

 

Same thing with SwitchLincs - I have a pair of switches in a single box linked to a couple of lights. If I want to turn both lights off, I instinctively press both off simultaneously. 9 times out of 10, the signals will cancel themselves out and neither light will turn off.

 

Luckily during real-world use it's extremely rare to have simultaneous button presses close on the powerline. At least not in my house. So, it's not a huge issue - but definitely an annoyance for me.