Upgrading to an Evergreen IM Electronically Commutated Furnace Fan Motor

This weekend's project was an energy efficiency project - upgrading the furnace fan motor in my 20 year old Lennox fan coil furnace (thermopump / electric heat). When we moved into this house two years ago, we embarked on a series of energy efficiency upgrades - increasing attic insulation. Increasing insulation around attic duct work to reduce duct loss. Improving the building envelope - by sealing gaps and adding spray polyurethane insulation at critical places. With the improved sealing, we also installed a heat recovery ventilator (HRV) - to constantly exchange fresh air from outside with stale air from inside the house. Since the house has a ducted ventilation system, the HRV was connected to the return ductwork and required the furnace fan to operate constantly when the HRV is exchanging air.

The furnace fan ran with a typical permanent split capacitor (PSC) motor, with a 3/4 hp rating. This motor draws 5.5 Amps at 230 Volts when running - for 1250 Watts of enengy consumption, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. At $0.095 / kW-hr for electricity, this motor costs $1071 / year to run. The motor was installed to run at a single, high speed.

Some research lead me to the Evergreen IM electronically commutated (EC) motor. This motor is a brushless DC motor with permanent magnets, one of the most energy efficient motor types currently available (similar in design to the motors found in electric cars). All the electronics are contained in the motor housing itself, and the electronics and electrical connections have been designed to mimic standard HVAC fan motor leads, with "taps" for low, medium, medium-high and high speed. These taps don't connect to line voltage, rather, they are control lines that are used to instruct the power electronics how to control the motor speed electronically.

The Evergreen IM EC motor, with belly band mount installed.

Prior to purchasing the motor, I read the manual available online to understand its specifications, applicability to my furnace, and installation requirements. Investigating my current system I found my existing 3/4 hp motor to be installed with a shaft bearing mount - incompatible with the Evergreen IM motor. So I knew I needed to order a motor mount at the same time. Photos of the existing motor's data plate indicated that it was a "Frame 48" sized motor - the same size as the Evergreen IM.

Genteq sells a series of different sized motor mounts for its Evergreen line of motors - 10", 11" and 13". I got access to the current blower, measured the blower wheel diameter (11 1/2" in diameter), and realized I would require the largest mount - the 13" mount.

I shopped online, got pricing from Amazon and the usual suspects, but also called my local HVAC contractor - Ventilation PCP in Sainte-Julie. They provided a reasonable price for the motor and the mounts, and also some assistance in case I ran into any difficulty installing the motor. I felt that the little extra that I paid purchasing from my HVAC contractor might come in handy in case I ran into trouble, so I ordered the motor and it arrived from the distributor in a few days.

The first steps in replacing the existing motor is to baseline the performance of the existing fan, so that you can set the speeds correctly with the replacement motor. To do this, there are a few methods described in the Evergreen IM motor manual. I decided to do a Total External Static Pressure (TESP) test of my fan coil unit, and also do a Temperature Rise test of the 2nd stage electric heating circuit. These tests took about 2 hours total, taking my time to get it right. There are quite a few good youtube tutorials on how to do these tests, they are not complicated, if you are methodical it's pretty simple and straighforward. I'll list a few of my lessons learned below.

To perform the TESP test - you need an electronic differential pressure gauge. I borrowed a Testo 510 - very nice and simple to use. They cost about $200 on ebay to purchase, but since I don't expect to be doing this type of work very frequently, I didn't purchase one. The Testo reads differntial pressure in inches of water, and since the fan coil unit is pretty large, I used some vinyl tubing to run to my pressure test points - at the inlet (return) side of the fan coil - just before the thermopump evaporator coil - and at the outlet (supply) side of the fan coil unit - after the ventilation fan and electric heating stage.

My existing system ran at about 0.44 in H2O, which I understand to be a pretty good figure indicating relatively efficent (properly sized) ductwork. There are three principal returns, one from each level of the house that come to the return side, and three separate independant supply branches after the fan coil running to each level of the house. To do the test, I made sure all the filters were cleaned, all registers and dampers were open to minimize restrictions in the ductwork.

Testo 510 differential pressure gauge.

