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I am at my wits end. any help will be much appreciated.

I have an ISY99-pro, 5 access points, a number of switches, keypads, etc. and two ventstar thermostats w/insteon thermostat adapters (rev. 2.0). I use the ISY99 to control the temperature for both stats (not using stat programming). I was away for 2 weeks, during which time the ISY was set to not send any temp changes to the thermostats.

upon returning home, I found that the ISY was no longer able to successfully control the stats. Queries to the stats failed (no error, but no current info either). I tried removing one stat, and have been unable to add it back. I've tried re-installing the access points, rebooting the isy, unplugging and reconnecting the plm. I even tried another sd card, to no avail. Error when adding is:

"failed writing the highwater mark [-200000/-1]
"node not added - failed removing links [-200000/-9)

I am running 2.8.10 RC6.

suggestions welcome.

-Scott

Hi Scott,

The error is related to communications between ISY and the thermostats so please do NOT take any drastic measures such as restoring/factory resetting ISY and such!

Questions:
1. Do you have any other RF devices? If so, can ISY communicate with them (e.g. Motion Sensors)?
2. Do you have any problems communicating with other devices?

This is what I would do because I suspect that one of your Access Points (or the PLM) has gone bad:
1. Remove the thermostat from ISY
2. Do a factory reset on it (very important)
3. Make sure the thermostat is in Off mode
4. Use Link Management | Start Linking and press and hold the set button on your thermostat

If this fails, remove Access Points one at a time starting with those that do NOT bridge phases. Stop when you have only two left and those are the ones that bridge phases. Each time you remove an Access Point, retry adding the thermostat. If they all fail, then replace the remaining two Access Points with others that are now unplugged.

It's quite unlikely that both of your thermostats could become defective. And since I have presumed that you do not have this problem with other devices, then i hope I am correct about my suspicion of faulty APs.

Also, in many cases I have seen TOO MANY APs are actually detrimental rather than helpful.

With kind regards,
Michel

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Michel Kohanim
Universal Devices, Inc.
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Michael,

I have installed 4 T1800's with V2 adapters in my home about 2 months ago. I have 2 APs and a dual mode PLM attached to my ISY99-Pro. For the most part, everything works well. However, about once every week or so, I lose all communication with some subset, or all of my thermostats. Queries fail, I can't change set points, etc... I can typically tell as I will wake up in the morning and it hasn't warmed up in the basement and ground floor because my ISY program can't change the setpoint at 5:00am.

The only thing that I have found to work is to remove the "lost" Thermostats V2 adapter for a minute or so, and then plug it back in. Then upon returning to the ISY99 interface, if I do a query, everything is back to normal and working well and programs resume handling setpoint changes.

The odd thing is that it isn't always ALL of the thermostats. Sometimes 2 of them, sometimes 3 and a few times it has been all 4. I don't think it has ever been just one. I suspect that this must be an AP issue, but since I have 3 (one being my PLM attached to my ISY) I am not sure best how to test. I think my home is too big for the upstairs thermostats to communicate with the PLM which is in my basement. The PLM is in the basement, and I have one AP on the ground floor and one on the upstairs floor (one per floor). I have a couple other wireless devices (motion sensors and triggerlincs), but haven't begun integrating them yet, so not a reliable test for wireless connectivity.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Nick

When you disconnected the adapter. You reset it.
My thoughts are more on the line of the adapters have a problem.

One potential problem with your "one per floor" AP layout is that it is not clear from your posts how you get Insteon signals between line phases. For example, if all of your APs just happen to be on the same phase you will have poor inter-phase coupling. Ideally you would want the basement and upper floor APs on one phase and the ground floor AP on the opposite phase. However, AP communication over anything other than short distances, and with walls/floors in the way can be problematic. You certainly want to to use the AP test mode to see if you have inter phase coupling, and more APs might e helpful, for example putting two on opposite phases on the same floor.

Hello Nickythec,

I am in agreement with rlebel ... it's not likely that all adapters could have gone bad. Unless, they have a firmware.

With kind regards,
Michel

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Michel Kohanim
Universal Devices, Inc.
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Rlebel and Michael,

Thanks for the responses and suggestions. I agree, it would seem quite odd that I have several bad therrmostat adapters.

To provide further information, I am currently doing phase coupling with an older pair of 2442's which were part of my original installation a couple of years ago. I added the APs recently and never removed the 2442s since at the time things with my setup were running trouble free.

