INSTEON Hub support

On the web I don't know, from several users and their personal experiences through out the country I do know first hand they have experienced several reliability problems. But again, I will try myself and let you know later on

Hi Jay, Like I mentioned before about the Z-Wave system Indigo has been working on, I must say that it really works great now. It did not have the best reputation but I'm working with several Z-Wave hardware supplier through the Aeon ted z-wave stick and it really works very reliable and much faster than X10. It broadens the possibilities since there are so many z-wave hardware suppliers. Check out the Polish company Fibaro, they have very nice components. -Paul

[jay (support)]

Yep, we support quite a few Fibaro modules (check the device list) - they seem to be quite nice. Glad you're liking Indigo's Z-Wave support and glad to see that you're experiencing the reliability from Z-Wave that we are.

Purchased one of these to help a committed Windows friend get into HA. As I was setting it up on my system to test, it occurred to me it might make a good backup to my Indigo server when I travel.

Question. Can I have both the hub and the 2413u on the same system controlling the same lights? I have done a test with one light and the control worked from both the hub app and touch. Wanted to ask before I added any more units to the hub.

[matt (support)]

It should work reasonably well. Indigo likely won't know about state changes that the hub does (so UI and triggers won't execute), but if you are just actively using one at a time I think it will work. You'll probably want to leave the PowerLinc at least plugged in though, so that it can acknowledge controller messages from keypads, switches, motion sensors, etc., so the modules don't re-broadcast thinking there was power line noise.

[jay (support)]

One problem you'll most likely see is that you won't get equipment status updates reliably from INSTEON Thermostats - these aren't actual broadcasts but specific (hidden) back links to the last controller that it's linked to. I think that's the only module that does those under the cover links (and it's not something we can change) but I could be wrong.

Thanks for replies.

I am only interested as a backup if my Mac mini goes out while traveling. For some reason any storm coming through has a good chance of eating one or more USB ports on the mini. Haven't found a way to surge protect USB?

[jay (support)]

So, you'd duplicate your schedules (as much as possible) in the Hub? How would you make sure the hub's schedules aren't conflicting with Indigo when both are running? Same with triggering events...

I don't recall a USB port going wonky on a power outage. I think I recall once I had to unplug/replug the PowerLinc after an outage several years ago. Mostly it just comes back.

Hmmm. Good point on schedules. May just go with basic device control.

My house is on very rocky ground with a poor grounding system so the lighting surges come through the ground. We have had a lot of storms this year. The last one had a close strike that blew the cover of a ezio 4 unit across the Room and killed all 4 USB ports. I put in a new whole house surge system so have fingers crossed.