To do the temperature rise test - the procedure is relatively straighforward. Basically, by measuring the air temperature entering and leaving the furnace heating unit, and measuring the energy consumption rate of the heating system in Btu/hr - you can calculate the airflow of the furnace using a simple thermodynamic calculation. The Evergreen IM manual only suggests that you measure the temperature rise before and after the motor upgrade, so you can set the speeds on the Evergreen IM to match the temperature rise numbers (and therefore match the airflow). In my case, by also measuring the electrical consumption of the electric heaters, you can use the sensible heat calculation to do a reasonable estimate of airflow. I used my Klein CL1000 clamp meter to measure the power consumption of the heating stage - which ran at 85.3 Amps at 230 Volts - from which you have to subtract the fan power consumption (5.5 Amps), which left me with approximately 80 Amps of electric heat consumption. By the way - when you're doing this, you'll have the connection panel (or your electrical panel) open to be able to access a cable to measure current. If you're doing this - you'll need to be very careful about live circuits. If you're not comfortable with this - just avoid this altogether - you really only need to measure temperature rise.

Klein CL1000 Clamp Meter

 For measuring temperature rise, I used a digital meat thermometer (found in the kitchen). I found that with a 3/8" hole drilled in a duct, I could get the probe into the airflow pretty close to the supply and return sides of the furnace, and get a fairly accurate temperature measurement. It takes about 15 minutes for the furnace to come to a good equilibrium to allow you to take measurements. Then, each duct temperature measurement took about 1 minute for the reading to stabilize, indicating that the probe tempeature had matched the airflow temperature. If doing this again - I would purchase a second digital meat thermometer. They are not expensive, and by doing both the supply and return side at the same time, it would have saved some time in the process.

Digital meat thermometer for measuing temperature rise. 

The following photo is the meat thermometer inserted in the supply duct measuring the furnace outlet temperature (43.9 Celcius). Note that you have to place the thermometer out of direct line to the heating elements - otherwise heat radiation from the elements will throw off the measurement. You want to measure the temperature of the outlet air only.

Supply side temperature measurement using meat thermometer.

While I was at it, I also took a few duct outlet temperature measurements, and compared them to the mesurement at the outlet of the furnace. The difference in temperature between the furnace outlet and the supply duct outlets give you your duct temperature loss.

Once the measurements were taken and noted, it was time to let the furnace cool down a bit, and then get started with the motor swap. The first step is to cut power to the furnace (from all potential power sources, in some systems from multiple breakers, especially if you have a thermopump), open the covers, and note all the existing wire connections for the PSC motor. You'll be using some of these connection points for your new connections, so take a few photos and some good notes before you start disconnections. I intend to keep the old motor as a spare - so I'll need to remember how it hooks up to be able to reuse it in the future.

Once the old motor is disconnected, you need to remove the entire blower assembly from the furnace. In my case, this was pretty quick and easy (very accessible).

Blower with old PSC motor - note the shaft bearing mount - not compatible with the Evergreen IM motor. 

Once the blower was removed, the next step was to separate the blower wheel from the motor shaft. I started with a bit of penetrating fluid, and then checked to see if any of my automotive pullers would work on the blower wheel. None would fit, and I didn't have a blower wheel puller. So - once the motor was unbolted from the blower cage, I set the blower cage up on some 2x4 blocks, facing up, centered the blower wheel on the cage for good support, and then tapped the motor shaft with a block of wood and a hammer. 3 or 4 stiff blows, and the motor dropped out of the blower wheel.

With the blower wheel removed from the cage, I noticeds quite a lot of oily crud buildup - probably a mix of dust and lubrication oil from the motor bearings. I took the wheel outside, and scrubbed each vane of the blower wheel with a toothbrush to get rid of the crud. This is an important step in the process, and I'll explain why later on in this post.

Blower wheel in serious need of a scrub.

With everything apart, it's time to get the new motor installed. I carefully centered the belly mount cage on the blower cage, and marked my placement for new holes. NOTE THAT THE MOTOR NEEDS TO BE INSTALLED IN THE MOUNT TO MARK THE HOLES. If you don't have the motor in the mount - the motor mount will flex open too much, and your holes will be in the wrong place. 

