PLM Goes Mute, Then Deaf

[LeeG]

Depends on the surge suppressor. Many include noise suppression as well. These will have an adverse affect on the Insteon powerline signals.

[oberkc]

Have you heard of any issues with PLM being plugged into a surge protected power strip? Thanks

 

Based on what I have read here and elsewhere, I would put this in the top 2 of a list of "things to do to make your insteon network unreliable". Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way to determine if yours is an offending culprit, other than trial and error, with possible assistance from some of the ISY troubleshooting tools (such as scene test)

[ELA]

dano,

If you might be interested in doing a test here is a reference:

http://forum.universal-devices.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=8898&p=67911&hilit=9+volt#p67911

 

I have a test device that directly tests who may be a signal sucker and how severe it is. In my desire to help others without access to such a device I came up with this test.

I would be curious to hear if anyone finds it useful or not.

[dano]

ELA, Just ran you 9-volt drain down test on this switch. It drained in about 0.5 seconds. Just a tad longer when I directly connect/remove the battery from the multimeter. Although I agree this isn't 100% accurate test to see if any attenuation will occur in the Insteon band, it's a quick test to see if the outlet device will NOT work. It's a test someone could also do in a store before puchasing their power strip/surge protector. I'll do a basic range performance test this weekend to see if I lose any communications at my furthest point. Thanks for the good idea. Dano.

[ELA]

Thank you for being willing to try that test Dano,

Did you test with the battery in both polarities?

 

I found two old plug/surge strips that were in storage yesterday and tested them using this method today.

One was not a sucker and the other one was. The test worked great. I updated that post I referenced you to for future reference.

From the results thus far it seems it could be a very handy tool for anyone who wants to check their plug/surge strips with only a volt meter and a battery.