Guy Lavoie

Here's a little project if you're like me, without a way to buy the ZMatter enclosure by itself (The Canadian distributor for UDI products doesn't offer it for sale). I started by finding the needed mPCIe to USB adapter, and found this one on amazon. I first tested it with the bare ZMatter board I took out of my Polisy. Then it was just a question of getting an enclosure for it. I also used a USB extension cable, such that the enclosure is now a standalone unit, making for easier placement, and connection to a Polisy (I can't see how the UDI enclosure could be plugged directly into a Polisy, given the proximity of it's power connector to the USB slots). So there you have it, the Canadian ZMatter enclosure...

The slots in the Polisy are mini PCIe

Cool, and thanks for the experiment. Adds to the science! It's pretty well how we would expect things to go with RF jamming. I had already seen a similar effect with commands getting delayed and retried when something was happening with the signal path (I forget the exact circumstances). Insteon is quite effective at that. When I decided to power cycle the mini remote, I first ran my fingers lightly over the buttons to see if any appeared to be stuck, and didn't find any. It could still have been a problem internal to the device.

It's a mini remote, so it's RF only. That's why I suspected it in particular, since I only added it a few days ago, and that it appeared as though RF communications was being impacted (though the was switch I tried was dual band). But I certainly could send out commands from the admin console. It would have been interesting to try to send out a command over RF, though devices controlled only by RF are rare. An Insteon thermostat would be one example. I'm just wondering if others have ever had a similar problem occur. Learning as I go. If it ever happens again, the first thing I'll try will be to power cycle that mini remote.

I was just searching for a thread discussing problems with incoming Insteon status changes not being detected and came across this one, which was recent and left unresolved. I just had a similar experience, where I noticed motion detectors were not firing off programs. Then I tried manually activating an Insteon wall switch and status was not updating in admin console. Yet I could turn devices on and off from the admin console. Hmm, that was unusual: commands going out were ok but not status coming in. The things I tried in order: 1 - reboot the eisy 2- unplug and plug back in the PLM 3- restore the PLM. As that was happening, I also went to the bedroom and took the mini controller I added just a few days ago, and turned it's power switch off and back on. The motion sensors started working again, and going back to the admin console, receiving status updates was also ok. I can't tell if it's the PLM restore or power cycling the mini controller (or maybe neither) that fixed it. Has anyone else ever had a similar experience?

The fact that the status is not updated when this happens seems to indicate some kind of communication issue, or something that is falsely triggering them on. Yet if they all belong to the same scene and they always come on together, then something would be triggering the scene. But I don't see the reason why status tracking would be lost at the same time. Until you reboot your eisy, are you able to control them from the admin console?

Did you keep the PLM from your ISY994i and installed it on your eisy? How old is it?

What turns on the scene? Just a schedule? Other things? Could you post the program?

Ok, what program logic and/or other devices are related to these devices? Is there something that they have in common, like a scheduled program, or other triggers like motion sensors?

Are these Insteon devices? Dual band? Is it always the same devices? Was it the same devices with the ISY994i?

I had a similar result with Hue bulbs that are configured as Matter devices in Google Home. I used the sharing code provided by Google Home and all the Hue bulbs got added in IoX as Matter devices, all in one shot. Now we have three ways of configuring Hue bulbs: with the Hue plugin, as zigbee bulbs without the Hue hub, and now as Matter devices.

I've been seeing this mention of excessive links a lot recently, in various forum threads. I realize that the PLM supports up to 1000 links, but how many devices or scenes does it take to get there? I have a moderately sized system and if I go view the PLM link table, I get 367, so nothing to worry about. Maybe this is something we need to check every now and then.

Don't give up. You just need to learn a few basics. Start with a simple program that just increments a variable. Look for the "control" event instead of status. Like this: MS entrance on - [ID 009F][Parent 006A] If 'MS Entrance-Sensor' is switched On (notice "is switched" instead of status, because I used control) Then $s_Entrance_ms = +1 Else - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Update the firmware first. Some Polisys run into an issue with the update to 5.9.1, but is easily recoverable. Best get that done before setting up anything else. I also have a Polisy that I got as a used unit, that I used for testing and as a potential backup unit.

Hopefully UDI support gets you going.

But did you try accessing it by ssh, from a Dos command prompt?

Try logging in by ssh (the password "admin" might work for that. On your PC: ssh admin@<ipaddress>.local and enter "admin" as the password. If that works, then: sudo rm /var/isy/FILES/CONF/0.UCF sudo service isy restart That normally resets the admin console login to the default admin:admin

Yes, sounds like a ticket is next. Let us know how it turns out.

Since you have a Polisy with a separate zigbee network handy, have you tried pairing one of these non responding bulbs on that network? As a test. Is there a factory reset that you can do on them (usually powering them on and off several times in a short period)?

You mention "hub bulbs" at the beginning but then mention "other zigbee devices". Are they configured as Hue devices with the Hue plugin, or as straight zigbee devices?

Plug in module, virtual switch... whatever works for you as a unique indicator of the status you want to look for in your program to control a scene and other non-scene devices. It would be easier if UDI added a "If scene on/off command..." in IoX, but at least we have a workaround. Glad it helped.

Well yes, great movie scores are by John Williams! lol Nicely done screen! Labor of love is what defines a true hobby. If you're counting your time and effort, then it's not fully a hobby. As I like to say about many projects: I had more fun making it than using it once finished.

Maybe they could alternatively accept a video of you smashing the old devices!

Camping...that was many years ago! I remember a fun family trip we did around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the 90's. Me and my (then 12 year old) daughter would set up a tent quickly, like clockwork. I still do enjoy canoeing (you gotta enjoy canoeing if you're Canadian!) and I even made a sailing attachment for it, with outriggers, leeboards, etc. Lots of fun, and looking forward to doing some of that this summer. Canoe sailing, back in 2013

In that case you could create a program that would watch for any of your lights getting turned on, and have it turn on a virtual switch on, like this: If status light A is on Or status light B is on Or status light C is on. (Etc) Then turn virtual light on The virtual switch would also be added as a responder to your existing "turn off" scene. A second program would then watch for the virtual switch going to off, and execute your thermostat commands, like this: If status virtual light is off Then set thermostat mode...