Anyone use INSTEON for home automation
 

I am tempted to get into Home Automation, and this product looks like it might be a good fit for me.

Was wondering if anyone has used it?


Thanks

73 Long Hood -

Insteon is relatively new and looks good on paper, but I (and others) are waiting to see if our systems will integrate seamlessly into the Insteon environment.

For those of us invested in x10, Insteon devices will pick up most of the x10 protocol signals and act accordingly, but they offer no additional benefit over other x10 devices. The radio communications signal repeat is not done for x10 commands, only the Insteon commands.

There is at least one effort under way to develop an x10 - Insteon translater that will allow an existing x10 setup to speak Insteonish, but it is still in early development.

So -
I sit,
and wait.

I have a new house, all wired up and ready to go, but don't want to invest in x10 if it will be superceded with something more reliable, and don't want to invest in new technology until it becomes something that will still be around in a few years. It's too expensive to make the wrong choice.

You may wish to PM or contact Dan Byers (here on Pelican and all-around nice guy), he does this kind of stuff professionally and can give you a better answer than me.

Good luck!

Kevin

I have been keeping an eye on it for years, wanting to do somethings around the house, but not happy with it yet. Hope that it keeps progressing to where its a bit better.

JA

I've had X-10 since the 80's and am on my 3rd computer interface. I'm also on my third house since getting this stuff. I've had several devices die over the years and since they are all pretty cheap I've replaced them as they've gone. What I have now is all pretty old and the reliability is just so so.
I've been looking at the insteon stuff with some interest as well. My understanding is that each device repeats the signal so there should be a much greater probability that an event won't get lost in the wiring.

Please post your experiences.

I really like the Radio RA, but it is expensive.

Pulled the trigger and am putting Insteon in the house. I have been very happy so far.

Michael

Michael,
Any updates on this? What did you automate? I'm interested in doing a fairly large project, including using this to time pool equipment, sprinklers, low voltage lighting, etc.

Think this may be appropraite for me? I can get fairly creative. I've got a month or two to pull this together as a major portion of my house is being re-built right now. Framing is a week away from starting.

Doug

Doug,

I really enjoy the Insteon, great thing is it uses the wires in your house. I controll lights on timers, ie. Daughters night light comes on at 8pm. At 10pm it goes to 50% power, and 12am, it goes to 25% and 10% at 2am. Off at 7am.

The exterior lights come on at Sunset and turn off at set times.

I would check out smarthome.com as they have the most information on the product. If you want to talk more, send me your cell and we can talk.

Any problems working everything together?

Assume that you use a standalone computer to control everything?

Joeaksa,

Everything works great, the more insteon the stronger it gets. I have the smarthome software, and yes the computer needs to be on.

I have been thinking about moving over to a Mac, and they have some pretty strong software. My new Anthem unit, will allow Multi-room music, and with the Insteon Keypad can be used to controll the IPOD from any room that you have the Keypad.

http://www.perceptiveautomation.com/indigo/index.html

Then you have a Mini Mac, you can load all your DVD's on, and watch them in anyroom that you have a TV. This is a really bad hobby as one thing leads to another, which leads to another.

Michael

Michael,
What do you use to split the IPOD signal to the various amplifiers?

I was checking Indigo out for my wife's MAC. Can't you use the embedded timer to run everything while the computer is off (just download your program into the timer)?

Or do you have active commands that need the computer and s/w to interpret?

Doug

Michael,

I have a server that is on 24/7 now and its networked with the TIVO unit, so not an issue there, was just curious.

Hmmm, may have to dive a bit more in to this system.

Thx,

Joe

The powerline interface doesn't currently store anything, so it needs the computer to send the commands. Rumor has it that Insteon is working on a powerline interface that will hold the commands.

Michael

The IPOD would be hooked into the MAC that would be hooked to your sound processor, which would then have differn't zones.

Michael

Any one try this yet?

Just make sure it can't kill you in your sleep when the machines take over someday. ;)