Marking holes for drilling for the new motor mount

 I drilled the holes without the blower wheel installed, and then carefully cleaned the cuttings out of the blower cage. It was a bit fussy to get the new mount installed - the blower wheel had to be in the cage first, because it would not slip past the mount installed. It was a bit tricky reaching in behind the blower wheel to place the bolts - but everything went well working farthest from the blower outlet first. The last two bolts go in easy from the blower opening.

Installing the belly band mounting bolts. 

Once the mount is taken care of, install the motor in the mount and the blower wheel on the motor shaft. I put a small amount of anti-seize on the shaft before installing it in the blower wheel - just to help avoid it rusting together over time, and complicating future replacement. 

Prior to installing the blower, I had to replace the grommet leading from the fan / coil compartment to the wiring compartment, to fit the wiring harness for the motor. I found running the harness before installing the blower cage and motor gave me more space and made things easier. One nice thing about this motor is that the cable harnesses plug into the side of the motor and are removable. So - if you ever had to replace this motor, it's a simple swap out without the requirement to even access the wiring compartment of the furnace. 

New rubber grommet for the wiring harness.

The harness can be installed in the furnace before reinstalling the blower and motor.

Installation of the motor wiring harness.

Install the motor voltage jumper before reinstalling the blower and motor. If you get this step wrong, you can damage the motor, so take care with the instructions at this point. Here is the yellow jumper for 230V installed.

With the harness installed, replace the blower cage and motor.

Blower cage installed. Note the wiring harness run through the grommet to the wiring cabinet. 

With the blower reinstalled in the furnace, it's time to start making connections. Take your time, read the manual, and everything will go fine. I connected the two harness connections.

Harness connections and jumper installed.

I won't go into the details of the wiring connections, the manual does a fine job of describing the connections. All in, removal of the old motor, and reconnection of the new motor and startup tests took me about 2 hours. In my case, I connected the high voltage signal cables to give me 1/2 to 3/4 hp operation, and then connected the high speed signal wire to the thermopump "Y" call for first stage heating or cooling. I connected the medium high speed signal wire to the "W" emergency auxiliary heat connection (electric heat) in my case. There was no need to connect a low speed signal wire, the motor defaults to low speed when there is a voltage on the high speed signal wire, and no voltage on any of the other control speed signal wires.

This looks a lot worse than it really is - most of these wires are running back and forth between the electric heat elements and contactors. The thermostat connections are at the top right of the cabinet. 

The fan relay - I took the time to attach it to the side of the cabinet, because for some reason it was just sitting in the bottom of my cabinet. In my case - all of my 230V connections were made directly onto the terminals of this fan relay, and the motor harness is pre-terminated with spade plugs that fit perfectly on my relay. Made for very quick and easy connections.

With everything installed and running, I turned the furnace back on and ran a few tests. My first reaction was amazement at how quiet it was running in low speed mode - which I set up to run when my heat recovery ventilator is running. The furnace literally used to shake and rattle with the fan running at high speed all the time - and now, with a blower wheel scrubbed clean (and probably closer to factory balance) and the Evergreen IM motor - the furnace was now making less noise than the Venmar heat recovery ventilator - Amazing! Even at high speed the system was running much quieter than before. 

Zoom into this spreadsheet to see pre and post Evergreen Installation Calculations

The final step in the motor installation is to verify that all modes are working correctly, and very importantly - at the right speeds. It is absolutely critical that the ventilator speeds are well matched to the furnace operating modes - if you don't have enough airflow - especially with 80 Amps of electric heat in my case, or gas or fuel fired furnaces, you can quickly overheat the combustion or heating chambers, and hopefully your safety devices kick in and avoid damage. So - finish the installation with some Temperature Rise and TESP tests to compare to your previous blower speeds. 

When I completed my checks - high speed on the new Evergreen Motor in 1/2 - 3/4 HP mode gave me an identical TESP static pressure drop across my fan coil - indicating identical airflow. My temperature rise / sensible heat calculation gave me an airflow of approximately 1520 cfm on the old system - which is a good match for my 3.75 ton thermopump, using 400 cfm per ton of heating / cooling - indicating that I require 1500 cfm minimum.

