Fixed: Insteon I3 Paddle responds to ON as an on/off toggle

Posted on
Mon Jan 01, 2024 10:46 am
kyphos offline
Posts: 54
Joined: Dec 17, 2014

Fixed: Insteon I3 Paddle responds to ON as an on/off toggle

After being in service for several years, one of my 2476 dimmers started acting a bit strange, so I replaced it with one of the new I3 paddle dimmers.
I found that when Indigo (2023.1.1) sent an ON command, the I3 toggled (if it was on, it turns off; if it was off, it goes to 100%)
This happened when clicking the device's "Turn On" button in the GUI's main list of Devices, and also when a trigger event is programmed to send it a "Turn On" command (from the list of Light/Appliance controls).

The logs showed the following:
- click Turn Off --> "Dining room dimmer" - off is logged.
- click Turn On --> "Dining room dimmer" - on to 100 is logged.
- Click Turn On again --> "Dining room dimmer - on to 0 is logged.

The "on to 100"/"on to 0" messages alternated each time the Turn on command was issued. How odd, I thought!

After some troubleshooting and experimentation, I discovered the reason was that the Default level for the I3 was at 0% (in the dimmer's Edit Device box).
Me bad - I thought I had entered a non-zero value when I first configured the I3, but apparently not.

I changed the Default level for the I3 from 0 to 80% -- problem solved! The dimmer no longer turns off in response to a turn on command. However, I found that the toggle behavior persists, but it flips between the default (80%) value and 100%.
Successive Turn on commands alternately send "on to 80" then "on to 100" messages. This is not what I was expecting, but appears to be the design intent for Indigo control of dimmers, as I found the same behavior with the older 2476 dimmer.

In summary, if the dimmer is off, the first Turn on command from Indigo turns it on at the specified default level.
The next Turn on command sets it to 100%. The next sets it back to the default level.

Now that I better understand how Indigo deals with these dimmers, I've reprogrammed all my schedules and triggers that control them to use the Set Brightness command instead of Turn on to ensure the desired outcome.

:arrow: Indigo 2023.1.1, macOS 10.13.6 (High Sierra), Mac mini5,1 (Intel Core i5), PowerLinc 2413U

Posted on
Mon Jan 01, 2024 11:40 am
Korey offline
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Posts: 813
Joined: Jun 04, 2008
Location: Henderson, NV

Re: Fixed: Insteon I3 Paddle responds to ON as an on/off tog

Thanks for the tips!

--
Korey

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