Brandt wrote:Yeah x10 is not reliable. Been there done that. Go with Insteon and it will track if it's on or off more reliably. If that's not enough then add-a-motor is not the right product for you.
Brandt, I understand about x10 and Insteon, as I have a "mixed" setup in my home utilizing both x10 and Insteon. When I first started out (about 12 years ago) I don't believe there was much Insteon, if any at the time. As much as I would love to dump all of the x10 stuff and run strictly Insteon, it would require thousands or tens of thousands to replace all the high end Smarthome 2-way switches as well as some of the cheap stuff still in place. My setup is highly reliable based on the hardware and time already invested in the system. Only on a rare occasion do I get a rouge signal that may turn a light on when it wasn't intended.
With that out of the way, my add-a-motor has been in place for about 6-8 years and rarely, if ever gives me results that are not intended. But, I would just like a reliable method to determine the status of the blinds. I believe because of the way the add-a-motor operates, an Insteon (appliance module, receptacle, etc. ) would still not be able to determine the status of the position of the blinds (opened or closed). This works much like my Morning Industries deadbolts. You can not reliably determine if they are locked or unlocked. The way I got around this obstacle was to add plunger switches inside the door strike hole. If the door is locked, the plunger is depressed - the plunger is connected to a DS10a and sends a signal to Indigo, which in turn sets a variable - locked or unlocked.
I am going to try some of the methods addressed in my original post and will report back to anyone who may find of use. Specifically, I would like to open the add-a-motor to see if there is a curcuit that I can soilder to, a DS10a or use the DS10a in some other fashion to send a RF signal on the status to Indigo.
If someone has already attempted this or has an alternative method of reliably determining curtain status, please pipe in before I hack up my motor.