Resetting Devices Remotely

[smokegrub]

I have an ISY and numerous devices at two locations. When a device fails to operate as it should I am severely hampered by distance. An absolutely great feature for new devices would be inclusion of capability for them to soft reset and/or factory reset remotely. Similarly, if the same could done locally and remotely for battery devices it would be awesome.

[stusviews]

An obstacle is that a reset often requires that power be removed from the device. It's somewhat difficult to communicate with a device that has had power removed

[smokegrub]

Could there not be built-in logic that removed power for some specified time then restored power using a small, internal, rechargeable battery? That would at least provide for a soft reset. As it is, the inability to reset remotely is a serious shortcoming.

[stusviews]

That may be possible, but that would entail at least a larger case, more circuitry and an increase in cost.

[smokegrub]

Those offsets would be considered minor for those who have certain "mission critical" devices located remotely and would be an asset to Insteon's marketability.

[stusviews]

They would definitely not be minor for everyone else. I certainly don't want to pay extra for each and every device for an ability I'll probably never need just to enable only those with more than one home avoid the cost of hiring a helper.

[smokegrub]

Good point. However, if we were to apply that principle to all features many of us would never buy several devices because they have features we don't and will never use. Also, one does not have to have two homes to value this ability. Those away on vacation or business will at some point find themselves with this problem.

[stusviews]

I'm not sure what you mean by "all features." If you mean, for example, all the ways that an I/O Linc can be used, then that's exactly it's purpose. Otherwise a different device would be needed to be created for each use. A possible minimally used feature is a dimmer's ramp rate.

I'm not disagreeing that a remote reset is a good ability to have, only the additional cost for the feature which is not trivial.

[lilyoyo1]

I agree with Stu. The revamping and changes more than likely will only cause devices to become larger and more expensive for something that may only be needed by a few and even then not that often. (For the most part, if ever). If anything, I also believe something like that could cause more problems than it helps

[Opor]

I understand smoke's request that should be taken into consideration: if we're speaking about security sensors, leakage, smoke detectors...we're speaking about mission critical devices. Ok Insteon do not focus the "industrial" or corporate market where you can find those kind of devices...but we are investing to keep our houses safe.
Said that if smokegrub has mission critical devices may be should consider some degree of redundancy that would be easy to implement

[stusviews]

HA is not meant for "mission critical" installations, it's for convenience. Using HA as such is false security.

[EVIL Teken]

I see no reason why a simple firmware update (feature) could not enable a person to execute a virtual air gap / reboot. This sort of thing has been in place for decades for industrial, commercial, and consumer hardware.

Updating firmware has very little impact on over all costs and every Insteon piece of hardware already conducts a mini POST anyways.