Trying to extend a signal

This is an old issue that has gotten worse over time.

I have a large house, 2 phase current, and a separate pool house. The pool house has its own breaker which feeds as a 100 AMP service into my main breaker in the basement. I have 3 Insteon devices at the pool house. An outside light, an overhead light, and a fan with a light. The outside light is on a dual band switch link dimmer (2477D), the overhead light and the fan are both connected to a fan linc (2475F) and are controlled with a 2486D 4 switch dimmer.

The 2477 D generally is accessible by Insteon, although its gets an error about 50% of the time. The 2486D is not accessible anymore. The 2475F can and will respond to a status request, but will not turn on and off. It used to be accessible, most of the time (but not all the time).

Possible issues that I see are (1) the pool house is remote from the mail house and the Insteon power line signal is sent through two breakers (the pool house breaker to a 100 amp breaker in the main panel). So the powerline may be weak. Alternatively or additionally, the motors of my pool pumps (in same breaker) may interfere with the power line. I am guessing RF does not work because of the distance.
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Any ideas how I can get the pool house switches to connect better to the rest of the system?
(not insteon transmits fine within pool house. The switch controls the fan and lights fine. It also registers in the insteon log when I press teh switch button (most of the time) but I cannot use Indigo to turn anything on.
Aug 9, 2020 at 5:24:28 PM
Error "Pool House outside" status request; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "Pool House outside" status request; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "Pool House outside" status request; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Sent INSTEON "Pool House outside" status request (received: 100)
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" off (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" on (button 3)

Aug 9, 2020 at 5:25:22 PM
Error "Pool House outside" off; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "Pool House outside" off; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Received INSTEON "Thermostat-TV Room" temperature changed to 74.0
Error "Pool House outside" status request; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Sent INSTEON "Pool House outside" status request (received: 0)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "Pool House Overhead Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "pool house fan - Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "pool house fan - Light" on to 100; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "pool house fan - Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)
Error "pool house fan - Light" on to 100; send failed (no acknowledgment)
Error "pool house fan - Light" on to 100; failed (PowerLinc not in module's database -- try the Define and Sync process in the device dialog)

Aug 9, 2020 at 5:27:55 PM
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" on to 100% (instant) (button 1)

Aug 9, 2020 at 5:28:12 PM
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" on (button 1)
Received INSTEON "Pool House Fan Switch" off (button 1)

[jay (support)]

The pool house is likely just at the edge or beyond for good Insteon connectivity. As you start getting more signal noise, what might have worked sporadically may no longer work at all. You can check out the signal troubleshooting guide to see if you can identify any sources of signal issues. I'm not sure the 2486D is dual-band (I don't think so) so it might help to replace it with a dual-band KeypadLinc.

You might have better luck with Z-Wave - it is RF only so isn't susceptible to noise on the power lines. It does have range limitations, so depending on the location of your Indigo Server Mac in relation to the pool house it may not be any more reliable, but if they aren't really that far apart it may work for you. Another option, if your pool house gets a good WiFi signal, would be to replace the devices out there with WiFi devices. You can browse the Compatible Devices database to see what else you can find.

None of these ideas will substitute the FanLinc - so you might end up losing the automation around fan speed control (on/off would likely work depending on your wiring, you would just need to manually change the fan speed).

I'm likely overlooking other alternatives as well but I'm sure others will chime in.

Thanks Jay. I have great WiFi in the pool house and the insteon signal within that "zone" works fine. The ideal (which I know does not exist) would be to have a second 2413U to send a signal to units in that part of the house. Another work arround might be if Indigo could send instructions to a 2412N (which I have lying around) so I could turn off the fan through Indigo. I guess I could use the 2412N as a standalone to control the fan.

There is no Z-wave fan linc, right?

I did order a dual-band KeypadLinc

Try the Shelly devices. They run on WiFi.
The switches work w low voltage 24 dc as well as with 110 and 220v Ac

Karl


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I had never seen the Shelly devices before. Do you have much experience with them? Seems like an advantage over many of the Insteon devices I have used. Wifi is a plus. If it works well.

Checkout their web site.
They do not come with mechanics ie switches. They go behind switches They are very small devices.
You can get them at Amazon for $16.
They have switches, dimmer, bulbs,led dimmers etc.

And you have the choice of 2 plugins to integrate w indigo.


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Pardon the somewhat foolish sounding question, but what physical switch can pair well with a shelly dimmer. I have lots of Insteon 3-way and 4-way switches in my house that re going bad. I would love to replace them as they break with an alternative and Shelly sounds like great technology. But my wife will want physical switches to remain. ideally, the switch should power the light even if wifi goes down

I don’t think the Insteon switches work.
Get a momentary switch and connect the 2 ends to the Shelly device.

Karl


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Two notes of interest to update:

As suggested, I replaced the older single bans 2486D with a dual-band KeypadLinc. It works much better. Still not perfect - connects about 60% of the time - the older device was close to 0%. Without a doubt, the pool motors are creating interference because the connection rate goes to 100% when I turn off the two pool pumps.

Is there a way to filter out the noise from a 220 V pool pump that connects directly to my breaker? There is no plug I am aware of. It is directly wired to a to pole 15 amp breaker.

Might the X10 PRO XPF 20A Wired-In Noise Filter, 3-Wire help? I read someone used two of them on a pool pump.