to do this, you are supposed to set the wireless thermostat to MASTER mode so that is is in charge. for the most part, this works as advertised. however, every few days or so, the MASTER mode will disappear from the wireless thermostat and go back to the wired thermostat.
this is very problematic because you get cases where the heater will keep running for so long the baby room is sweltering, but it didn't stop because on it's on it reverted MASTER status back to the wired unit downstairs, which is a lot cooler and hasn't reached the right temperature yet.
I called/emailed tech support regarding this issue but the only suggestion they had was to buy yet another insteon product, an access point, to boost the range. I tried it but it didn't work. now I am waiting to see what else they can suggest.
based on this, I would not recommend the product, since it does not seem very stable and there is no good fix for it.
UPDATE:
I contacted INSTEON and they replaced both my wired and wireless units with new ones, and now the problem is fixed. I get constant connection between the two units and MASTER works correctly. upgrading rating from 1 star to 4.
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My experience is similar to the other reviews. I was trying to use this 2441ZTH with my ISY994i controller. The unit would drop out of master mode and fail to report temperature readings. The unit would also lock up and fail to communicate on the Insteon network requiring a reboot. (Over and over...) My unit would also start to flicker erratic display readings on the LCD panel. The Backlight would sometimes flash on and off by its self. When I try to enter the programming mode the displays would become erratic and the unit would sometimes lock up. Seems like very flakey firmware at this point.I also own the 2441TH and it seems to be working OK right now. Only the wireless ZTH seems to be having all of these erratic behaviors. I think this unit has potential if Insteon can fix the hardware/firmware issues this unit has potential. until then... It is completely unusable.
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I bought this to use upstairs while the wired thermostat was installed next to the furnace in the buildup two stories below. I placed a dual-band switchlinc on the floor above the wired thermostat, almost immediately above it. The floor with the wireless thermostat has 2 dual-band switchlincs, one within about 8 feet, and a dual-band PLM.In that configuration, the wireless thermostat will not stay set as Master for more than about 8 hours, and usually less. I tried it on three different power supplies and on batteries and it has the same problem, although oddly it stays set as Master longest on batteries.
I tried the wireless in at least 5 different locations and it always lost Master mode randomly at some point. Even with both the wired and wireless thermostats 1 foot apart upstairs with the 3 dual-band devices around them the wireless lost Master mode. Loss of Master is highly random and may take an hour or take 16 or more hours.
The wireless also has various glitches with all 3 power supplies I tried it with. Like the light gets brighter and flickers when it transmits, the battery indicator flashes, or the display only lights for 6 seconds instead of 10. It seems most stable on batteries.
I ended up running a thermostat wire to where I needed the wired thermostat and returned the wireless.
I was still debating if I should keep the wireless to use in another room, so I left it in Master mode for one more night and in the morning found the wireless still thought it was Master and in Off mode but the wired also thought it was Master and in Heat mode. Usually the wireless at least shows that it's lost Master mode, but not in this case. I saw in the PLM log that the wireless had been sending temperature updates all night so it wasn't failing to send all messages and it hadn't locked up, but I guess it failed on enough messages that the wired thermostat gave up on it? What seemed strangest is that pressing a key to light the backlight on the wireless wasn't enough to get it back in sync with the wired. I had to try to change its settings and then suddenly it realized it was no longer Master and should be in Heat mode. I think the firmware is not properly programmed to periodically check that it's in sync with the wired and if any messages are lost/corrupted then everything gets screwed up. Yet it can recover if you try to change a setting, so why doesn't it periodically recover on its own? In my opinion, the firmware on this thermostat (and/or on the wired thermostat) is simply not ready for use in the real world where not every wireless message is reliably sent/received.
I read about a lot of problems with these thermostats before I bought them but had hoped they were fixed by now. I read about one guy who had 5 of the v1.0 wireless thermostat all failing to stay in Master mode. Both the wired and wireless thermostats I tested were made in late 2012 and the wired was v1.6 while wireless was v1.3.
The other inexplicable thing is that the PLM log shows the wireless thermostat periodically sends a series of corrupted messages. This only seems to happen when I place it in certain locations with no real logic to it. I theorize that it sends corrupted messages in most locations but only sometimes does it send messages where the corruption happens to match the CRC byte such that I actually see the message in the log. Oddly, the one corruption I saw was always the exact same corrupted message with one byte changed from 02 to a2. I saw that corrupt message dozens of times but with different values for the temperature that went with it. It seems impossible that the CRC byte would be corrupted to a value that matched both the 02 to a2 corruption and the changing temperature value that was included with each message so I think it's actually more likely that the wireless was sending the wrong message rather than the message getting corrupted in transit. For example, here are some corrupt messages:
0250a20c0f20f4a9016e78
0250a20c0f20f4a9016e76
0250a20c0f20f4a9066e76
0250a20c0f20f4a9076e8a
The last few bytes on each are totally different, yet the CRC byte (not included in the log) must have matched or the messages would have been discarded. The corrupted byte is that it should show 025002 instead of 0250a2 because the insteon ID of the wireless begins with 02, not a2.
So maybe I just have a highly defective wireless thermostat and a good one might not have all the problems with staying in Master mode, sending the wrong byte, glitching on most power supplies, etc, but I'm dubious.
As a final test, I've currently got the wired and wireless set a foot apart and the wireless reads 77 degrees while the wired reads 69 after not being touched for about 20 minutes. An analog thermometer across the room reads 70, so the wireless is wildly inaccurate. Yet I've had them both read about the same value when placed beside each other in the past with the wireless on batteries. I wouldn't be surprised if the particular power supply used with the wireless skews the temperature. I've read a lot of reports of different problems caused that vary with the voltage of the power supply. One guy only got stability at 5.5 volts but not much above or below. Unfortunately 5.5v is not a standard power supply voltage so he had to rig his own. Smarthome also claims that a "noisy" power supply will cause problems but I had no better luck when I connected the 5V terminals of a big PC power supply that should have very clean power to the thermostat. I don't have the equipment to measure power supply noise so that's the best I could do. People have also reported problems using the 6V power supply Smarthome sells specifically for the thermostat. Smarthome should definitely add a capacitor or otherwise make the thermostat less prone to problems caused by noise or different voltages. After a couple of hours, the wireless lost Master mode again and shows 76 degrees while the wired shows 72. Wired shows 50% humidity, wireless shows 40%.
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