Insteon Test Bench

[DanITman]

Hey guys, long time user of Insteon and I wanted to share a recent project that I put together. I always wanted to do this and the quarantine made me do it

I always wanted a quick way to hook up a switch and do testing or resetting. Specifically, fanlinc are a PIA to setup once they are installed. I have a lot of devices 90+ and a recent move has forced me to do some resetting and a bunch of testing. I decided to create a test bench to help out. See photos below.

I put a couple different switches for safety and a 3 amp breaker for safety as well. The quick wire connects are just metal speaker terminals. The box is a junction box from HD. Overall is was pretty cheap to put together and should save me a ton of time. Let me know what you think. I'm planning on adding a amp/volt display to see how much power a switch is pulling.

[DanITman]

Saved for future use.

[Burrington]

What a great idea!!

[JB-dallas]

Loved it.

You should sell those.

I'm up for one.

[mnsandler]

can you post a full pic of the power cable? curious what both ends look like

[drhtmal]

can you post a full pic of the power cable? curious what both ends look like

It is probably a standard computer/monitor NEMA 5-15P to C13 power plug.



I was wondering why you needed the spring terminals. Then I remembered that the Insteon switches have built in pig tails.

[mnsandler]

It is probably a standard computer/monitor NEMA 5-15P to C13 power plug.

makes sense. just wasn't obvious from the pic

here's my poor-man's version. i just plug them into a power strip. I typically don't bother with the load line.

[DanITman]

Correct, its just a standard computer cable. You could probably get rid of that and just go straight into the box with a cord. I wanted to the extra protection with the switch and fuse. My son likes to grab at stuff on my tinker table and I have the dual switches for safety. Both swtiches light up so you immediately know if you are dealing with a live hot. My load line goes to the plug so I can run voltage checks or see how it dims a lamp. I also wanted a spot to plug load for safety reasons and not always having a wire nut around. Just more safety than anything. I'm glad you guys like it.

mnsandler , you should really hook up a ground on your setup

[DanITman]

I was wondering why you needed the spring terminals. Then I remembered that the Insteon switches have built in pig tails.

Almost all smart switches tend to come with "pig tails". I could factory reset five switches in a quick period.

[George]

This is a great project for anything including configuring ZWave devices that need to be close to the SmartStick to exclude them if bought used.

So far I've been using wire clips and crossing everything I can cross that I don't zap myself!

I'll post what mine looks like when I get it done. Hoping to map it out, dremell it and get it at least started by this week.

Without Radio Shack (which would have been just one trip) I had to gather parts from EBay, Mouser, Amazon, you name it. I did get some fancy lights so I may throw in a few bells an whistles including maybe a switchable built in Load go I don't have to go digging for a drop lamp or something to complete the circuit.

Thanks again for such a great idea!