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Insteon RF Only Devices

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galiven edited this page Nov 7, 2014 · 2 revisions

It is important to place RF only devices near a Dual-band device or Access-Point, so that their RF only signals can be copied onto the Powerline network as soon as possible.

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RF Only Devices are Generally Deaf

To my knowledge, all battery operated RF only devices are Controllers only. That is, they can be used to control another device, but they themselves cannot be directly controlled by another device. (A motion sensor can turn on a light, a remote control can turn on a fan, but neither of these devices can be controlled by something else)

This is because in order to save battery power, all battery operated devices sleep until you trigger them in some way. Once triggered the devices wake up, send their messages, wait for confirmation of the messages, and then wait for some short period of time before going back to sleep.

The only RF only device that I am aware of that remains awake, is the Insteon Thermostat. This device receives power from the 24 volt line from the HVAC equipment, but is not otherwise connected to the powerline and thus cannot send powerline signals.

As a result, you generally cannot issue commands from MisterHouse to any RF Only device, these commands include link to interface, sync links, scan link table, and others. Because of this, we often call RF Only battery operated devices "Deaf."

Manually Waking Deaf Devices

To my knowledge, all Deaf devices can be put into awake mode for a period of time by depressing the set button for a couple of seconds. This is the same procedure as starting a manual linking process. Generally, an LED light on the device will flash and continue flashing while the device is in this awake mode. Once in this mode, you can issue commands from MisterHouse to the device. The device will generally stay awake for a few minutes, maybe four minutes.

Older RemoteLincs apparently lacked a set button, to put these devices into awake mode by pressing the bright and dim buttons simultaneously for ten seconds. The LED should then light and a beep should be emitted--indicating that awake mode is enabled.

Running Commands on Next Awake (Beta)

In the current beta branch, MisterHouse will "queue" all commands from MisterHouse to Deaf devices. The next time the device wakes up and sends a command, MisterHouse will attempt to issue the queued commands back to the device just before it goes back to sleep. In practice this seems to work well. In this manner you can schedule a scan or a sync of the link table on the next connection.

Manually Marking As Awake (Beta)

Due to the change which queues all messages sent to Deaf devices, MisterHouse needs to be told when you have manually placed a device in awake mode, as described above. MisterHouse can be informed of this in two ways. First, you can run the voice command "Manually Mark as Awake." This will cause MisterHouse to assume that the device is awake for the next four minutes. Second, if you enable PLM Monitor Mode, MisterHouse will see when you place a device in awake mode and mark it as necessary for you. See the PLM Page for an explanation of Monitor Mode.

RF Only Device Communication Oddities

Since, RF Only devices communicate solely over RF, communication with the devices often have some strange oddities.

Un-Acknowledged Messages

Be sure to look for the rapidly blinking light that will signal communication problems. See Insteon Troubleshooting "UnAcknowledged Messages" for specific solutions.

Duplicate Messages

For whatever reason, possibly because RF only devices force a hop count of 3, MisterHouse will often receive multiple duplicate messages from RF only devices. For example, when you walk in front of a Motion Sensor, MisterHouse may receive three ON commands in less than a second. You may see a warning about these duplicate messages. Generally you don't need to worry, MisterHouse will gracefully handle these messages.

RF Interference

The Insteon RF protocol uses the 900 Mhz spectrum. Unfortunately, this spectrum is heavily used by other products as well. Luckily, the Insteon messages are comparatively short and can often be received without problem even in RF noisy environments. However, if you are having issues using an RF only device and/or you are receiving a lot of UnAcknowledged Messages, you may want to look around your house and maybe your neighbors house (with their permission of course) for the following:

  • Baby monitors (horrible offenders)
  • Cordless phones
  • Remote door bells
  • Intercoms
  • Remote Control Toys
  • Other remote home automation products
  • Some old wireless networking
  • Walkie Talkies
  • Amateur radio and television devices

Other Insteon Pages

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