Is INSTEON any better than X10?

Two SwitchLinc Relay wall switches have had trouble now. They both seem to be very poor at receiving the INSTEON power line signals. This is very similar to X10 systems. Its not certain INSTEON is worth the extra money over X10 modules. It has some benefits like more flexibility and faster operation but if it can't get a signal off the power line, its no good. Sometimes when a system doesn't work its hard to accept it, especially if a lot of money has been invested. This problem with the SwitchLinc relays has been very frustrating.

The switches were both current models a couple months ago but the SwitchLinc Relay has been upgraded with a sense line, independent load conductors and the load and grounding conductors have been beefed up to what looks like 14 AWG. Hopefully the signal problems have been solved with these new model SwitchLincs. So far they are working where the older model did not work.

The old SwitchLinc Relays are model 2476S V4.1, the new ones are model 2476S V5.2 according to the label on the front of the device. Indigo reports the old firmware as version 3.5 and the firmware in the new switches as 3.7. Both are reported as SwitchLinc V2 Relay. It would be wise to require your vendor to ship the new V5.2 or later hardware. Without Indigo's log file, troubleshooting this problem would have been impossible.

The INSTEON specification includes RF and power line signaling. That would fix the issues for sure. It would add expense but intermittent operation of the switches is really unacceptable. Maybe ZigBee will be the answer. Maybe SmartHome will add RF to their modules.