For the identical airflow in my system - 1500 cfm - my fan current dropped from 5.5 Amps to 3.75 Amps - a 31.5% efficiency gain.

I used the fan law to calculate my airflow when in electric heating mode - medium high speed on the Evergreen IM. The fan law uses your TESP measurement differences to calculate your airflow differences in two cases. In my case, my temperature rise when from 38.7 F with the old motor to 42.1 F with the new motor in medium high speed - an acceptable increase in my case, considering that my fan power drops even further to 3.06 Amps - a reduction of 44%.

Conclusions

The final stunning measurement is the new power consumption in low speed mode. The fan law gives me a low speed air circulation of 834 cfm - a little more than half the flow of high speed - for only 0.63 Amps - a reduction of 88.5% energy consumption for more than half the high speed airflow. Since my furnace runs most of the time in this mode - my savings should be very significant.

By my estimates of the duty cycles - 50% of the time the thermopump or emergency electric heat is running, and 50% of the time only my air exchanger is running - I calculate that I'll save just over $600/year in reduced electricity bills. That gives me a payback of less than a year for the motor and mounting bracket.

A few final observations - a good cleaning of the blower wheel has resulted in the elimination of vibration in the furnace - even at high speed. No more rattling and chattering noise, and no rattles coming through the ductwork - what a huge improvement. At low speed circulation mode - the flow of air in the house is now imperceptable - even at night when the house is silent - what an improvement. And being in the furnace / utility room is now much quieter as well. I have a small workshop there, the reduction in noise is very welcomed. So far - well worth the research time, and all in - about 3/4 of a Saturday to perform all the pre and post tests, and the installation itself.

Sources and Links

I hope you found this post useful. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section below. I answer all questions.

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Getting Good Quality Electrical Connections with the Insteon 2477S Switchlinc On/Off Relay and Keypads

Now that Smarthome has upgraded the rating of its Switchlinc Relays and Keypads to 15A current capacity, the size of the leads have increased to 12Ga. This has caused a bit of difficulting with installing these new devices - the leads are thicker and less flexible, and take more space in the electrical box reducing the space for marettes. The devices themselves, now dual band (wireless and powerline) are now larger also, so the box becomes a tight fit. This makes good quality mechanical connections even more important.

Here's a tip on how to get a good connection with those larger 12ga leads and standard 14ga house wiring:

Note the piece of paper protecting the paint on the drywall when installing these Insteon Switches

Wrap the 14ga copper house wiring around the 12ga Insteon lead - which has almost no flexibility / ductility. This will allow you to get a good mechanical connection before installing the Marette to hold and insulate the connection.

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Using DIN Rail Mount Terminal Blocks for Low Voltage and Line Voltage Wiring Projects

A colleague of mine with experience in automation put me on to the Phoenix contacts screw terminal blocks. These are modular, and clip onto DIN rails, in any configuration or sequence you would like. They come in differnent colors, come with different dividers and end caps, and let you clean up junction boxes and panels with a very professional, organized look.

Lighting Relay Panel - Upgraded to Insteon Devices - All Interconnection Wiring Done with Phoenix Contacts Terminal Blocks. Note the plastic cable channels for routing wiring.

Check out my page on updating a 1980's relay panel with Insteon devices to learn more about this project.

Completed Panel, with Covers installed on the Plastic cable channels. All wiring now hidden, Connections very neat using the terminal blocks.

DIN Rail Mount Hesila Fuseholder - Light illuminutes when fuse is blown. Very useful when using sub-guage wiring below the guage required for standard house breakers. 

DIN Rail Mount Hesila Fuseholder - Opened to replace fuse. Uses 5 x 20mm standard tubular fuses. Note the junpers on the standard terminal blocks - used for cross connecting the circuits on the standard terminal blocks.

If you have access to electrical / automation wholesalers - you should be able to purchase these fuseholders / terminal blocks there if you require them. Another alternative are your local electronics suppliers / electronics parts suppliers - they will normally carry some brand of modular DIN rail mounting terminal blocks.

