johnjces

Cable was fine. New PLM cured my problems. PLM version 2.5. Maybe it will last more than a couple years. I have one more still working elsewhere a bad now just a matter of time.

Well, I do have my Portal login issue resolved but still have issues. I still do not know what my issue it with the random, maybe I'll work, maybe I won't Alexa command. Sometimes the log shows no issues other times it states error system log or similar. I forgot to add that even from the local Admin Console, I can turn a light on and off and sometimes I will get an 'error; communications failed' or similar type error/message. (Not a direct quote of the error). Using Agave with port forwarding it will sometimes just fail showing the previous state. It's just so random. As I write this it appears to be working very well! I somehow feel that my PLM is failing but not exactly sure how to check it other than what I have done/tried in my original post above. I do have a spare PLM. Knowing that a cable can fail just sitting there, I will swap cables, serial anyway, and see what happens before I restore a new PLM. Any thoughts before I restore a new PLM would be wonderful and thank-you in advance! John

I have two ISY's and both are still on 4.7.3. One is located in Tucson, AZ and the other in Show Low, AZ. Both have active portal accounts for Alexa access and both state they are connected when you go into that portion of the ISY admin and check the status. Each has a separate login for the ISY Portal. In Tucson, Alexa will act like it is working but no action happens. As an example, no light will turn on or turn off but Alexa will signal the OK ding. Sometimes after a minute or so, the action will happen, the light will turn off for instance. Tonight I tried logging into my Tucson Portal account and every time it stated that "Access Denied". I have not changed my portal account password or user name and somehow I am thinking that this might be a problem with Alexa being slow in sending the commands or sending the commands and getting an OK response but nothing happens. I feel that this is more an issue for the main guys at UDI, (Michael), but I am not certain. I need to get my Tucson Portal checked. There really isn't anything in the the error logs. Main logs show nothing. I checked and compared some devices between the ISY and the PLM and they all looked good. I have also been thinking that my PLM might be fading as it at that 2 year mark, maybe 2.5 years. Alexa states that " 'device' IS Not Responding" . Yet I might be able to turn it on via Alexa but when I tell her turn the device off she'll tell me it's not responding. I have rebooted my firewall and ISY and the PLM in the proper order. I just don't know where to turn but feel that my inability to access my portal account, that being access denied, has something to do with my problems when it comes to Alexa in Tucson. Thanks for any thoughts or where I might look. Oh I am 99.9% sure I haven't forgotten my Portal password. John

Figured it out and pretty easily once I dug around. I am always so worried about breaking something. Anyway, my DNS died as well so a reconfigure reboot and all is good.

While out of town, one of my locations had a major power failure which depleted my UPS batteries and everything went down including Internet connectivity. I came back today and brought everything back up and all is well except good ol' Alexa stated "the Hub is not responding please check, yada yada..." I then checked connectivity to my ISY locally and had no issues, then checked via my Cellular Internet and again no problems. Agave works just fine, logging in and out of the ISY and turning things on and off locally or from "outside" the network, via the Internet, all is working as it should. I log into my Portal account and it shows my ISY offline and going to Portals on my ISY also shows offline. But I am online but somehow disconnected from the UDI Portal. I don't think it is time to renew as I have had no indications that such is due as my other ISY is online and functioning fine and the service was purchased at the same time. Please forgive me if this is something easy to find but I can't find anywhere to reattach my ISY to the Portal. What can I do to get things working again? Thanks so much for any advice and help! John

I have an Insteon micro on-off and micro dimmer that fits a bit better in my fan's ceiling cup than the fanlinc, which IMHO is not top shelf. I found that with the fan I have set to high, as it should be, and the fanlinc on low, I barely get any breeze. On Medium it blows too hard and high seems just under high speed without the fanlinc. Since I rarely change fan speeds, the on off controls the fan and of course the dimmer for the lights. Works better and seems to fit the space better. John

https://www.rainmachine.com/ forums: https://support.rainmachine.com/hc/en-us/community/topics

+1 on the RainMachine! Nice controller!!

@ronvond I too have three IOLinc 2450 v41 in use as garage door sensors and openers. Two in a hot climate and one in a cooler climate. All have been in use three+ years with the 'cooler' one in use about 3 1/2+ years. The 'cooler' one, about 4 months into it's life, began to randomly open the garage door which is pretty disconcerting. However, the problem in that instance was the PLM. I was new to all this and purchased an alleged refurbished PLM. Once I replaced that PLM with a brand new one, I have had no issues with any of them... yet. I know it's a matter of time with those in the desert heat of a garage ceiling failing first. I "think" one thing I did at both places which 'may' help, is that I added whole house surge protection at the breaker box. Not certain if that has saved any of my devices, but have never had much fail since I installed them. The one in the mountains has been in place 8+ years. I hope this tidbit helps. John

@johnnyt Please report back and let us know how it goes! Like you, and maybe many others, I have been hesitant to upgrade due to possible issues. Thanks! John

It really isn't that difficult to set up Alexa with the ISY to control your Insteon stuff. Just follow the Wiki on how to set up the portal and set up Alexa/Echo. I found a couple "gotchas" and reported them and I am pretty sure that the suggestions I made were added. One of the nice things is the ability to use multiple words or "Spokens" to control any given device. I resisted for a long time moving from the Hub to the ISY and Portal because I am cheap and didn't want to spend the money on a recurring cost for Alexa but found it worth it. Give it a try. If you have problems there are a lot of people who can help you through it.

