Getting Started with Devices?

Okay, I say "Uncle." I've looked here on the forum, in the FAQ's, in the User Manual, etc.

How do I get started from square one? I just installed seventy 2476D INSTEON SWITCHLINC V2 DIMMER's in my home.

I purchased the 2490 INSTEON WIRELESS LIGHTING STARTER SET and installed and sync'ed the two signal enhancers.

I purchased the 1411CU INSTEON PowerLinc USB with mControl Home and plugged it into my computer and I downloaded and installed Indigo 1.8 beta onto my computer.

I am familiar with X-10 addressing but how do I find all of of my 2476D V2 dimmers via just the Insteon network? Do I need to sync the 1411CU with my existing network in any way? I don't have to add all the V2 addresses "by hand" do I? (All my dimmers are installed behind screwless switchplate covers; hard enough to get the wires to cooperate in the j boxes; I don't want any more face time with the switches!!!)

Can Indigo just find these switches on the network, I label them however I prefer to name them, then start creating if/then events?

I've been emulating Windows to control X-10 on Mac's for years and I'm really rusty with this new fangled stuff but I'm excited to learn. Thank you. -Gadgetnut

[matt (support)]

From within Indigo you will be creating a new Indigo Device for every SwitchLinc (and every ControLinc, KeypadLinc, LampLinc, etc.). You do need to know the INSTEON addresses of all your modules. The PowerLinc only reports commands from addresses it knows about to keep you from snooping on your neighbor's traffic, so we have to tell the PowerLinc about all of the switches somehow. Unfortunately, this makes it impossible for Indigo to automatically find all the devices on your network.

If you don't want to remove the switch plate covers, then you could try to manually link the switches with the PowerLinc by pressing and holding the PowerLinc set button for 10 seconds, then pressing and holding a Switch ON paddle for 10 seconds. You'll need to repeat this process for each switch. As you do this, the Event Log should be showing you the messages coming from the Switches including their addresses.

Based on a previous customer note, at this point you might want to unplug the PowerLinc V2 for 10 seconds, then plug it back in. After you do the manually linking process above, we've had reports that the PowerLinc V2 can get into a bad state where it doesn't pass INSTEON messages up to Indigo as it should. Unplugging and plugging it back in appears to fix the problem.

You can now copy/paste those addresses into the Device's "Define and Sync..." dialog. This associates an INSTEON module (via its address) with an Indigo device. It makes sure that Indigo knows about all of the links already defined in that device, and makes sure the remote device has the proper links to communicate back with the PowerLinc V2. This Smart Link Syncing actually saves you quite a bit of time, even though you need to know the INSTEON address to get it started. Without it, you would have to manually dual link every switch button (KeypadLinc would need it done 8 times) with the PowerLinc V2.

Hope that helps get you rolling, and be sure and let us know how it works out -- sounds like quite an installation!

Regards,
Matt

That's what I needed, thank you, Matt. I took off the switchplate covers and wrote down all the addresses, and I've been entering them in the way you said and it's working great.

Looks like I "only" need to enter about forty-five dimmers that actually control loads, as the others are virtual 3-way (and more). Any reason to enter the virtual 3-way switches?

Again, now I'm rolling. Thank you. --Gadgetnut

[matt (support)]

I think you will want to include your virtual 3-way switches as well. If you don't, then I don't believe Indigo will properly update the state of the main switch when it is controlled by the secondary switch. If they are all defined within Indigo, then Indigo will know all of the links in the entire system and can give you an accurate representation of all the on/off/brightness states in real time.

Regards,
Matt