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Using the Brother PTouch Labeller - Label the date on your new Smoke Detector Batteries

This will be a pretty short post - over the past few years I've gotten into the habit of putting the date on any batteries that I replace in battery operated devices. This helps with troubleshooting down the line, and can also help you verify when you actually need to change a battery.

One particularly important battery operated device are your smoke detectors, obviously. My house has nine smoke detectors installed, changing the batteries takes about 15 or 20 minutes. Labelling the batteries adds about 5 minutes to that task, so I just do it with my PTouch labeller, as the following images demonstrate:

Add the labels to your batteries at the start of the job - this makes things go quicker when you're carrying your ladder around the house. Check yoiur smoke detectors before hand for the installation orientation of the battery, so your installing your labels on the side of the battery that faces out when the battery door is opened.

Opening the cover quickly shows when the battery was installed. 

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When Upgrading the ISY-99i to the ISY-994i, Should I Purchase the "Pro" Version?

Besides the number of additional links / programs that the Pro version of the ISY-994i supports, there is one particular feature that helps you save time when programming and setting up an Insteon system. That is the "delayed write" feature, that allows you to save and queue up Insteon device configuration changes between writes to the devices.

To illustrate - every time you make a system configuration change - adding a device to a scene, removing it, adding a device, and so on - the link tables on those devices need to be updated over the Insteon network. The PLM attached to your ISY-994i sends commands, over your powerline / wireless Insteon mesh net - communicate with the device in question, and sends the information required for that device to update its links tables.

Even a relatively minor change normally takes 10 or 15 seconds for this updating to take place. During that time, you can't interact with the administration console of your ISY-994i. So, you're waiting for it to finish. If you are modifying a scene with many Insteon devices - say - your 'All Indoor Lights" scene - this process can take a couple of minutes, up to 5 minutes if you have a large number of devices.

With the delayed write feature on the ISY-994i enabled - you can make all your changes to your scenes, rearrange your assignments.  Once you've finished making your configuration changes - you then toggle the delayed write button on the ISY-994i - and then it will make all the writes, to all the affected devices - all at once. This ends up being a significant time saver once you end up with a significant number of devices. If you're starting out, and only have a dozen switches and keypads, it may not be worth the extra cost. If you have 50 to 100 devices, there is no question, this will save you a lot of time.

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Labelling Insteon Keypad Buttons Using a Brother PTouch Labeller and Clear TZ Tape

Now that I've organized my Insteon Keypads at the front and side doors, and have some sensors installed that are providing useful information, the next step in my project has been to label the keypads, so that my other family members have a better chance of understanding what I've done and operating the system.

Smarthome will sell you packages of pre-labelled buttons with a variety of phrases, and also will sell you custom etched buttons, where you provide the phrases you would like labelled. I haven't tried either of these options yet. I thought that I would start with some simple, self adhesive labels until I'm comfortable with the entire system architecture and organization, then once I'm content with all the button labels, I may consider an upgrade to custom etched buttons.

Smarthome also sells blank button kits - which I've used for my two main entrance doors. This is a simple option for self labelling. I've also tried cleaning off the printing on the standard printed buttons. A little research on the interweb lead me to acetone free nail polish remover. Handily, there was some available in the bathroom, so I tried it out on a test button. A drop on a facial tissue, then a 10 or 15 second scrub with the button upside down on the tissue, and the lettering is very neatly removed, with absolutely no damage to the plastic of the button. Magic!

Use Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover to remove the labelling from stock standard Insteon Keypad Buttons

 The next step in the process was to experiment with TZ Tape sizes and printing options. I settled on 3/8" / 9mm tape, and tested out some labels on white standard label tape. I found that Medium size text, bold, gives very good readability and a good size for button labels.

TZ Tape Trials - Top Left Label - Large Text Bolt, Middle and Bottom Label - Medium Text Bold

Here's the Medium Text Bold Label, 2 lines, 3/8" / 9mm tape below a standard Insteon Keypad Button

I found using a knife blade point to hold a corner of the label, made centering and levelling the label easier when applying to the button. 

Here's the label installed. Note the small defects - everything has to be kept clean during the labelling process to avoid defects.