Somewhere I read that one can delete the PLM once all switches and other stuff are linked and of course no programs controlling that stuff. Is this true?

I have seen some of these pop up on eBay from time to time so you might save a search so eBay can notify you when they come up.

Just a followup for whatever it might be worth, but In updating to V3 of the Smart Home Skill for Alexa, all plurals and/or possessives work just fine. Bettys Bed works great!

Did you do a Java update?

You could use an Insteon Micro Dimmer or Micro On/Off module as it will probably fit inside the box behind or in your case, underneath the outlet. They are in fact quite small. Just watch your wattage as the on/off will do up to 100 watts as I recall and the dimmer only 200 watts. John

Not yet anyway! But I think some day. Wonder when that will happen; when AI becomes self aware...

One would think that "betty sped" would work. It doesn;t... Anything with betty and an 'S' just fails... Interesting.

For what it's worth, I too was using both an ISY and an Insteon Hub, using the Hub only for Alexa integration. I started having issues trying to keep things working together nicely and getting more and more red LED 'blinkys' on various switches. One reason I didn't switch from the Hub to the ISY is I am cheap and didn't want to spend $50 for 2 years of such service with the ISY Portal. I just recently pried the money from my wallet, bought the ISY Portal and went through the trouble of ridding myself of the Hub and I am most pleased! With the ISY Portal, you can add multiple "spokens" for a device, scenes and/or programs and I have to admit responses or wait times to lights on/off is much quicker. I was able to get rid of several ISY programs as well! I was worried about messing stuff up during the move from the Hub to the ISY but I didn't mess anything up. Learned a bunch too. It did take some time though. I, (my wife as well, I think), like Alexa enabled stuff and I would recommend that you reconsider keeping both and move over to the ISY. Using just the ISY is simply easier. I use on my Android smartphone the ISY Java dashboard via the web browser which is free dollars! It's kind of rough to view and use on a phone so I may pry some more money out of my pocket for one of the better Android apps to remotely control my stuff. But I have learned that some things are worth the money! My apologies for hijacking your thread and my long winded post. Lastly, all my "links" are done with scenes whereby you can easily link devices to control each other etc, if that is the kind of link you were speaking of. John

LOL! That is a good one! I will try it later today and let you know!

Thanks guys for the info and input! One other thing about the fanlinc... on fanlinc low speed with my fan, it was really slow; slower than direct connected. On fanlinc medium it was a bit faster than the fan's unmodified slow... somewhere between low and medium. High speed was a normal high speed. I guess another reason to go back to the old pull chain, but the ol' chain is rarely pulled and sure is super nice to lay in bed and say, "Alexa, bedroom fan on"! John

Thanks Teken! I knew that from the start but wanted to give it a go! About a year isn't bad in an attic. I did try and insulate it however.

I too was using both the Hub and ISY, but the hub seemed to cause me issues from time to time with red "blinkies" and REAL slow performance. The ISY is so much faster now that the HUB is removed with Alexa! Or at least it surely seems that way! And only one place to add, remove, change link and etc. I did remove Betty and all references to Betty used devices first from the hub when I started all this. I have also, several times, removed from the portal all Betty references and changed scenes and devices that had betty or bettys in the name, I changed a lot of stuff to try and simplify things Man... Again, I tried every Bedies, Beddys, etc. I could think of! I actually got it to work one time with 'bettys bed'!!!!! I thought I had it made... my heart jumped, I grinned and whooped and then I asked Alexa to turn Bettys bed off. "I cannot find bettys bed" ARGH!!! Asked a million times and nada! I have finally given up! "Desk" works great and "betty bed" works well too. Just sounds funny! John

@Stusviews To cover both improvised mounting/installations.... Originally, I simply installed the fanlinc into an electrical box in the attic right above the ceiling fan mount and box. Plenty of wire length to bring the wires back through the mounting/electrical box and wire it to the existing supply fan and light wires. My plan is to remove the fanlinc, (remove it from its box in the attic and unhook it), and replace it with the micro devices since medium fan speed stopped working. The fanlinc will be replaced by both the micro dimmer module for the lights and the micro on/off module for the fan and we will vary the fan speed when needed by the good ol' pull chain. I do believe that the micro modules will fit into the ceiling box and ceiling fan trim cone, for lack of a better description. I won't have to climb into the attic ever again to reset, or mess with the Fanlinc. Biggest reward; not ever having to get into that hot ol attic again! (I hope). John

Sorry to be bugging you guys so much lately with 50 questions, but I am seeking anyone with experience with the above dimmable micro module and dimmable LED bulbs. I have searched the web and read the manual on these devices and clearly Insteon states that the load is "Incandescent". I have checked other sites, (Home Depot being one) and it states CFL and LED compatible. I have several dimmable Insteon SwitchLincs and they work fine on dimmable LED lamps. SO... just a double check before I dump my lousy, failed in less than a year FanLinc. Medium speed has gone away. It starts and stops. AND just an FYI, a FanLinc didn't fit in my fan's ceiling sconce or trim piece so had to improvise on it's location. I have read about that on several other forums that it is pretty large and has a high failure rate. I want to use a dimmable micro module for the ceiling fan lamps, of course, and an on-off micro module for the fan and just use the pull chain speed control. Thanks again! John