Help us pick an idea by liking it!

[Isaac]

Thank you all for contributing to this section of our forum. Submitting your post for new devices or features is truly helpful in prioritizing what we focus on next. To further help this process along, we need everyone to vote on these ideas by liking them. The Like button is located at the bottom right of the post (you'll need to be logged in to see it).

Thanks again to those that have contributed so far.

[bfleury]

Hi, it would be great to beef up the PLM, I just had a version 4 go after 6 months, as many have talked about. It would also be great to make your Insteon siren module compatible with the ISY994.
Thanks

[BLH]

The Siren Module is in the Beta version 5 firmware. For the ISY994i. So I expect it will be in the first released version 5 firmware.

[rajung]

A water shut off that can be installed on main off lever, or in line after. A few out there already, in line ones way to expensive for what they do and the ones that mount on the lever don't appear to have enough strength to move the 1/4 handle to fully close. Would be great to use with the leak sensors. Water heater leak, scene created and linked to on / off vale shuts main water flow off.

[Chad_NE]

Modernizing the 2413U USB PowerLinc Modem, no longer compatible with Apple machines

The 2413U is known to be finicky, and prefers a USB-2.0 port. New Apple machines have only USB-C ports.

• Using a USB bridge does not help, since almost all of these are now USB 3.X.
• It is also not possible to use a USB C printer cable, or a USB-C to USB-3.x adapter.
• In none of these cases will the UART even appear in the USB device tree.

Apple customers will need to transition to a different brand unless the 2413U is updated. : (

[WorldTraveler75]

Sump Water level sensing

A useful kit for a homeowner with a sump in their basement is using a Model 2450 I/OLinc with a small float sensor and bracket that can be attached to a PVC sump outflow pipe. Placing the float slightly above the sump pump or if one uses a primary pump with a back-up pump slightly higher above the primary when the primary fails, the float rises triggering an alert a smart phone via e-mail. This alerts the homeowner to check the primary pump for a stuck float arm or to effect replacement. I fashioned such a device finding an aquarium type flat switch and mounting bracket and made these for several homeowners. Something easy for Insteon to offer but requires marketing which they seem to be lacking for a number of years now. Devices which seemed to set them apart like a water main solenoid shut-off valve integrated with a leak detector was another useful product that I have installed for several homeowners and performed perfectly when needed.

[WorldTraveler75]

Water Main Shut-off solenoid valve

Sadly Insteon dropped their 3/4” and 1” solenoid water shut-off just when I started to get a number of friends and neighbors interested in the few installations I already had installed for friends. A very useful product I installed in my house as well as a number of friends who go away for long periods of travel or have a vacation home left unattended. Using the 2450 I/OLinc with a low voltage solenoid and linked to Insteon water leak sensors placed to monitor sinks, toilets, bathtub/shower, laundry, hot water heater, an alert from a leak condition shuts off the the water main within seconds and send a notification to a smart phone. A number of home insurers offer premium discounts making it an incentive for homeowners to install such a device. Again another product that went out of existence because of a lack of visionary marketing by Insteon.

[WorldTraveler75]

Garage Door Opener kit that works for all Chamberlain Motors

I purchased an Insteon Garage Door opener kit and after installing found it would not open or close my garage door using the Insteon app. I called Insteon Support and the issue and a solution seemed to be beyond their level of expertise. The answer I got is that it works for every motor except for Chamberlain and Lift Master 1/2 hp motors-the most common one sold. I was a bit perturbed and asked why was this not stated as a pre-purchase warning on the website for the product. I was undeterred in working out my own work-around despite having little electronics knowledge. Why couldn’t Insteon make this simple modification so their product would be more universal for customers? I didn’t want to purchase a Chamberlain/LiftMaster remote interface as I want to use the Insteon app for as many SmartHome devices as possible. All that was required to make the Insteon garage door kit more usable was an extra LiftMater Remote, soldering of two wires to the circuit board of a spare remote and a plastic box enclosure to mount on the metal framework supporting the motor. At the least, Insteon could have included in their instructions how to do this modification. I find it hard to believe I am the only customer with the very common 1/2 hp door motor! I sent a detailed illustrated instruction sheet to tech support at Insteon to help future customers that find themselves in the situation Insteon put me in after I made the purchase. Not a thank you or acknowledgment from tech support for trying to help a company sell more products!

