IOLinc failing?

[Drexx3]

I have two of the Insteon Garage Door Control and Status kits in my garage. Have had them for quite a while (< 1 year). On the main garage door the 'status' device doesn't seem to be communicating with the rest of the system recently.

 

I purchased a NO/NC contact from Amazon that was referenced in another post so that I could have the status work in reverse of how the kit now comes from Smarthome. When the garage door is closed the status is 'off' and when it is open the status is 'on'. I like it this way better so I don't have to do the reverse on TX, and, I can have it be a controller for a scene which has KPLinc buttons which turn on when the door opens etc. Essentially setup exactly like the Wikki says to do it.

 

It has been working like a champ since it was setup. Recently, the past few weeks, I've noticed the KP buttons have been staying on even when the garage door is closed. Open and close the door, nothing changes. Looking on the ISY it seems that the status isn't reporting back. If I right-click the status device and query it, a few times I have received an error that it is unable to communicate with the IOLinc, but more often the manual query will update the status to then show 'off'. I can turn the scene off to turn the buttons off too, but the IOLinc doesn't seem to do it.

 

Last night I tried to do a factory reset on it to see if that woudl resolve the issue. Not sure if I did it correctly. I pulled it from the socket, waited 10 secs, plugged it back in while holding the set button. Continued to hold it until the long been stopped (was longer than the 3 secs the manual says). The LED then came on bright, I let go of the set button. After a short pause of about 1 second there was a quick 'deet-deet' and the LED went dim. I went back to the ISY and right-clicked on the relay device and selected 'restore device'. It took a few tries for it to take, I guess, because I got a few communication errors during the process. but it eventually worked...

 

I say that because after the reset I tested the door open/close using the relay device and it seemed to work correctly. A little later my daughter came in from babysitting at the neighbor's house and came through the garage. This morning I noticed that from that event I had gotten a text&email that the garage door opened, but didn't get one telling me that it closed. Interestingly enough, when I checked the ISY scene this mornign, the status was 'off' but the buttons were still 'on'. Possibly the nightly query updated the status, but that didn't trigger the scene

 

Is there another way to do the factory reset? Is there anything else I should try? I have another IOLinc I can try in its place that is part of an uninstalled Rain Sensor Kit, but, it there an easy way to replace a device in the ISY so that I don't have to manually edit all of the programs and variables with the new device? etc?

 

Thanks in advance for any help & guidance.

[Brian H]

Has anything changed in the home? Like a new electronic device or one was moved. As you may have a power line signal issue to the I/OLinc. Caused bu something new or being moved.

 

If you want to exchange the I/OLinc.

Add the new one to the setup. Then click on the original module and use the replace with function. Picking the just added I/OLinc for the exchange.

 

Trying to communicate with the I/OLInc while having the Event Viewer in Level 3. May show added information on the communications messages.

[gviliunas]

I have had several IO Linc modules fail. The common theme seems related to the internal power supply in the I/O Linc. I have experienced a common pattern of failure:

 

1. The unit becomes unresponsive. The frequency of missed input triggers increases.

2. I factory reset the unit. Sometimes the unit completely dies at that point and will not recover.

3. If the reset is successful, I test it by pressing the set button several times. You should hear the relay click on and off. If the relay doesn't click, then the unit is bad and will soon be completely dead. If the relay does respond normally, the unit will, in my experience, continue to work.

 

Finally, with older PLMs, I have had to Restore the PLM once or twice but this has been rare with the newer PLMs.

 

Good Luck!

Greg

[Xathros]

I have to agree with Brian on this one. Sounds like a comm issue between the IOLinc and the PLM. If you have access points or other dual band devices acting as a phase bridge, check them to ensure they are actively bridging the phases (4 tap test). As Brian mentioned above, look for new electronics, chargers, surge suppressor power strips etc that may have been added or moved around the time the problem started.

 

-Xathros

[Drexx3]

It only started in the past two weeks and literally, as much as I like electronics, there is nothing new and nothing changed that plugs into the electrical system. I take that back, I have a pool cleaning robot but it only plugs in the 3 hours on the weekend.

 

The IOLinc in the garage is about 12 feet line-of-sight to a dual band KPL on the same phase as the ISY, and, about 20~25 feet line of sight to another DB KPL that (I think) is also on the same phase. The other IOLinc on my second garage door is even on the same circuit and works fine.

 

I will try the other IOLinc using the replacement procedure and see how it goes. Thanks...

[Xathros]

It only started in the past two weeks and literally, as much as I like electronics, there is nothing new and nothing changed that plugs into the electrical system. I take that back, I have a pool cleaning robot but it only plugs in the 3 hours on the weekend.

 

The IOLinc in the garage is about 12 feet line-of-sight to a dual band KPL on the same phase as the ISY, and, about 20~25 feet line of sight to another DB KPL that (I think) is also on the same phase. The other IOLinc on my second garage door is even on the same circuit and works fine.

 

I will try the other IOLinc using the replacement procedure and see how it goes. Thanks...

 

Be aware that the IOLinc is a power line only device, not dual band. Not all Insteon devices are equal in send strength/receive sensitivity. It may be possible that you have marginal comms to the garage circuit and the other IOLinc is slightly better than this one. Try running a level 3 event log while opening and closing both doors one after the other a few times. Post the captured traffic. That will show how well both IOlincs are communicating with the PLM.

 

-Xathros

[Techman]

Drexx3,

 

I had a similar communications issue. I've been using CFL bulbs in my garage door opener and discovered that one of them had a bad ballast. This would account for the fact that the garage open signal is received but the closed signal is intermittent. Apparently after the bulbs had been on for a few seconds the defective ballast introduced noise into the power line.

[Drexx3]

Interesting. I have actual garage door opens bulbs in mine but info have a lot of CFL bulbs around the house. lED too, but the CFL bulbs existed even before the ISY network.

 

I haven't had the chance to replace the IOLinc yet. I've noticed over the past day or so that the status=off when the door closes is the update that isn't happening. Seems the open status works fine and everything as expected, but he status off is hit or miss.

[Techman]

If the communication only fails when the garage door closes then I would check the bulbs in the garage door opener and anything else that was turned on by the garage door program when the door opened.

 

You should also check your log to see if the garage door IOlinc on and off signals show up. Additionally you should check the error log to see if there's a communication failure at the time you closed the door.

 

Lastly it's possible you have a marginal signal that's not making it to the PLM. I added a dual band switchlinc in the garage to add some redundancy to the IOlinc.