iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Hi, Our home has many 2876DB - ICON Dimmer Switches and a few 2476D - SwitchLinc-INSTEON Dimmer Switches that have been deemed defective. We just received the new switches and are looking to replace the defective ones using the ISY 99 system. This system and switches were already in the home when purchased so we are pretty new to using everything. Can someone tell me if my interpretation of instructions is correct? I believe we have to add the new switch to the software and then can just click on the old switch and then click replace with....the new switch. Is it really that easy? We are keeping our fingers crossed and appreciate your input! Thanks!
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj It is that simple. Add the new switch to the ISY using New INSTEON Device. Specify a Name that does not already exist. It will eventually be deleted. Right click on old switch node and select Replace xxxxx with ..... A popup will display listing compatible replacement devices. Select the new switch Name and the ISY will do the rest. I suggest doing one switch at a time. After the process is complete the new device will be deleted and all references in Programs and Scenes will be updated with the new device address. Note that the old device Insteon address is not used during the Replace operation so the old device can be physically replaced with the new switch before the Replace is executed. Lee
apostolakisl Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Just to be clear, the old switches need to be fully integrated into ISY. I am not quite sure from your post if you just got the ISY, or if the system was already fully ISY integrated. But, any switch that is properly enrolled in the ISY is a breeze to swap out. Personally I don't even bother to name the new switch. If you leave it blank, ISY will just name it the same as the address. As mentioned, as soon as the ISY completes the replacement, it assigns to it the name the old switch had. Also, unless I have missed some trick, the swtich has to be in the root folder. In other words, if you have it in a subfolder, you need to pull it out of that folder and put it in the root "my lighting" directory. As soon as you swap it out, just move it right back to the other folder. Also, you can only swap out the same type of switch. In other words, icon dimmer for icon dimmer, not switchlinc dimmer.
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj To clarify, Replace requires the same general type of device, a dimmer replacing a dimmer. An ICON dimmer can be replaced with a SwitchLinc dimmer and vice versa. What cannot be done is Replace an ICON dimmer with a SwitchLinc relay device or vice versa. Lee
iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 Thanks for your input! All but one or two switches appear to be integrated into the system we took on with the home purchase. I don't think those two are linked into any programs. Can we just add those two switches as new devices and have them up and running thar way? And are two way switches any different or will the load and slave automatically transfer with replace with...? Thanks! Julie
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj The two switches that are not being used in Programs, are they currently Insteon devices? If so they are probably defined to the ISY and should be "Replace"d. Otherwise ISY will have a definition for the old device that cannot be addressed which will cause false comm errors. If the old Insteon switches were never defined then the new switches can just be added and no Replace operation done. If the ISY is aware of the master/slave relationship of the old switch(s) that relationship will be maintained with the Replace operation. The master/slave relationship is defined in an ISY Scene. ISY Scenes are listed in the My Lighting Tree below the device definitions. Lee
iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 Last question, hopefully, though I know I will probably be back. As I am adding the new switch I am getting 3 options : * Remove Existing Links. * Add Devices Found in Links and Remove Existing Links. * Add Devices Found in Links and Keep Existing Links. Am I assuming correctly that this is referring to any links that might be found to the switch I am replacing? And I assume I should click the 3rd option to keep links with any other switches and programs? Thanks so much! Julie
iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 One other thing I forgot to ask.... When I choose the switch, I am not seeing 2876DB as a device type, which is what my new switches are. I do see 2876D3 which is what the program shows for the old switches(though their label shows 2876DB, too). Is my software version not up to date to show this 2876DB? J~
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj The new switch is added with "Remove existing links" option. The options apply to the new switch not the old switch. With rare exceptions remove existing links is the option that should be used when adding a device. Lee
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj When adding wired devices select the default Auto Discover option. The ISY will query the device to the specific device type. What firmware level are you running? Lee
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 iowaj The 2876DB is a new cat/subcat (device type) that is listed in the latest V3 Beta. I do not recommend going to a V3 Beta where you are with the ISY. Specify the 2876D3 for the Device Type, as the existing switches are. The 2876DB are relatively new devices. Are they being replaced because they are defective? Lee
iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 The switches I have are all brand new just shipped from SmartHome. We have 36 of these switches that are defective in our house! The old switches we have are version 3.2 or older and fell under the extended warranty. Looks like we have V 2.7.0 for the ISY softwar. It says at the top that 2.8.16 is now available, however, we have been hesitant to update until we are confident we know how to use what we have and not wipe anything out in the update. Julie
iowaj Posted October 8, 2011 Author Posted October 8, 2011 Do I need to wire the switch before adding it to the system and then clicking the old system and replacing with.....?
