Reliability issue with installed switches.

[JWF]

I was an early adopter of Insteon and used about 14 switces to control the lights in my HT when I built it out in 2005. I never had the quality control or reliability issues that others have complained about so I counted myself lucky until now. In the last month a 2476DH and a 2476ST have gone unresponsive and no longer control their loads. The problem is these switches are in 5 and 7 gang boxes and replacing a switch is a major pain in the ass. Should I just expect that eventually more will fail and replace 12 switches all at once so I only have to go into the gangs once?

I would rather not have to just spend another $600 or so to replace good switches just because of the effort involved if they start to fail shortly.

Any thoughts from the community? I mean if I am going to do that then maybe now would be a good time to look at alternative controllers. Since I have an ISY994i/IR Pro I could switch over to another switch like Z-wave.

[lilyoyo1]

13 years is really good for switches. Personally, I would've upgraded a long time ago so replacing all (if you have the financial means) would be my recommendation. The new switches work so much better than the old.

Zwave is catching up to insteon in regards to basic features and has surpassed it in others. For the most part, I still think Insteon is the better protocol though you can't go wrong with either one.

[BLH]

The replacements will be in the 2477 Dual Band modules. So you could get better communications between modules.
One thing to consider. The 2476S modules will be replaced by the 2477S switches. They are deeper and the wires are 12 Gage Line, Load and Ground wires. So in a tightly filled switch box with multiple switches. It maybe a tighter squeeze to get them in.

If your ISY994iIR does not have a Z-wave board in it. You would have to purchase one if you decide to go Z-wave. I believe there is a later generation board in Beta Tests now. To make more features available.

[Opor]

I'm switching to z-wave once I lost PLM signal on one of my HUBs. PLM AND RF was the difference for insteon that make it better (only redundant HUB), but once they do not support PLM anymore (new HUBs) Insteon RF is as safe (and unsafe) as the other vendors...And Z-wave has much more devices and HUBs ALSO WORKING in Europe wich Insteon does not care at all.