As of this article, no one has released a native Insteon IR remote control.  However since all Insteon devices are backwards compatible with X10, there is a solution.

Assigning an X10 address to an Insteon device and using an IR543 X10 Infrared Commander Center allows a programmable IR remote control to control your Insteon device.

I use a Harmony 880 remote to control my home theater and my Insteon lights.

It turns out because of the way the Harmony remotes work, they are not best suited for X10 in some situations because they do not allow for macros. For example you can add x10 commands to your activity startup/shutdown but can not have it send an x10 command after pressing the pause button.

Also for anyone else interested in using the IR543 X10 Infrared Commander Center with a Harmony Remote (The 880 in my case), see this link: http://www.remotecentral.com/cgi-bin/mboard/rc-harmony/thread.cgi?3765 which includes a few tips and tricks.

I hope this is helpful.

As of this article, no one has released a native Insteon RF remote control.  However since all Insteon devices are backwards compatible with X10, there is a solution.

For less than $30 I ordered RR501 Wireless RF Transceiver and a KR22A Credit Card Keychain Controller online from Automated Outlet.

I first used the free InHomeFre software application to receive the X10 signal on the powerline and convert it to an Insteon signal.  However there were two problems with this.  The first is that the room I wanted to control the lights in is on the opposite phase as the computer running the software.  Because I do not have a phase coupler and am not willing to invest to much money in legacy X10 technology I had to locate the RF receiver on the other side of the house near the computer.  The distance between the remote control and the X10 RF receiver caused about a 75% reliability factor.  This is unacceptable, granted we are talking X10 here so I don't expect 100%.  The second problem was that by using the InHomeFre software (along with an Insteon PowerLinc V2 USB) there was a delay of a second or two between pressing a button on the remote and the light responding.  So I deemed this solution just not acceptable on both counts.

Knowing that insteon devices are backwards compatible with X10 I decided to give that a try.  I moved the X10 RF receiver into the same room I wanted to control and used the remote to set the X10 address on each device.  This went very smoothly.  I then tested the remote on each device and it just worked.  It's about 99% reliable and the delay between pressing the button and the light reacting is barely noticeable.

Controlling up to 8 scenes from a single gang box is great.  I can place one of these next to the home entry doors and set a button to turn on every light in house if coming home late at night… or a button to make sure every light is turned off when leaving.  In the kitchen I could have one button for cooking, one for family dinner, one for romantic dinner, and one for party, etc.

Each button is backlit and the backlight intensity can be adjusted between 2 settings.  When a button is presses it by default toggles the scene to be on or off.  When the scene is on the intensity of the individual button backlight is increased.   I like the individual backlit buttons but the light tends to bleed over into other buttons a bit.

The KeypadLinc ships with a variety of preprinted labels.  The labels are made from a grainy paper and as you can imagine, a backlight behind paper isn’t very appealing.  I have read that some people are using label makers to print their own buttons but I have not yet tested this.  Smarthome has responded to this concern and said they are looking into producing etched buttons.

The tactile feel for each button takes some getting used to and the unit I have doesn’t seem to give quite enough feedback on some of the buttons to be confident that I actually pressed the button.  With some practice this probably wouldn’t be a problem.

The functionality of the KeypadLinc is as expected and very convenient, however in this user’s humble opinion is not the most cosmetically appealing controller.  I just happened to look through a home automation magazine at the bookstore the other day and found a few very nice looking multi-button switches (not Insteon).  Maybe we'll see something a little more stylish in the future. They are fine for a business or maybe even a laundry room but I think they are a little too industrial looking for a most rooms in a home.

 

I have now installed several (2476D) Insteon SwitchLinc V2 Dimmers (among other devices as well) and had time to tinker with them a bit.  They are replacing standard relay switches, so having dimmers is a nice touch.

The switch paddles have the tactile feel of mouse buttons.  In fact they click like a mouse button does (although their range of motion is greater).  This is different from my old switches, but fine.  The led bar along the side is a great cosmetic touch, but adds nothing to the functionality.  The led's come as a standard white light which is arguably bright at night.  I like this in my hallway but not in my bedroom.  Luckily the leds are replaceable with colored leds which I found very nice, and reduce the amount of light.  The blue leds in the bedroom did the trick.