I have not tested the APs for phase coupling as I just added them to my installation to try to get as evenly spaced between the 4 thermostats.

However, upon reading your post, it got me to thinking about my phase coupling solution. My house has a 400Amp service with (2) separate 200 Amp panels, so I am wondering if I am only bridging phases with 2 phase couplers if I do not have a sufficient solution for ensuring good insteon communication across all of my circuits. I realize that both phases in each panel come off of the meter together, but given that it is split at the meter to the two panels, then each panel is split into two phases, I am wondering if communication isn't entirely reliable on all of my circuits with only two phase couplers.

I will try experimenting with my APs and placement. In the mean time, if anyone has any additional insight into phase coupling in my type of situation with two separate panels, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,

Nick

Separate power panels in and of themselves should not matter if they are on the same meter. However, the two panels suggest the possibility of very long wire runs where additional RF propagation could help. I continue to use a pair of the old SignaLincs. They were working fine for years and I saw no reason to throw them away. They do not repeat/RF relay Insteon Extended messages so they are of less use when using later Insteon devices that make more use of Extended messages.

LeeG,

I figured as much with the two panels. The only thing I wasn't sure about was how well Insteon signals were propagating back through the split at the meter to go between the two panels.

thanks for the reply,
Nick

Michel,

I have one (not often used) remotelinc. I've tried it a few times and it seems to work OK.

I also have a motion sensor, and have noticed since my return that:

1. It is intermittent in its function, and
2. It sometimes blinks the LED a number of times, quickly (maybe 6-8 blinks).

I will try your suggestions and report back.

-Scott

For what it is worth, I was running 2.7.15 and had a single thermostat running for several months. I added a second thermostat without issues. About a week later, I lost communications with the original thermostat.

Around the same time, I had relocated my PLM and added a Dual-Band 220v Relay switch. Relocating the PLM back did not fix the issue. Thinking that the 220v Relay being an unsupported device on 2.7.15 and possibly relaying the Insteon commands was to blame, I upgraded to 2.8.10 (which I wanted to stay away from until it was official). This did not fix the problem. I had also tried additional queries, etc without success.

In the end, I power cycled both thermostats by cycling the power on my HVAC system since it was easier than getting to the RJ12 connector on the Insteon adapter. The problem went away.

Since I have a workaround for my problem, I guess I'm just adding another person to the list of those having communications problems that require a reset of the thermostat/adapter to clear.

OK, I've followed your steps below. No success. I've also noticed that ever since this problem started, I am seeing a lot of activity (blips) on the LED of the access point(s), whereas before there was very little activity.

What would you suggest doing next?

-Scott

OK, I've found the problem, but have run into another issue I need feedback on...

The upstairs insteon thermostat adapter was apparently creating a broadcast storm, which in turn was affecting other wireless communication (though strangely, it did not seem to affect remotelinc operation). When I removed the upstairs stat adapter, the crazy traffic on the access points ceased (I had forgotten that steady light on access point is normal - I was seeing a dark light with occasional flickers, so presumably the flickers were the only time traffic was NOT flowing...).

I was then able to add the downstairs stat back to the system and see / control it.

I have since reinstalled the upstairs stat adapter and it is working as well, but wonder if I should get it replaced under warranty (it is only a month old).

However, my feedback question regards the access points. I removed them all and tried to add back following the documentation, but had a dickens of a time finding a way to get the first 2 to work, even though I was plugging them into the same outlets that they were in previously (and should be on opposite legs of house wiring). I finally got 2 to work, but any others I plugged in after that still blinked instead of solid bright light. I finally gave up and just plugged them in after the 1st one was back to normal mode. Don't know if they are doing me any good like this. Ideas?

Thanks,

-Scott

I have 2 v2 thermostat adapters and I've had the same issue with one going bonkers and creating a broadcast storm (I could watch the traffic in the event viewer). Unplugging it for a minute and plugging it back in always fixes it. It's always the same one acting up, I've just never gottten around to returning it as it usually goes a few months between acting up.

In my case it's not an issue of multiple APs as I only have 1 (have a hardwired coupler at the breaker).

Rob

I have two v2 thermostat adapters with the same problem. They have both worked fine for 3 weeks and last night I lost communications with one of them. I unplugged it, plugged it back in and everything worked again. I have had the issue with both adapters over the past several months.

I have a dual band PLM, two dual band light swithes and two access points. When the adapter locks up I also lose communications with the dual band light switches.