CFL and Insteon

I have CFL bulbs. I find that when I send an "on" signal, the lights will turn on, but after the three bulbs have warmed up I can no longer communicate with the insteon switch (non dimming).

Are there any know issues with CFL and Insteon or is it more likely that I have a bad insteon switch?

Thanks for the help!

[matt (support)]

Hi Michael,

I haven't heard of CFL causing problems, but that sounds like what is happening. You might want to call Smarthome support (their phone support is better than their email support) to see if they have heard anything.

Regards,
Matt

Thanks for the help. I will give that a try and post back here with any information I might learn.

By the way, I think Indigo is great. I look forward to a universal binary down the road.

Thanks again,

Mike

I purchased and replaced my existing SwitchLink V2 relay for my CFL bulbs with a new V2 relay to see if that would solve my problems. It worked for a few hours and then I had the same problem as previously -- that is I could get an “on” command to be recognized by the V2 relay, but I could not get an “off” command to work once the three CFL bulbs warmed up in the ceiling canisters. I also couldn’t get a reply when I try to get a status on the switch through Indigo.

I tried putting in an Insteon SwitchLink V2 dimmer for the incandescent lights that are wired into the same electrical switch gang/box. The incandescent switch works very well as long as the CFL lights are off. As soon as they are on and warm up, I get no return from the V2 dimmer switch to my software.

I am assuming that this means there is noise being created by the CFL bulbs that is interfering with the two Insteon devices. I would be grateful to anyone who can confirm this hypothesis with his or her own experiences.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

[matt (support)]

I am assuming that this means there is noise being created by the CFL bulbs that is interfering with the two Insteon devices. I would be grateful to anyone who can confirm this hypothesis with his or her own experiences.

I cannot confirm from experience (hopefully, someone can), but it sounds like your hypothesis is pretty solid...

Regards,
Matt

Michael, did you ever resolve this issue? If so how?

I am seeing a similar issue with CFLs

Thank you.

Bob

I purchased and replaced my existing SwitchLink V2 relay for my CFL bulbs with a new V2 relay to see if that would solve my problems. It worked for a few hours and then I had the same problem as previously -- that is I could get an “on” command to be recognized by the V2 relay, but I could not get an “off” command to work once the three CFL bulbs warmed up in the ceiling canisters. I also couldn’t get a reply when I try to get a status on the switch through Indigo.

I tried putting in an Insteon SwitchLink V2 dimmer for the incandescent lights that are wired into the same electrical switch gang/box. The incandescent switch works very well as long as the CFL lights are off. As soon as they are on and warm up, I get no return from the V2 dimmer switch to my software.

I am assuming that this means there is noise being created by the CFL bulbs that is interfering with the two Insteon devices. I would be grateful to anyone who can confirm this hypothesis with his or her own experiences.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

That's strange, I have a switchlinc v2 relay, that is controlling three cfl's and have had no problems. 95% of my bulbs in my house are cfl's.

Very interesting. Do you recall the manufacturer and model of the CFL bulbs you use?

That's strange, I have a switchlinc v2 relay, that is controlling three cfl's and have had no problems. 95% of my bulbs in my house are cfl's.

I did a Google search and came across this interesting thread on CFL noise:

http://objectmix.com/home-automation/19 ... noise.html

I've had issues with CF bulbs causing excessive noise on my system.

Greg,

How did you resolve the issues?

I've had issues with CF bulbs causing excessive noise on my system.

How did you resolve the issues?

Usually it's a sign that the bulb is about to die. Sometimes it just goes away on it's own.

Greg,

All my bulbs are less than two months old.

I have probably a dozen dead CFLs in the garage that have all died within months of installing them. There could be just one bulb causing all the trouble.

All of my bulbs are sylvania's or Bright Effects, the lowe's brand. Had really good luck with them, no signal issues for the past 5 months.