As part of my current Insteon project, I've been working on a few simple programs and sensor upgrades to automate some of my routine process. Life is busy with two kids....
There are two doors that we routinely use to exit, alarm and lock up the house, the front door and the garage door. At these two locations, I wanted to install and upgrade two keypads to 8 button configuration, then use the LED buttons to relay some simple information and status from the ISY-994i controller.
Converting the Insteon Keypad is relatively easy, and a keypad already installed does not need to be powered down to perform the conversion.
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| Remove the four small silver screws to remove the plastic switch button frame. Once removed, it exposes the microswitches and LEDs in the Keypad Module. |
The
Insteon 8 button conversion kit:
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| The 8 Button Kit includes a new button frame, complete with standard labelled scene buttons. I also ordered a set of blank white buttons (thinking ahead to using a labeller to do some simple custom labels) |
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| With button change kits, lens color change kits, switchlinc LED light pipe conversions, I've started to collect a good amount of small Insteon bits. A Plano fishing tackle organizer is perfect to keep everything organized and at hand. |
The
Insteon Color Change Kit:
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| The replacement lenses have grooves on one face that allow them to sit flush in the button frame. The left yellow lens is installed correctly and sits flush. The right red button is upside down, and protrudes about 1/2 mm from the button frame. The lenses need to be installe properly in order for the button covers to fit correctly. |
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| I decided to try various colors for various functions. |
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| Once the button caps are installed, they hide the color lenses underneath. |
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| Both 8 button frames prepared for installation at the two keypads. |
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| One keypad was already installed, so the upgrade was performed with it on the wall. |
In order to make your life a bit easier working with the very small phillips head screws that hold the button plate down to the Insteon switch, snap a magnet onto your screwdriver shaft. This small button magnet is a rare earth magnet that I purchased in a package from a tool retailer - Lee Valley Tools. It's super strong, and really useful here.
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| Rare earth magnet helps hold small screws on tip of screwdriver. |
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| Upgrade installed. Ready for labels. |
Once the frame is installed, it is simple to convert the switch from 6 button mode to 8 button mode. If you're using an ISY-994i, simply delete the keypad first from your configuration. If you're not using a central controller, you'll have to manually unlink it from any scenes. Then, power off the device using the air gap for 10 seconds. Then, holding down the A and H scene buttons (top left, bottom right), close the air gap and restart the keypad. Release the buttons once it beeps and the LEDs come on. They keypad is now in 8 button mode, and ready to be re-added to your Insteon network - by adding the unit using your ISY or by manually linking to other devices.
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| Upgrade installed, with all buttons toggled on. When on, you can see the color come through the white button. |
Once my two keypads were installed, I experimented a bit with the LED backlight levels. I settled on running these two keypads with an off backlight level of 0, to reduce confusion with activated controls. My plan for the two red buttons are to display general alarms on one, and specifically
water leak sensing on the other. The yellow buttons will be used to indicate ISY faults or notices, such as low battery levels in wireless devices. The other yellow button will indicate when a
deadbolt lock is unlocked (handy information - I can run to the back of the house and check the locks in that case). The blue light will indicate rain in the forecast using the climate module. The green button will be my "Vacation" program control. The top right white button will be my "all lights off" control - handy for locking up the house and leaving. And the left top button will be the connected load control.
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| Keypad with LED backlight level 1 |
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| Keypad with LED backlight level 0. The yellow and blue buttons arre "ON" |
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