A message from Steve at Smarthome.

[Sendero]

But to be fair to Steve can you call SH today and ask them for a warranty exchange? If they refuse then I think Steve should try and intervene. If he cant get it done then maybe he can escalate the problem at SH and get it done. IF that fails then SH is just playing games with us.

I dont think Steve should be the first stop for any of us with a problem as the poor guy would never sleep. It could be a 24/7 job with all of the problems.

Good point, I'll do that first.

 

[bbruck]

Steve -

I'm a happy Insteon owner; glad you're here to answer questions!

I'm the proud owner of about half a dozen Insteon switchlincs with defective paddles. Of course, they are less than seven years old. Unfortunately, I am NOT the original purchaser of them, and the warranty is only to the original owner, I believe.

Is there anything I can do?

 

[SteveL]

Bill B,

Email me and i will help you out.

SteveL

 

[SteveL]

Digger,

Houselinc 2 does not make any assumptions about any device that it discovers. We had to build a data base with every device id/firmware rev/version number & what it supports. I also have some old products that it does not recognize but we are still working on updating the data base and with every HL2 update more and more devices are added. There is a email link in HL2 to send this information on problems so these things can be updated. Sometime it finds devices that are unrecognized and this means that the device is in the data base of one of the devices but does not physically exist in the system.

Hope this helps,

SteveL

 

[SteveL]

Thanks Digger,

I didn't realize he was on that forum. I just posted there.

I just noticed the link.

Thanks,

SteveL

 

[tfitzpatri8]

A noise filter is a relatively inexpensive way to isolate a problem and keep a noise-spewing appliance from drowning out legitimate communications being transmitted over a shared power line, but one certainly won't fix issues unrelated to noise or signal absorption.

Before investing in a filter, you should disconnect the suspect device entirely from the powerline and retest. If unplugging the device doesn't help, neither will plugging it back into a filtered outlet.

 

[gatchel]

tfitzpatri8,

Welcome to CocoonTech.com

 

[gatchel]

Digger,

Houselinc 2 does not make any assumptions about any device that it discovers. We had to build a data base with every device id/firmware rev/version number & what it supports. I also have some old products that it does not recognize but we are still working on updating the data base and with every HL2 update more and more devices are added. There is a email link in HL2 to send this information on problems so these things can be updated. Sometime it finds devices that are unrecognized and this means that the device is in the data base of one of the devices but does not physically exist in the system.

Hope this helps,

SteveL

Steve,


I, and others, DO appreciate your presence here at CT.

I do have one question for you (Smarthome) about your post...

How could you (Smarthome) even sell a product that does not contain devices that currently exist? I find this ridiculous. I would think that the older devices would be in the database current to when the software is released and the newer devices would get added as they become available.
Please, correct me if I am wrong in how I read your post.

Maybe if the versions of the previous devices were public information we could add them in ourselves...somehow. (maybe not)

I am really glad the upgrade to HL2 was (is) free. (after the cross ship waiting delay of course).

It's also good to know when my order finally does ship (next month), it might not work properly out of the box. Thanks for that key piece of information.

Thanks

Bob

 

[SteveL]

Bob,

I am only talking about a very small amount of items. Every Rev. number and firmware number is cataloged separately for every device. All of this information has been put into Houselinc 2. We have only see a few cases of devices that did not make it on the list. All we ask is that the uses make us aware of this so it can be updated. You can see that after hundreds of device inputs in the data base there may have been one or two that were missed on the first go around.

SteveL

 

[gatchel]

It was only free if you bought the first version directly from SH. Otherwise its full price (I got burned on that also). Why did it matter where you bought it as it was made by SH and nobody else? Are people knocking this stuff off in their garage?

I never really got that whole you had to buy it from us mentality. You either support your product or you don't support your product.

We buy a ton of stuff through ADI, Anixter, Alarmax, etc. I have never had an issue when dealing with a defective product or warranty issue from any reputable manufacturer. Some even send an advanced replacement so that you can simply swap out the defective product and not lose any more money or time with the warranty issue.

Imagine Smarthome only taking your credit card as a protection from being burned, not actually billing it and then having to issue a refund to it only a few days later. That would be customer service, especially when it's their defective product and even more so when it is in warranty. That'll be the day...

 

[gatchel]

Bob,

I am only talking about a very small amount of items. Every Rev. number and firmware number is cataloged separately for every device. All of this information has been put into Houselinc 2. We have only see a few cases of devices that did not make it on the list. All we ask is that the uses make us aware of this so it can be updated. You can see that after hundreds of device inputs in the data base there may have been one or two that were missed on the first go around.