LeeG Posted October 8, 2011 Posted October 8, 2011 Yes. The ISY will write to the new device during the device add and again during the Replace.
iowaj Posted November 2, 2011 Author Posted November 2, 2011 Lee, I can't thank you enough for the help you gave me in replacing our switches within the ISY-99 system. Your directions were extremely clear and helpful, and we have now successfully replaced 40 defective switches! Glad to have some functioning light around here. I am sure we will be back with more questions once we have time to play around with the system. Julie
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 Hi, I am trying to replace a couple of switches with ISY 99 and had success doing this before with a huge batch that were defective. This time when I click to add New Insteon Device and type in the new device I am not getting it to show up anywhere with Auto Discover. Am I doing something wrong? Before I can't remember if I got a response from the software when I added the device but do remember when I went to the old device and right clicked "replace with" the device showed up. Thanks for the input! Julie
Xathros Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 Hi Julie- You will first need to add the new devices to the ISY with temporary names different than those they are replacing: Select Start Linking from the ISY menu, then go to each new device and press the set button for 5 seconds (until it beeps). Then click Finish on the add dialog and wait for the ISY to complete adding the devices. Rename the new devices with temp names to help you id them in the next steps. Next, make sure that the old device(s) that you want to replace is NOT in a folder. If it is, right click it and select remove from folder. Then right click the old device and select "Replace with..." and select the replacement device added above. Keep in mind that to use "Replace With..." the replacement device must be of the same type as the device it is replacing or it will not show up in the list of available devices to replace with. Replace dimmers with dimmers, relays with relays etc. -Xathros
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 Hi Julie- You will first need to add the new devices to the ISY with temporary names different than those they are replacing: Select Start Linking from the ISY menu, then go to each new device and press the set button for 5 seconds (until it beeps). Then click Finish on the add dialog and wait for the ISY to complete adding the devices. Rename the new devices with temp names to help you id them in the next steps. -Xathros Thanks for the response. Is having to do the start linking from ISY menu different from before? If you read thru the posts above, when I replaced at least 40 switches before, I only had to choose Add New Insteon Device and didn't go thru the "Select Start Linking...." steps you are talking about. Julie
Xathros Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 The Add New Device should work as well. Just a slightly different procedure with the same end result. Using startlinking, the ISY waits to here a link request from the device and when it does, it gets the device type and makes the link. Are you saying the device you want to add is not in the list of devices types? What version of the ISY firmware and UI are you running? Also, what are the new devices you are attempting to add? -Xathros
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 But that is my issue is that the Add New Device does not seem to have the device showing up in the list anywhere when I right click the old one to replace with.... I am not seeing the device in the list so used Auto Discover as told to do before. I am replacing a Swithlinc dimmer and a Keypadlinc dimmer with the same devices I just ordered. I am guessing my version of the ISY firmware is an older one but not sure how to find which one it is. I don't think we have ever updated it nor do we know how. Julie
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 I just tried your advice and used your Start Linking steps. The new device did show up so I right clicked the old device and selected replace with the new device. It went through a bunch of steps showing progress being made, but it never replaced the switch! Advice?
oberkc Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 The symptoms you describe strike me as indicative of a potential powerline communication problem. Do you see other signs of poor communication, such as lights sometimes not responding or slow to respond? Do you have access points or other dual-band devices? Do you have your PLM plugged into outlets with lots of other electronic devices?
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 No to all of the above. Never had an issue with slow responses. All was working fine. Just replacing 2 switches.
Xathros Posted October 15, 2013 Posted October 15, 2013 After the replace ran, do you still have the new device listed or just the old one ? -Xathros
iowaj Posted October 15, 2013 Author Posted October 15, 2013 It just shows the old one still and the new one I added disappeared. I'm trying to update the firmware now as I realize it is 2.7.0 so might be an issue. However, for an hour the status bar shows 0% progress. Thoughts?
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