I installed a second Insteon SwitchLinc Relay for the basement recreation room yesterday. After installation, I linked it to the two SwitchLinc relays that control the basement landing light. Linking took just a few minutes.
Now, I have a very simple but effective Insteon scene for the basement. When the kids turn on the lights on their way downstairs, the basement is properly lit and ready for fun. As far as scenes go, this is about as simple as it gets, but it is still useful.
With additional lights coming on automatically, I am more concerned about power consumption. The recreation room has four fixtures, each with three bulbs. Previously, there was a mixture of 60 Watt and 40 Watt incandescent bulbs. In total, power consumption was over 400 Watts with everything on. Ouch! I replaced all the bulbs with CFLs, reducing power consumption by 4x. And for the first time, I am happy with the quality of light from the CFLs. The package listed the color temperature as 2700 K. As they should at this color temperature, they give off a nice warm light.
Managing INSTEON Links with the EZSrve
One of the benefits of a home automation controller is scene management. Although Insteon devices can be linked into scenes using button and paddle presses, these manual links become difficult to manage as you install more devices. Without a visual map of the links you have created, you must rely on your memory and activating devices to see what's linked to what. Also, changing linked devices, on levels and ramp rates is confusing.
In the following video, I demonstrate how to create a scene using the EZSrve's Web interface. The scene includes three SwitchLinc Relays and two light fixtures. Two of the SwitchLincs -- the ones controlling my basement landing fixture -- are configured as a 3-way by the scene. When either of these switches is turned on, the basement landing fixture and a second fixture in the basement rec room are turned on.
What I like about scene management with the EZSrve is that when it comes time to change a scene, you can do it with an easy-to-use Web interface.
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