If you’re using SmartHome’s Insteon line of home automation products, you can actually send commands to the controller via a web browser to control the devices that you have installed. Why would you want to do that? Well, you could create a shortcut on your desktop or Android phone, that with a single click will turn on a light without needing to launch the native app. You could also use the Android app Tasker to issue the URL based on conditions such as when your phone connects to your WiFi, automatically turn on the inside lights. Below are some of the commands that can be sent via an URL to the Insteon controller.  I’ve used these commands on the dimmers, relays (minus dimming), KeypadLincs, and the I/O Lincs successfully. Other devices may require a different set of commands, i.e. the Insteon thermostat. Also, these should work on the 2412N as well but I am using the 2242-222 Insteon Hub as I’ve been working through these commands.

First let’s talk about the format of the URL. The command below is the format to use when you want to turn on a device.

 http://username:password@xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:yyyyy/3?0262zzzzzz0F11FF=I=3

The username and password are the username and password for the controller.

The xxx.xxx.xxx:yyyyy is the IP address and port number assigned to the controller.

The /3?0262 in the string instructs to send the Insteon message, so it should be the same no matter the device.

The zzzzzz is the Insteon ID of the device that you wish to control.

The 11FF is broken down into two functions. The 11 issues the ON command, while the FF sets the brightness level. FF equals full brightness and can be any of the following:

0% 00
10% 19
25% 40
50% 7F
75% BF
90% E6
100% FF

The 11 in the command can also be set to the following depending on what you want to do. Note that when using the values below the values immediately following must be 00. If you wanted to send the brighten command instead of turning the lights on to full brightness, you would use 1500 instead of 11 FF.

Fast On 12
Off 13
Fast Off 14
Brighten 15
Dim 16

Turn a device On:

So for example, lets assume the username and password is admin and password respectively, the Hub IP is 10.0.0.10, the port is 25105, the Insteon device to control has an ID of 24.5D.0A, and we want to turn on that device to full brightness. The above command would look like this:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F11FF=I=3

Dropping that command in the browser would turn on the specified device to 100% brightness. It’s worth mentioning that you do not need to specify the username and password. If they’re omitted, you will be prompted for the credentials when you send the command, and any subsequent commands you send will work without re-typing them during the current browser session.

Turn the device Off:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F1300=I=3

Brighten the load:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F1500=I=3

Dim the load:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F1600=I=3

Fast On:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F1200=I=3

Fast Off:

http://admin:password@10.0.0.10:25105/3?0262245D0A0F1400=I=3