There are many different home automation technologies out there, with more coming all the time, making it hard to determine which one to get. I’ll be starting my blogging this week to highlight some of the key features of the “Insteon” branded home automation devices. Personally, I use this in my own home, and I have been thoroughly impressed, even despite a few bumps in the road.
What can you do with Insteon?
There are many different devices that Insteon supports. You can control your lights, garage doors, door locks, ceiling fans, send notifications when your freezer goes out, provide a motion activated lighted walkway, just to name a few. Today let’s start with the basics to get you started. We’ll start with an Insteon hub and a few light switches.
What’s a hub and why would I want it?
A hub is a central device connected to the internet that also communicates to the Insteon devices over power line, and via proprietary Insteon wireless. Many other home automation devices do not require a central hub, and this may be fine in very low use environments, but as you add devices to, say a wi-fi automation network, the more devices you add, the more you clutter the network and overall the system may not perform as well. With Insteon and a hub, the more devices you add, the BETTER the system works (i.e. for a larger house). So let’s get started.
Amazon has an excellent deal on both a hub and two dimmer modules. Grab one of these to get started!
The hub itself is pretty simple. It’s a small white box that has two plugs on it: a power port and an ethernet port. Just plug it into the wall, and then plug the ethernet cable into your hub. But, be sure not to plug it into a power strip – go straight to the wall socket for best results. If you don’t want to put it near your router and you’d rather use wi-fi, you can use a network extender. like NETGEAR AC750 WiFi Range Extender (EX3700-100NAS)
Controlling your first light!
Assuming you got the hub with a couple of dimmer modules, all you have to do to get started is plug it into the wall, and then plug a lamp into the module. Then, setup is super easy, just go to the Insteon app on your phone, select add device, and the app will tell you what to do. Once you have added a light, use the app to turn the light on and off! Super easy!!
Still not getting anywhere? No worries, that’s why we’re “No Sweat Tech”, just use the contact us form and we’ll gladly lend you a hand.
What’s not to like?
As I mentioned at the beginning, there were a few “bumps” in my own personal installation of Insteon. I’ve been using Insteon regularly for about 9 years now. Along the way, I’ve had a few devices go bad. When this happens, it can be a real pain to replace it, especially if the the bad device is part of many ‘scenes’ (stay tuned on that in a future blog). The good news is Insteon has been improving their quality the past few years, and their warranty handling has always been good.