[tjacobsen]

New firmware in the hub where a local device could receive insteon event messages (i.e. a switch was manually turned on) that does not require polling the hub.

Currently, when a local integration wants to receive messages from remote devices via the hub, It would have to poll a local REST endpoint on the hub to get the hub's receive buffer. This is problematic for local integrations since locally integrated system could potentially miss messages (or parts of messages) if the polling interval is not right.

It would be nice to open a TCP port (maybe with SSH?) that would allow an integration to send/receive the raw messages to/from the hub's built-in PLM. Security could be provided via requiring the ID/Password on the bottom of the hub, or some form of shared key.

The hub would still connect to the cloud service (if subscribed) to allow the hub to be controlled remotely via the phone application.

[Ron Wolfarth]

Unless I missed it, how about a wall switch to turn on/off a ceiling fan that does not result in a buzz from the fan?

[dellis]

I was an enthusiastic user of Insteon. When it "died" I had no choice but to begin switching my switches - which I did for most but not all - to another company. Now I am being told that, unlike ALL OTHER SIMILAR SWITCHES, that Insteon will require a subscription fee! For what? Does any other similar service have a fee? Why invest in more products by Insteon and then have the price raised next year? On review, Insteon declined to respond to my emails or phone calls until they set up this forum, have now decided to cut me off if I don't pay, thereby undermining any trust in the "new" company by the same name that won't stand behind its product as the old company did. I won't question the price of individual switches, etc., but will not be dragged into a subscription service with an annual fee for something that wasn't in place when I first joined a few years ago.

[dellis]

I have for sale two outdoor timers that are, of course, like brand new. Make an offer to: eyemd@rcn.com

[johnnyG]

Unless I missed it, how about a wall switch to turn on/off a ceiling fan that does not result in a buzz from the fan?

I use the standard non-dimming Insteon switches and I do not have any buzzing.

[Kobe]

How about a hard wired 120v outdoor rated motion detector. I have a few of the older style wireless but it was a pain changing batteries in hard to acess locations. I tried one of the low voltage ones which work fine indoors, but they aren't rated for outdoor use. I ended up using a motion detector removed from a Lowes floodlight to trigger an inline linc relay. Not the best setup and could be so simple with an Insteon motion detector. Thanks for coming back online!!

[MrBill]

I was an enthusiastic user of Insteon. When it "died" I had no choice but to begin switching my switches - which I did for most but not all - to another company. Now I am being told that, unlike ALL OTHER SIMILAR SWITCHES, that Insteon will require a subscription fee! For what? Does any other similar service have a fee? Why invest in more products by Insteon and then have the price raised next year? On review, Insteon declined to respond to my emails or phone calls until they set up this forum, have now decided to cut me off if I don't pay, thereby undermining any trust in the "new" company by the same name that won't stand behind its product as the old company did. I won't question the price of individual switches, etc., but will not be dragged into a subscription service with an annual fee for something that wasn't in place when I first joined a few years ago.

There's only one case where you need to pay a subscription fee. If you want to use a hub and the insteon app from outside your home. There are many other configurations that do not require the subscription fee. Perhaps use home Assistant, another 3rd party solution or a VPN.

"Free Cloud Service Forever" business models all fail at some point. It was a bad idea to begin with, but back when it started 8-10 years ago "everyone was doing it". Unfortunately keeping a cloud server online is expensive. The current ownership of Insteon has nothing to do with either of the prior two owners. Instead of following a business model that failed twice they are trying to figure out how to succeed.