Their response to the local load is virtually unnoticeable, but not instantaneous like the old relay switches.  In most cases I have adjusted the ramp rate so it is completely unnoticeable.

Perhaps I have lower than normal ambient noise in my home or perhaps my ears are just sensitive, but I found that the switches make a very faint familiar electrical buzzing noise when they are on or dimmed.  The incandescent lights buzz a bit as well, however I have found that different brands of lights are worse than others.  This really isn't much of a problem, but I can hear it at night in the quite bedroom.  The switch buzzing is more faint when the lights are fully on, more noticeable when almost off, and there is no buzzing when off. 

When controlling linked switches, it takes less than a second to turn all of the lights on in the house.  There is a definite delay however it is short enough that it doesn't bother me any.

Smarthome also offers a reduced price version of the Insteon devices called the ICON series.  They do not have interchangeable led colors and do not have adjustable ramp rates, but if they did I would use them as they are half the price.  I should also note that the ICON series have a reduces wattage capability (which in most cases shouldn’t be a problem).

I have always been a bit rough on light switches and because the Insteon switches have such a mouse button feel to them, I find myself being much more careful with them.  This is unjustified as I do not know how much punishment an Insteon switch can really take.  Perhaps I am too gentle with the Insteon switches because I am not used to them yet, but in rare cases when I barely press the paddle I can hear the switch click under the paddle, but nothing happens (even on the local load).  I found that when I am in a hurry, walk into a dark room and quickly tap the switch (without fully depressing it) the light doesn't come on. I do hear the switch click (like a mouse click).  Other's have confirmed this as well.  It is quite infrequent though.

I also tested the X10 backward compatibly with an X10 RF remote control and an X10 RF receiver and had no problems.  Setting up the X10 address on the device was simple and ... it just worked.

The link/scene reliability has been 100% over the entire house!!!  Every light in a scene flawlessly turns on/off and dims/brightens properly.  All in all, I can not imagine spending the extra money on ZWave, UPB, Radio RA, etc where reliability is concerned.  Insteon is the most cost effective home automation lighting solution for its reliability.

However new devices have been slow to come to the market and the competition definitely has this to its advantage.  There are several software packages with beta Insteon functionality but they are still in their infancy.  Smarthome has plans to release quite a few new device types this year, including RF remotes.  Motion sensors and full software support have been requested by many people and based on the rumor mill I expect these to be available later this year as well.  In the time being, since the Insteon devices are backwards compatible with X10, one does have the option of using X10 devices in the interim.

If Smarthome and third party venders can produce enough new devices this year I believe the other automated lighting brands will have some tough competition.

 

I currently have a Harmony 880 which is an IR only remote.  The 890 is an RF remote which is supposed to releave some of the issues of the 880.  It does feel unnatural to hold the remote at the entertainment center until all the IR signals have been send, which in some cases can take 5 seconds, maybe more.  This is particurally a problem in my case since the coffee table often times blocks the line of sight to the devices. So I have to hold the remote up high.

Hopefully they fixed the cradle contact issues of the 880 too. I can't tell you how many times I've put it in the cradle to found out the next day that it didn't charge.

The 880's buttons are also a little flemsy and it doesn't respond as quickly as an OEM remote (even after tedious trial and error modifications). In any case I hope th 890 has addressed some of these issues.

The 890 supports ZWave, and hopefully it will be able to support Insteon when Smarthome releases their RF protocol.

I was able to reliably send commands to insteon devices from my pc through the PowerLinc with the line noise present. I assume it was doing retries.  However I was not able to use any software that would do auto discover, or link anything to the usb unit.

There is an LED on the PowerLinc that would flash horrifically as soon as I turn my computer on. So I knew the computer was introducing the line noise.

According to SmartHome technical service a noise filter such as the 1626-10 FilterLinc would fix the problem.

I received the the FilterLinc, plugged my power strip into it and it solved the problem.