Is there something different about Mini-Remotes as Controllers?

[dickberrIN]

I have some scenes and programs that turn on/off several lights (wake, dusk, sleep, etc.). When I trigger the scene or program using a Mini-Remote at least one and sometimes two lights fail to operate, and it's often different lights, not the same ones, yet the Current State in ISY shows it in the proper state. If I use ISY to trigger it, it seems to always work 100%.

For example, I have a Dark Day scene that turns on several lights around the house including a table lamp that did not turn on one day. I checked the ISY status, which said it was on at the proper dim level - it uses a LampLinc. At other times it works OK. Sometimes the bedroom ceiling don't come on, or go off. Always when using a mini-remote, but not always the same lights fail.

Last night my Sleep program left two circuits of yard lights on. I clicked the button on the mini-remote several times with no result. I went to ISY and ran the program and they went off.

The mini-remotes sometimes blink red several times, which I understand means something failed to operate. Does it retry, how many times? I don't see any Errors in the ISY Log. Anything I can do about this?

At this point my Insteon system is less reliable than my X10 system was.

Some additional insight please.

[stusviews]

That sounds almost certainly like a communication problem. The blinking red is another indication. The Mini Remote is RF only. That means that it needs to be close enough to a dual-band device to receive its signal. And that the device that receives the signal is on the same leg of the split, single-band electric supply as the responder or that adequate bridging is in place.

Are most of your device dual-band? Have you ensured that coupling has occurred?

[dickberrIN]

Did several experiments last night. First, the mini-remote is on a night-stand beside a dual-band LampLinc. Also in the room are two SwitchLinc Dimmers. I now have Insteon all over the house so certainly on both legs and all should be dual-band. But here's the clincher - when I run my Sleep program from ISY it always works perfectly. When I run it from the mini-remote it always misses a few devices.

I changed the order of devices in the program, I inserted Wait 1 second between each, I moved the two X10 statements to the bottom and then the top - nothing made any difference - using the mini-remote always skipped some devices, but not the same ones even using exactly the same unchanged program. And running the program from ISY works every time.

I also tried a button on a different mini-remote and it worked OK - so now I'm on the trail of the first mini-remote. I plan to uninstall it and clear its links table today, then start over with it and NOT use it in any scenes but rather have it ONLY trigger programs.

This is driving me crazy!

Thanks for your input.

[stusviews]

Ensure that the remote is fully charged. If the red LED turns on when you connect the remote to a USB port, then it's not fully charged.

[dickberrIN]

SOLVED! The Device link table and ISY link table had several conflicts - so I did a device reset and reprogrammed the mini-remote to only trigger programs - removed it from any scenes it was in. All seems to work OK now. I have another mini-remote used for 4 scenes in the den and its link table matched the ISY link table - it is included in the scenes as a controller. So for now I'll live with one controller in scenes and the other in no scenes, and see how it works out. Whew, I wonder if I'll remember this in 9 months when I need to change/fix something.

[stusviews]

Now that the device and ISY agree, why not try the Mini Remote in a scene again?

[dickberrIN]

Really want me to live on the edge huh? I will try later today. I wanted to make sure everything worked correctly all day first.

[dickberrIN]

Was NOT completely solved ... After Factory Reset the Device Links Table was cleared to one line (wrong, more later) but the ISY Links Table had lots of links in it. I could find no way to clear the ISY Links Table. So I removed the mini-remote completely and reinstalled it. This time the Device Links Table has 9 entries, one for each button and the end-of-file, and the ISY Links table now matches. THEN I had to remove and replace the IF statements for each of the 8 programs triggered by this remote's buttons.

How could I have made the ISY Links table match the Device Links Table. I searched and found no way to delete/remove links, hence the brute force approach I used.

BTW. I found this problem when one of the programs turned off the lights it was supposed to then many more, including X10 devices that were NEVER in the original scenes nor in any of the programs this mini triggers.

ISY994 is truly a very strange beast - emphasis on "strange" and "beast" both!

[BLH]

Best place to ask about ISY994i issues is in their forums. Great support there.
http://forum.universal-devices.com/index.php

Sometimes brand new Insteon devices have been known to ship with test addresses in them. That can sometimes mess things up. Many of us do an automatic Factory Reset before using them.

[stusviews]

As BLH indicated, the ISY forum is the best place for ISY related questions.

Also, you can disable any program for testing, There's a check box near the bottom right of the program listing. You can also disable any individual device. Right click on the device.