Dumbest question ever

especially coming from someone who has had Indigo running for a year now.

Could someone please point me to a hardware overview of Insteon? I have a strong idea that in order to use Insteon devices that aren't power line, I need something besides a PowerLinc, but when I look at such devices, there's never a mention of what is required.

If anyone would like to chime in on good and bad examples of what I'll need, I would appreciate that. Same for opinions whether or not I should go there at all, considering I have extensive and reliably working z-wave already in place. Mostly I'm just looking to see what other product options are on the Insteon side of the fence. Is there something that I can't find except by going Insteon? Some Insteon device that is much better than the z-wave equivalent, or just cheaper?

http://www.insteon.com/technology/#ourtechnology

The powerlinc is Dual-Band, which means it does powerline and RF. So no you don't NEED anything else, unless you have a range issue, which is generally solved by adding additional dual-band devices between the powerlinc and the target device.

http://www.insteon.com/technology/#ourtechnology

The powerlinc is Dual-Band, which means it does powerline and RF. So no you don't NEED anything else, unless you have a range issue, which is generally solved by adding additional dual-band devices between the powerlinc and the target device.

or "Range Extenders" (formerly called Phase couplers) which have no switching or load capability, but just take power line and/or incoming RF and repeat the information on the power line and over the RF, much as the plugin Z-wave slave relays do for that technology.

[jay (support)]

What types of devices were you thinking about? Z-Wave multisensors are almost always better than the Insteon motion sensors in our experience. Light switches, though, have definite advantages over their Z-Wave counterparts (direct links) and the KeypadLincs, IMO, are the best scene controllers. The former are battery powered, but the latter are dual-band. The other downside of Insteon is speed - it's pretty slow compared to Z-Wave. Most times this isn't an issue, but round trips (signal from a device to Indigo, the out to another device) can seem slower when Insteon devices are involved.

For my home, the majority of in-wall stuff (switches, scene controllers, outlets) are Insteon. Everything else is Z-Wave. In places where I don't need direct linking I'll use Z-Wave stuff as well, particularly with the Homeseer switches which are much closer in look, feel, and capability to Insteon SwitchLincs.

I'm mainly thinking about things like door sensors, keypads, and I have some recollection that some fan controllers are very good or do something that z-wave ones don't.

I have one of these: PowerLinc 24113U. It receives RF? Can it receive X10 RF?

Edit: look at that, right in the description. "The dual-band interface sends and receives both powerline and radio frequency (RF) INSTEON signals"

[jay (support)]

It does not do X10 RF.

Oh, and yes - I have 7 ceiling fans in the house, 5 of which have FanLincs and KeypadLincs that control them. Those are an amazing combination. I don't know of a Z-Wave alternative to the FanLinc.

I'd recommend going with Z-Wave sensors - they're faster and are not prone to the collision issues that Insteon broadcast devices can have. The one exception in my house are with the Insteon hidden door sensors - I have a couple on closet/pantry doors that have direct links to the SwitchLinc that controls the light inside. Open the door, the light comes on, close it, the light goes off (and pretty quickly since they are directly linked). Those are the only Insteon sensors I use in the house though. I haven't tried a similar Z-Wave door sensor and a Z-Wave switch - they may work just as well.