Have anyone tried if the new remote controlled light bulb from Insteon can be controlled through Vera?
Considering this is a new product and availability is limited. It might be a while before anyone will report their findings.
- Garrett
Hi,
I have a similar device from Elix but with basic remote control, I guess RFX. See image attached.
The RFXpluggin in auto-discovery didn’t detect it (tested with and old version of the pluggin).
By the way, is there any recognized RGB light device on Vera ? It should be cool 
Tx
What the Inteon Light bulb does not tell you is that you need an insteon controller to control it. The marketing makes it sound like there is no need for a controller. I am not sure how the basic Vera insteon support would work with this, but if the bulb shows itself as a device that has been around e.g. light switch of some sort, it could work. It would be interesting to see how altsteon would handle it.
- Garrett
Exactly. It’s why I’m waiting for the next round of WiFi and/or [raw]802.15.4 bulbs, with an open (and free, and no NDA) protocol.
ie. Something we’ll be able to get from multiple vendors, something you want when you bust a bulb…
It’s interesting to see that, given all the fan-fare last yr, none of the other vendors have actually released product yet (Google’s HA Partner, NXP’s GreenChip etc, etc)
I am hoping to see @Home take off again at this coming Google IO. Not sure what happened with the project and why no new information has turned up about it. I guess time will tell.
- Garrett
I just pulled the data sheet for the new bulb to see what the command set looks like. The bulb is an I2CS device. (Device version will show up as 2.) I am not sure if the Vera supports these devices or not. If it does, then I would expect that the bulb should show up as a dimmer switch based on the DevCat that it reports.
Altsteon should be able to drive the basic functionality in these bulbs with no problem. However, there are some new commands to allow control of certain features and the ramp rate table has changed. I don’t believe setting the ramp rate works in either Altsteon or the Vera, so that shouldn’t be a big problem. So, the only issue I can see is if the new features that are exposed are required in some way. (Which I doubt.)
I too have been wondering what happened to Google’s @Home stuff. Seems like there was lots of fanfare, and then complete silence. I’ll see if I can track anyone down at I/O and find out what is up. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me and I’ll see if I can get answers for you.
Thanks for the responses! Been waiting to see if anything came from the @home camp as well since buying a Fibaro controller for every lamp in the house just seems too expensive… Looking forward to seeing how this progresses, but I might just order one of them and see how it goes
alternatively, wait for Z-Wave LED Bulbs… looks like they may be coming out soon…
Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report about @Home after Google IO. The line to get in was really long, and I needed to attend a different session for my job. What I can say, is that it appears to be alive and well. I heard from some of the other attendees that a new hardware kit was given out at the session that contained a nice array of sensors on it.
Who knows though… Maybe the Nexus Q is a result of @Home. Or maybe an initial step in that direction. (It is a neat little device at any rate.)
[quote=“christianhau, post:1, topic:171898”]Have anyone tried if the new remote controlled light bulb from Insteon can be controlled through Vera?
http://www.insteon.net/bulb.html[/quote]
Got a couple of them for myself and it took some time to add them to my Vera Lite. I still don’t have Altsteon installed and they worked fine even without a linked switch/dimmer.
My system is a little slow tough… will check whether the lamps have something to do with that.
Hi, I bought one of these devices and it works great without issue using Veralite without Altsteon.
How did you get it to work if you don’t mind me asking?
I have a Vera Lite and bought an Insteon 8Watt LED bulb to play with and I’m having trouble.
I entered the device code and hit add and nothing really happens. Any help but be appreciated !
Are they capable of voltage sensing for switched operation? I am trying to figure out a reason to buy one, but if it cannot be turned on with the lamp’s switch then it isn’t much use for me.
I was looking into buying some of these bulbs , would these work with Vera lite out of the box or do I need to pay 79.99 for the insteon modem? or would they even work if I connected a insteon modem to the Vera ? ??? I was thinking of going with these or hue which ever is easiest to work with my Vera lite. thanks for any help .
