Securifi Community Forum
General Category => Ideas/Feature requests => Topic started by: pef105 on April 03, 2014, 09:41:46 am
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Will Almond+ ever support Insteon home automation products?
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"Ever" well not directly since it does not have built in support for Insteon.
But since there will be an SDK I suppose that if you can find an Insteon device that communicate over LAN or Wifi or similar, then someone could build a bridge so you can integrate the two types of networks.
From what I understood Insteon is quite big in US, so I would be surprised if someone did not take on that task.
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We could technically add support for the Insteon hub, but it's not something that we're planning on doing at the moment, as it would require a fair amount of work and resources on our side that we can't set aside at the moment, but it's by no means impossible.
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Best way to integrate with Insteon is to use a USB PowerLinc modem.
http://www.smarthome.com/2413U/PowerLinc-Modem-INSTEON-USB-Interface-Dual-Band/p.aspx
This will give you full control of everything on the Insteon network and also let you see events.
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That might be an option, but the customer reviews don't really inspire a lot of confidence in the hardware.
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That might be an option, but the customer reviews don't really inspire a lot of confidence in the hardware.
I don't have any personal experience with Insteon, but 120 reviews are 4 stars or more vs 50 are 3 stars or less doesn't seem too bad.
I understand securifi's resources are taxed at the moment, but I think Insteon support is something that would be great. Their wall mounted keypads are more versatile and aesthetically pleasing then anything I've found so far that works with zwave/zigbee. (http://www.smarthome.com/_/Dimmers_Lighting_Appliance_Control/Dimmers_Wall_Switches_Keypads_Touchscreens/INSTEON/In_Wall_Keypads/_/z/1QV/23b/2MF/nav.aspx)
Also they have a ceiling fan/light controller with an MSRP of $70. http://www.smarthome.com/_/Dimmers_Lighting_Appliance_Control/Dimmers_Wall_Switches_Keypads_Touchscreens/INSTEON/In_Wall_Keypads/_/z/1QV/23b/2MF/nav.aspx
The only zwave/zigbee ceiling fan controller cost $120 and from what I understand only controls the fan, not any lights. http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-VRF01-1LZ-Capable-Control-Almond/dp/B001HT4M48
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What do you mean Almond and Insteon compatibility? I was about to purchase some Insteon stuff and was going to plug the hub into the almond; is this not going to work?
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What do you mean Almond and Insteon compatibility? I was about to purchase some Insteon stuff and was going to plug the hub into the almond; is this not going to work?
You can use Insteon hub with your Almond+ in the sense that it can plug into the Almond+ just like any other network device, you would however not be able to use the Almond+ HA features to control it. You would still be able to use all the features of the Insteon hub as documented by Insteon.
Please read Lars comments earlier in this same thread.
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Both Insteon 2413U and 2413S PLM's are serial devices.
You can play some using OpenWRT as its already been documented to work with OpenWRT here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-automation-server-with-router/#step3 (http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-automation-server-with-router/#step3)
(http://cdn.instructables.com/F14/8F9S/GG4A6NZH/F148F9SGG4A6NZH.MEDIUM.gif)
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So, as of this morning, I've gotten the Almond+ to recognize the 2413S via an FTDI serial adapter and a modified version of PLMtools (http://sourceforge.net/projects/plmtools/). I'll let people know when I've got a fork of plmtools up. Basically plmtools sends Hex command strings to the modem (see http://www.smarthome.com/manuals/2412sdevguide.pdf for more details about the modem, and http://www.insteon.com/pdf/INSTEON_Command_Tables_20070925a.pdf for more details about insteon commands), you still need to associate the insteon devices using the button on the side of the modem, and you still need to know their addresses to send them commands. I haven't even started to tackle any integration into Almond+'s automation or web interface but I'll let people know if I do.
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Repository is live at https://github.com/poshul/AlmondplusPLMtools/
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I'd really love to see Insteon support through one of the PLM devices. I'm looking for a solution for my ceiling fans which are wired with 14-2 instead of 14-3. So far the only proper solution is the Insteon FanLinc, and there doesn't seem to be a Z-wave or ZigBee alternative. The only z-wave/zigbee solution is to add in-wall relays in the fan box, but this would only provide on/off for the fan rather than speed control. There is a fan speed controller that uses Z-wave, but it would require me to have 14-3 wiring to have independent control over lighting and fan speed.
Looking forward to see how your project progresses, poshul. :)
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+1 for insteon support
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+1 for insteon support please