Instead long lag/delay

I know it has been discussed before, but it is just getting ridiculous to the point that it is almost unusable.
When I attempt to turn a light on or off with indigo touch, it can take as long as 10 seconds to reply. Indigo touch is inside the same LAN as the indigo server.
Even turning off an instead switch that is a controller of another switch can take a long time.
I am constantly seeing red flashing lights on my instead switches.
I have about 75 of them in my house.

I know about the line noise possibility, but regardless, how does one go about fixing that?

I am almost ready to put all my instead stuff on eBay, and replace with z-wave switches.

An ideas?

[jay (support)]

Signal noise is almost certainly the issue given your description of the symptoms. The signal troubleshooting page has ideas on how to figure out where the noise is coming from. The 3rd party Survey Plugin may help as well.

Some of the more common signal noise makers: UPSs, solar power inverters, old power strips, transformers. I even had an old coffee maker that caused signal noise. Figuring out what's causing the signal issue may be time consuming but that's what you'll need to do.

Thanks Jay,
The instructions say to use 2 accesspoint rf's, but when I click the link, it is a 404 not found page.
Please advise.

My house is LOADED with UPS's, and there are at least 3 of them on the same circuit, so that might be it.
But one question, which I am not sure it is related.
I use mostly the insteon in wall light switches. Even I physically turn the switch on (without indigo), the red light flashes. This happens a lot. Any ideas?

[jay (support)]

Thanks Jay,
The instructions say to use 2 accesspoint rf's, but when I click the link, it is a 404 not found page.
Please advise.

I've edited the wiki article to update the terminology and several links.

My house is LOADED with UPS's, and there are at least 3 of them on the same circuit, so that might be it.
But one question, which I am not sure it is related.
I use mostly the insteon in wall light switches. Even I physically turn the switch on (without indigo), the red light flashes. This happens a lot. Any ideas?

This is why I said you're almost certainly having signal noise. The flashing red lights mean that the device is having trouble communicating with other devices that it's linked to (including you PowerLinc). So when those lights flash it means there's a communication problem.

One easy way to test the UPS theory is to unplug them all (let the devices connected to them run on battery power) and see if things get better. My suspicion is that you're going to see a marked improvement. You can then filter those UPSs to reduce the signal noise.

Ok thanks, I will try.
However, one issue. The mac mini that runs indigo is on a UPS for obvious reasons. I suppose I could run a long extension cord to connect the insteon to a different circuit, but how do most people handle this? I am sure I am not the only one that keeps their indigo server on a UPS.

[jay (support)]

Ok thanks, I will try.
However, one issue. The mac mini that runs indigo is on a UPS for obvious reasons. I suppose I could run a long extension cord to connect the insteon to a different circuit, but how do most people handle this? I am sure I am not the only one that keeps their indigo server on a UPS.

I'm confused - just unplug the UPS from the wall - your mini should continue to run on the UPS's battery, right?

[EDIT] Oh - do you mean that your PowerLinc is also plugged into the UPS? That might be your problem right there (that's almost never a good idea).

No, I mean, not when I am testing for the noise. I mean just in general. I want to keep the mac mini on a UPS just in case the power goes out. The powerLinc is connected to the same circuit as the mac mini's ups.

No, I mean, not when I am testing for the noise. I mean just in general. I want to keep the mac mini on a UPS just in case the power goes out. The powerLinc is connected to the same circuit as the mac mini's ups.

I’d move that if you can. I too have a ups on my Indigo Mini, but ran a separate circuit specifically for the PLM and nothing else. That one thing was a drastic improvement in my Insteon communications. Take a heavier gauge extension cord (no cheapo orange cord, use a 14 or 12 gauge, no more than 25 feet long if possible) plug the PLM into the extension cord, and then try plugging the extension cord into other circuits to see if that helps.

Terry

[jay (support)]

No, I mean, not when I am testing for the noise. I mean just in general. I want to keep the mac mini on a UPS just in case the power goes out. The powerLinc is connected to the same circuit as the mac mini's ups.

You filter the UPS with an Insteon Powerline Noise Filter (aka FilterLinc) as mentioned in the troubleshooting page I liked to above. I've got a couple of UPSs on those filters to remove the signal noise they cause.

I’ll try it and post the results.

Ok, here is what I did, and unfortunately the problem is still not solved.
I have 2 powerlincs, I tried both of them and got the same results. I have an insteon range extender. I moved it to various locations, no luck.

However, I did study the logs, and the behaviors of all the switches. The communication issues of my insteon system are almost only between the devices and the powerlinc/indigo.
I have a lot of 3 way switches, and they all talk to each other instantly. I have 2 8-button keypads that also control several switches.
When I turn switches on and off, the red lights on the switches flash, after it tries to notify indigo of the change. I can also see that indigo is not getting updated. Then after 10 seconds (sometimes more), indigo gets updated, and the red light stops flashing. But the red light always flashes in conjunction with indigo not getting updated.

I put filters on the UPS's. No luck, I disconnected lots of appliances, electronics, no luck.
1 thing that I did find is that in my electronics closet I have a portable AC. When it is running insteon goes from bad to almost unusable. But even with that AC off, it still has these issues. But again, like I said it only seems to be the communication to indigo (99% of the time).

I also have an insteon hub that I bought and never used. I will try that next, and have it plugged into the same circuit as the powerlinc, and see how it does just to try and narrow down the problem.

But is is getting to a point that I am almost ready to take all my insteon switches (55 of them) out, sell them on eBay, and buy z-wave switches.

BTW IN MY POSTS, IF YOU SEE THE WORD "INSTEAD", IT SHOULD BE "INSTEON". DAMN SPELL CHECK KEEPS CHANGING IT.

I just tried the Survey Plugin, and I did it with 5 passes. Every single pass for every single device says "Timed-Out, No Reply Received" in the log.
So either the plugin doesn't work right or I am doing something wrong.
Any ideas?

[jay (support)]

I just tried the Survey Plugin, and I did it with 5 passes. Every single pass for every single device says "Timed-Out, No Reply Received" in the log.
So either the plugin doesn't work right or I am doing something wrong.
Any ideas?

Did you unplug the portable A/C or just turn it off? If you didn't, unplug it then try again.

All of the symptoms that you're describing (flashing red LEDs, Survey getting errors, etc.) all seem to indicate that you've got signal issues. And if the direct links between devices are working, then it seems to indicate that the biggest issue is on the circuit where the PowerLinc is. Take a long outdoor extension cord and run it from the PowerLinc to another room entirely and see if that makes any difference. I'm going to guess that things might just get better when you do that. And that would further support the theory that the problem is on the PowerLinc's current circuit.

Actually I did use the outdoor extension cord to try it on other circuits. No luck, same results.
I will try it in other parts of my house and update here.