SteveL

That's good to hear. Thanks for the feedback. (Patiently waiting for HL2)

Edit:

I also want to commend your looking out for your company. It takes b@))s to present yourself in this manner. Unfortunately, you (probably) can not make the changes needed to fix the smarthome issues (unless you own the company, etc.) It's good to have another source of help (or venting) to resolve issues with the product. Others have presented themselves as helpers but only post important stuff like"Now taking pre-orders"

Your kinda like to guy at the driving range who gets in the tractor with a cage around him and picks up golf balls, once you are out there you are a moving target, for practice, for fun, or to take aggression out on. Hopefully you'll get the job done before all of the golfers are gone. (If that makes any sense)

 

[SteveL]

Digger,

We have resellers that are in our system so if an order is place through lets say Home Depot, we have a record of it and we can follow the order trail.

If someone buys a product from a reseller you buy direct from with out SH processing the order then you should always check to see there return policy to see if they will take the return. You may feel differently about this and I can respect that opinion, but we have been liberal with returns with respect to warranty issues. If you still want an exchange to HL2 then just send me an email.

SteveL

 

[SteveL]

Digger,

Houselinc 2 does not make any assumptions about any device that it discovers. We had to build a data base with every device id/firmware rev/version number & what it supports. I also have some old products that it does not recognize but we are still working on updating the data base and with every HL2 update more and more devices are added. There is a email link in HL2 to send this information on problems so these things can be updated. Sometime it finds devices that are unrecognized and this means that the device is in the data base of one of the devices but does not physically exist in the system.

Hope this helps,

SteveL

Steve,


I, and others, DO appreciate your presence here at CT.

I do have one question for you (Smarthome) about your post...

How could you (Smarthome) even sell a product that does not contain devices that currently exist? I find this ridiculous. I would think that the older devices would be in the database current to when the software is released and the newer devices would get added as they become available.
Please, correct me if I am wrong in how I read your post.

Maybe if the versions of the previous devices were public information we could add them in ourselves...somehow. (maybe not)

I am really glad the upgrade to HL2 was (is) free. (after the cross ship waiting delay of course).

It's also good to know when my order finally does ship (next month), it might not work properly out of the box. Thanks for that key piece of information.

Thanks

Bob

It was only free if you bought the first version directly from SH. Otherwise its full price (I got burned on that also). Why did it matter where you bought it as it was made by SH and nobody else? Are people knocking this stuff off in their garage?

Digger,

I'll put it this way. Let's say we are talking about a Controlinc. Since that product came out there may have been many build date codes, firmware updates or Rev numbers for just this one device. Now multiply this by the amount of products we have and one data base input may have been missed for one of the Controlinc updates. This does not mean that HL2 does not support the Controlinc. In most cases the Controlinc or any other products that are INSTEON are supported. If someone finds something that HL2 does not recognize we would like to know about so it can be updated. We do not need to update a device we need to update very specific information about the build version.

SteveL

 

[sloop]

i probably need pictures because the responses about the 'i2' problem confuse me

plm -------------- i1 device --------------------- i2 device

the goal is to send an i2 (extended message) to the i2 device from the plm

will the i1 device repeat the i2 message?

will the i1 device block the message?

pml/accesspoint ------------ i1 device -------------- accesspoint ----------- i2 device

is this config mandatory to get an i2 message to the i2 device?

will my 4 signallincs perform the same role as the accesspoints?

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i have no interest in any new insteon devices but will have to maintain what i have - and history taught me that when i replace an existing device, it will probably be a 'new and improved' device - i already have 2 keypads that have gone out but i have put off replacing them - adding one device to some of my scenes can take 30 minutes or more so i am not excited about performing the replacement function for a keypad using my isy

 

[Xpendable]

The i1 devices won't repeat any extended messages, but to my knowledge it will not block them, either. So if your i2 device is far away from the plm and you have 1 or more i1 devices in between, it's possible that the extended messages would be too weak to make it all the way from the plm to the i2. (Or vice versa). But if they were closer together, the extended messages might work just fine. As Digger said, the extended messages are generally only for faster programming of the links between 2 devices. All commands to turn on/off and activate/respond to group commands are done with standard messages, and these get repeated by all Insteon devices, regardless of whether they are i1 or i2. Tap-Tap linking between devices also uses standard messaging. And you can still program i2 devices using standard messaging.

The SignalLinks do not repeat extended messages, unfortunately.