I’m switching from ISY to HA for a bunch of INSTEON equipment. With ISY, I was able to program a switch as a controller for a scene and a light as a responder and the switch would update the light directly even if the hub went offline. This provided the ability to dim by pressing/holding the switch and permitted the switches to control the lights even if the PLM had a problem.
There doesn’t seem to be a way to do this with HA/INSTEON. Is there a way to do this?
It haven’t used INSTEON with HA, but I haven’t seen too many tools that really let you do that. You can do it at the devices themselves, though. I think if you hold down the up/down button on a switch until it beeps, then do the same on the “target” switch/plug/whatever, it will do what you want.
Yes, in the May release the Insteon configuration panel is located under Settings → Devices & Services → Insteon → Configure (or HTTP:/<ha host address>:8123/insteon). From there you would select the Controller device and click on the “All-Link Database” tab. Create a record there with the following:
Mode: Controller
Group: 1 (usually this is 1 but devices with multiple buttons like a KPL could be different)
target: 11.22.33 (Insteon address of the responder)
data1 - data 3: 0
The group is the button that triggers the responder. Let me know if it is a device that is not a single button device and I can tell you what group number it is. Once you create the record, write it to the device.
Go back to the device list and select the responder device. Select the “All-Link Database” tab and create a record that looks as follows:
Mode: Controller
Group: 1 (same group number as the controller record above)
target: AA.BB.CC (Insteon address of the controller)
data1: 255 (0 = off, 255 = full on. For dimmable devices you can use any number in between. This sets the on level of the device. For on/off devices, any number equals full on)
data 2: 0
data 3: 1 (button to turn on. Usually this is 1 but for KPLs or some other devices it can be a different number)
After you create the record make sure to write it to the device.
I am working on a way to make this a lot easier but I have been focused on other enhancements. This should get done in a few months.