.35 switches and communcation reliability....

[sorka]

About 18 months ago, smarthome replaced all of my icon and insteon switches that had failed due to the rocker problem. Additionally, they replaced the ones that hadn't failed yet saying they would eventually do so. They are all now v .35 switches.

 

I went from having rock solid communication but with failing rockers to reliable rockers but unreliable communication. I added my first access point pairs eventually reaching 6 in total but still have issues.

 

I asked about this way back when but only got suggestions regarding reducing noise on the line and such. I already had filters on everything from UPS to the big TVs. Unplugging tvs, home theater recievers and everything else except the lighting made no difference.

 

So now I'm poking around to see if the other known issue had been fixed and that is the I2 problem had ever been fixed. Instead I come across numerous posts about the .35 problem which I'm only now aware of.

 

Is it true that SH is replacing these? Are they the likely cause of my unreliable comm especially with group commands?

[Sub-Routine]

 

So now I'm poking around to see if the other known issue had been fixed and that is the I2 problem had ever been fixed. Instead I come across numerous posts about the .35 problem which I'm only now aware of.

 

Is it true that SH is replacing these? Are they the likely cause of my unreliable comm especially with group commands?

 

Yes, SH is replacing them. It's not unreliable comms it's an issue with their databases.

 

Rand

[sorka]

Should I contact them about replacing the .35 switches? Is there a good chance this would finally solve my reliability issues?

[Sub-Routine]

Should I contact them about replacing the .35 switches? Is there a good chance this would finally solve my reliability issues?

 

Yes and Yes!

[ergodic]

FWIW, I did an whole-home install 2 years ago, just as the V.35 issue was surfacing. At that time SH support (and some posts on this forum) indicated as long as it was working there was no reason to be concerned. So I wasn't concerned.

 

However about a year later that 100% rock-solid install started having mysterious problems. Comm issues, reloads failing halfway through, etc. I spent weeks of hair-pulling trying to figure it out.

 

Finally, at UD's recommendation, I obtained replacements from SH for all the V.35 units. Once they were out of my network everything went back to 100% again and now has been there for months.

 

The V.35s are evil, evil, EVIL. They can start acting up at any time. Just one malfunctioning V.35 can pollute an entire Insteon install without necessarily revealing itself. In my case they were causing comm problems with nearby KPLs.

 

Get them out is my advice.

 

Also, SH support seems aware of the issue. Though they talk around it obliquely, they seem entirely willing to replace them without protest. But if you do the swap at the will-call store in So. Cal., they don't know anything about it, so best to have things lined up first, or do it by mail.

 

I honestly don't understand why SH doesn't implement some sort of over-the-wire (powerline / USB / whatever) firmware updates. I wouldn't fix hardware issues of course, but it would really relieve a lot of these kind of headaches. In my case I had to pull and swap dozens of these things and it was a major job.