Power woes

Sun Nov 23 17:55:34 EST 2014

Z-wave has it’s issues just like everything else. It is wireless only and not recommended for fail safe operations. I have had it turn things on and off what is was not even incorporated into my HA operations. I have not been able to track down why that happens.

With Insteon there is a dual signal sent and that means that it will have a better chance of responding.

For fail safe operations wired is always the best but that can cost a lot more money.

If you have a dual band interface for the Insteon then I would stick with that. I assume that you are using a Veralite for the interface to XTension as that is the only way to make that happen. I am using that with a few Insteon dual band modules and it seems to be pretty reliable and I have no complaints. Just about anything is better than X10.

At first I was thrilled with Z-wave but it was not as reliable as I hoped it would be. Of course I was pretty disappointed but it is better than X10 and a step up.

As a rule of thumb keep it simple. The more complex a system the more likely it will be to fail. I have found that those with more and more interfaces are having more and more problems with upgrades of either the OS or XTension. I only have a few interfaces and they work so there is no reason to upgrade.

Chuck

> On Nov 23, 2014, at 2:15 PM, Dee Dee Sommers <deesquared at mac.com> wrote:
> 
> This is great news!
> I can do that!
> 
> So my next question regarding the future, should I look to switch to zwave down the road? Like when I need to replace modules, controllers, etc.? Or will insteon see me through? 
> 
> All I am doing is turning equipment on and off.
> 
> 
> 
>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 5:03 PM, Chuck <xtension4osx at mac.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Using a bridge is more of a band aid. It just repeats the signals and will flood the power line with more signals cause more noise. Plus bridges are expensive and they will still not get the signal through the power strip in many situations.
>> 
>> Better to get a dual band Insteon module for anything on a power strip (assuming the power strip has surge protection).
>> 
>> Chuck
>> 
>>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 1:48 PM, Dee Dee Sommers <deesquared at mac.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Great news!
>>> Thank you so much!
>>> 
>>> I think we're working with PLC only right now. So I need yo get a bridge thing?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 4:45 PM, Chuck <xtension4osx at mac.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> If you have dual band Insteon then power strips will work but the PLC portion of the Insteon signal may or may not work. More than likely it will cut off that signal.
>>>> 
>>>> The RF portion should work just fine. I have a bunch of Insteon power switches plugged into a power strip and they work just fine.
>>>> 
>>>> Chuck
>>>> 
>>>>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 1:39 PM, Dee Dee Sommers <deesquared at mac.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks, Paul!
>>>>> Actually, we are using all insteon stuff in there because there was too much going on for X10.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I guess I'll just try some power strips of different abilities and work my way down from most protection to worthless......
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 4:34 PM, X10 <paulx10 at koreneff.net> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Dee Dee:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Do you have Z-Wave in your future plans? They provide a way to ignore the X-10 signal issues and just turn on/off stuff protected by a noise filter. For example I have both an analog amplifier and an Apple Express that I can control individually even though they sit on top of a freezer and all three use power after the noise filter. You don't have to convert everything at once - just the pesky ones that give you trouble:)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Paul
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Nov 23, 2014, at 1:14 PM, Dee Dee Sommers <deesquared at mac.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I need to replace some power strips:
>>>>>>> We have all of our equipment after a UPS, including the 3 insteon appliance modules we use to turn everything on/off.
>>>>>>> Only the controller does not go through the UPS.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> So we have a plethora of power strips to handle all the equipment.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Lately, we are having so issues.  This morning a colleague moved where some of the equipment is plugged, so my appliance modules are not getting all the parts needed.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I am going to invest in some better power strips -- but will I run into signal problems?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Thanks if you can make coherent sense of this and offer any advice!
>>>>>>> Dee Dee
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
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