Brother PTouch TZ Clear Tape - 3/8" / 9mm

Labelled Button installed on standard 6 button Keypad frame - When all are labelled, this simply screws back onto the Keypad. 

The following image shows the completed Keypad Keys. The two exterior door keypads are on the left, labelled identically. The right keypad is for the Master Bedroom, with a simpler set of options.

Three Keypad Button Frames with PTouch TZ Tape Labelled Buttons.

Use a small magnet attached to your screwdriver tip to help with holding the small phillips screws that attach the button frames to the Insteon Keypad

This is how the labels look when illuminated - quite good, very legible.

Well, that's all there is to that. I'll keep this up to date with experience labelling other Keypads. So far, so good. Post a comment if you have any questions.

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Interconnecting your Household Smoke Detectors with your Alarm System and Home Automation System

In the last two houses I've purchased, there has been two separate smoke detection systems - the bare minimum 120V wired smoke detectors - one per floor of the house, and a single low voltage smoke detector wired to the home alarm system. The 120V wired smoke detectors, when wired with 3 conductor (14/3) house wiring - use the red wire as an "interconnect" communication wire. When one detector detects smoke, all the interconnected alarms will sound.

These limitations:

1. It doesn't make sense to have a wired smoke detector situated 15 feet away from an alarm system smoke detector - wall acne - when only one detector is required for that space;
2. The smoke detectors on the 120V circuit, when detecting smoke - are not connected to your home alarm system, and therefore cannot send the signal to your alarm monitoring problem that there is a fire;
3. For additional precaution, there should be a smoke detector in every sleeping room (and especially if there is decentralized heating in those sleeping rooms, like baseboard electric heat). 

Made me consider an upgrade:

1. Eliminate the duplication between the alarm connected smoke detector, and the 120V wired interconnected system. Use only the 120V wired interconnected system for smoke detection, and connect the interconnect signal to the home alarm panel;
2. Add interconnected 120V smoke detectors in every sleeping room, in addition to the standard smoke detectors in the hallways on every floor of the house. 

Since you should replace your smoke detectors regularly (usually every 10 years), the last two renovations that I carried out required the replacement of all the smoke detectors in the house. I decided to go with Kidde smoke detectors, they are commonly available at your local home improvement centers, and, Kidde sells as an option a relay module that permits the interconnection of the Kidde wired interconnected detectors with your home alarm system (2 wire contact interface). 

The Kidde smoke detector interface is the SM120X. 

The Kidde SM120X Alarm Interface Module

Installation of the SM120X is quite simple. Two wires connect to 120V line circuit (hot and neutral), one wire connects to the smoke detector "interconnect" wire - usually the red wire in a 14/3 cable interconnecting all your wired smoke detectors, and 2 wires connect to your home alarm system as a dry contact interface. Here are some photos of an installation in a 4" junction box:

Kidde SM120X Alarm Inteconnect Relay Installed in 4" Junction Box. Note 14/3 (wire to alarm daisy chain), 14/2 (line feed wire), and 4 conductor alarm wire entering the box). 

Kidde SM120X Alarm Interconnect Relay Installation - Cover Installed and Labelled using a PTouch Labeller

 In the most previous renovation, I also wanted smoke detector indication to be relayed to my ISY-99i / 994i. To do so, I used small automation relays with multipole contacts, driven by the Kiddes SM120X Alarm Interconnect Relay Module. In this installation, all connections are made on the phoenix contacts terminal blocks (eliminates the marettes used for wire connections). The automation relays drive the EZIO61 - to transfer the smoke detector status to Insteon signals for my ISY-99i, 994i, and also to my standard DCS alarm system panel. In this way, the signals are independent between the alarm dry contacts and the EZIO dry contacts, eliminating any issues with the alarm panel independence.

Kidde SM120X Alarm Inteconnect Relay - driving coil on double pole relay - one set of relay outputs go to alarm panel, one set of relay outputs go to Smartenit EZIO6I Insteon Dry Contact Interface

Kidde also sells a carbon monoxide detector interface - the CO120X. I have purchased one of these for installation in my current panel, I just haven't had the time to install it yet. I'll provide a short update to this page when I do. 