Using any Insteon item with Vera (native or Altsteon) requires purchasing the Insteon PLM (PowerLinc Modem).
I have the Insteon LED Bulb.
To use it with Vera you must have an Insteon PLM.
The bulb looks like a dimmable Light to the Insteon controller.
The one bad thing is there is no local control of the bulb.
If the bulb is turned off via Insteon it has to be turned back on via Insteon. Turning power off and back on to the bulb will not make it come on.
The Insteon plug in Lamp Controllers and Phillips HUE Lamps will come on when you turn them off then back on which in my mind is how the Insteon LED Light should work but it does’nt.
[quote=“goconfigure, post:13, topic:171898”]How did you get it to work if you don’t mind me asking?
I have a Vera Lite and bought an Insteon 8Watt LED bulb to play with and I’m having trouble.
I entered the device code and hit add and nothing really happens. Any help but be appreciated ![/quote]
Here is the step by step…
- Put your modem into pairing mode by press and hold the SET button for 3 seconds or longer
- Either screw in the LED or turn on the power to it if you are using a mechanical switch or plug-in lamp. The power on function automatically places the LED into pairing mode to pair with the modem.
- Listen and you will hear a faint double beep indicating it was added to the modems memory.
- Reload your Vera in the interface. Once it refreshes and finishes reloading it will state in the message bar that it is configuring Insteon. A new device will show up on your GUI called “_Dimmable Light” and it will state below the widget that it successfully got the message. The reload sometimes may take 2-3 consecutive tries so be patient and just let Vera do its thing, once its all done, you will get the new widget.
- Once finished configuring, test it by turning the light on and off a couple times, and rename the widget if you wish. In a bit it will refresh again this time showing your control options on the widget itself.
Thats it, should be good to go. I tried the “ADD” insteon device routine but it doesn’t seem to work very well, but this method does, I tried it numerous times to make sure.
@rdcole - You are is absolutely correct, the bulb does not support any kind of the Auto-Sense or Load sensing feature so once its included into your controller it is best to control it strictly via Insteon. Using it in a plug-in lamp with its own switch, in my mind would not be the best use for them, but if you use them in a circuit with wall sconces or any fixture where you do not need local switching seems like the best way to use them. I agree thats not ideal as they really should have built load sensing into the bulb itself.
I am new to home automation, and brand new to this forum. (So please be patient me as I am still learn the protocol here.)
I picked up an Insteon hub a few months ago, along with a few devices (switches, 8-button scene controller, and 6 LED bulbs)
I was scared off by the idea of port forwarding so I got a VeraLite instead.
I was able to add the LEDs to the Vera pretty easily. It did not even require me to push the button on the Vera. I screwed in each bulb (which put it into its “find” mode for a minute or so) and then found it using the web interface.
I also added the switch without any issues.
Though I am still having difficulty getting the scene controller to work. I’ll continue my research and play with it before I give up.
Cheers,
peter
Glad to hear this works! To anyone else wondering though the LED bulb never has local control even with Insteon. I have several with the Insteon Hub and the ISY994 but am switching to Vera, but that’s one thing I hate with them. If you have them turned off, and then disconnect your Insteon network or something fails etc, the only possible way to turn it back on is with Insteon. So if the controller dies, you have to link it to a new one which is a pain sometimes, just to turn it back on. It’s too bad it didn’t serve dual purpose, but I guess it makes sense as otherwise someone would turn it off on the wall switch and then Insteon/Vera could never turn it back on. Just would be nice if maybe flipping the switch off on off on a few times or something would trigger it to go on and reset.
PS new here, why do I have to enter 4 security words PLUS a capcha phrase? Logging into my online banking website is a username and password, so kind of funny that a forum for home automation requires 6 things to post lol. Sadly doubt I’ll be using this forum too often if I have to keep googling to post as it’s asking questions about mammal’s in the world.