Kidde CO120X Carbon Monoxide Detector Relay Module (Color coded blue to differentiate from SM120X)

As always - if you have any questions just post them in the comments and I'll try to respond fairly quickly. 

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Installing the Leviton Noise Block 6287 in a Flourescent Light Fixture

I've been upgrading the ballasts in my home's flourescent fixtures, for greater efficiency and better environmental performance. I've been discarding the 20 year old magnetic ballasts with modern, T8 electronic ballasts. This allows me to run T8 bulbs, which are a bit more efficient than the older T12 bulbs.

When upgrading the ballast, I install a Leviton 6287 Noise Block to help reduce electronic interference with my Insteon signals. I purchased 10 of these noise blocks a few years ago from Smarthome, and am only now getting around to installing them. I don't have any particular noise issues in my home, and don't experience any routine signal failures, but I've decided as I go to install a few of these to try to maintain the performance of my Insteon network.

The Leviton 6287 Noise Block is self adhesive, and fits easily within a standard flourescent fixture. It has four connections, ground, neutral, line and load.

The electronic T8 ballast connected to the original flourescent tube sockets.

The noise block wires up between the line and load wires coming into the fixture, very simple.

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Using the Insteon Hidden Door Sensor to Detect Deadbolt Lock Position - Doors Locked / Unlocked

Our house has four exterior doors, all with standard deadbolt locks. I haven't seen the need yet for automatic keypad locks, so we still have the standard deadbolts. Two doors are in the garage, and two in the house. When locking up when leaving the house, or when retiring for the night, it takes a minute or two to check all the doors to ensure they are locked. So, I've been thinking about how to automate the process for some time now.

Two weeks ago I tried my first Insteon Hidden Door Open / Close Sensor to control the lights in our utility room when the door at the bottom of the garage stairs is opened. I was quite impressed with how small, simple and effective this sensor is. The sensor is 3/4" in diameter (body), and the mounting flange on the head is 1" in diameter. I checked, and the mounting flange would fit in the 1" hole drilled behind my deadbolt strike plates.

Deadbolt recess behind the strike plate - already has a 1" hole bored for the deadbolt. 

The hidden door sensor is 3 1/8" deep, behind the flange. I did some carefull measurements and calculations to determine how deep the 3/4" hole would need to be for proper engagement with the end of the deadbolt. I then drilled the 3/4" holes behind the strike plates to EXACTLY THIS DEPTH, so that once installed, the Hidden door sensor will sit at the correct depth, without having to rely on the engagement of the flange on the head.

I also decided to drill the 3/4" holes BEFORE ORDERING the hidden door sensors - this way, in case I hit an obstruction - nail, screw, electrical wire, etc. I would know that I have the installation space available. 3 of my 4 doors had enough space for installation of the Hidden Door Module.

I simply drilled a 3/4" hole centered behind the deadbolt hole. 

 I then ordered and received my Hidden Door Sensors. I did my standard routine of labelling them, and linking them to my ISY-994i, and testing their functionality.

Labelled and ready for installation

Hidden Door Sensor Mounting Flange, with Screw Tab

Remove the screw tab with a set of side cutters

The hidden door sensor inserted in the door, sitting at the correct depth.

With the door strike installed, the sensor virtually disappears. 

Using the ISY-994i "options" tab for the device, I made some small changes to try to optimize the battery life of these units. I deselected the "LED" box (no need for LED indication of operation once buried in the door frame), and I also extended the heartbeat interval from 1 hour to 21 hours - this should greatly reduce the number of wireless communications daily.

I'll report on the actual battery life in the next year, when I have to change the first set of batteries.

I then created a simple scene and ISY-994i program, which illuminates one of my Keypad LEDs if one of the three deadbolts are "open". This gives me instant indication when locking up the house that one of the back or side doors are unlocked.

The yellow LED indicated an open deadbolt on the side or back of the house. 

UPDATE - AFTER ONE MONTH OF USE - This is turning out to be one of my favourite features of my Insteon system. Before going to bed, a quick glance at the keypad in my Master Bedroom indicates whether one of the exterior doors is unlocked. Very useful, and comforting.

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