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devices turn on or off unexpectedly


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The pin out is on the Quick Start Guide. It is only RS232 Send, Receive and Common Ground. Others are power and TTL level signals.

Just be careful as the 2412S has unregulated +12 Volts {more like 18.5 volts} on one of the output pins.

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That's a great suggestion Brian,

 

Have you ever seen where monitor mode actually made any difference? I have tried using it several times and did not notice any difference. As long as the device I wanted to monitor was in the link data base I have been able to "hear it" whether or not I had monitor mode on.

 

I have the full scripting version of Docklight and have used it for Insteon as well as other RS232 type testing. It is a very nice program to have.

 

It would be a bit of work loading all the device addresses as responders into the PLM's link table but once done, that coupled with Docklight, would make a nice sniffer tool of sorts. You can log data into a file from Docklight so that would allow you monitor for a longer time period and review the data file after an event had occurred.

 

Considering that cwagner2401 has said that the ISY did not record any log entries at the time of the previous events this may or may not pay off. If one could assume that the ISY's PLM was "out of range" of the rouge message having this "sniffer" close to one of the victim receivers might pay out?

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Interesting thoughts. All of my devices are in range of the ISY and each other. But, no log entries at time of the spurious events. Last night I left the event viewer (level 3 events) run all night in hopes of seeing something maybe that the log doesn't pick up. Of course no event occurred. I'll keep trying that. I'm wondering; does the ISY and log/event viewer give me the same data that another PLM with a serial monitor would give me?

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A PLM in monitor mode is not always going to pick up all traffic. If the Hops from device a to device b is less than what it takes to get the message to the PLM the PLM may not see the message. This is covered in the PLM documents.

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Also in the monitor mode. If there is no Insteon ID for the sending device in the PLMs Link Database. Monitor mode will still not see it even if it was within communications distances.

It should always report an X10 message in or out of monitor mode.

Monitor mode just lets the PLM see any messages with an Insteon ID in its Link Database even if the message was not sent to it.

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It just sunk in; the definition of "in range" is hop-count. So pls disregard my statement in an earlier post where I indicate that all of my devices are in-range of each other. When I wrote that, I was thinking that "in range" meant the ISY can reach the device.

 

I'm learning more about the protocol from this thread. I think I need to dive in deeper. I've thumbed through the Insteon protocol spec from time to time. Does anyone know of a theory of operation and/or troubleshooting document that starts at a high level and dives in from there?

 

Thanks for all of the sharing.

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For interest and a single point of reference:

I just configured a test PLM(ELAM) to have a responder link to my ISY's PLM. ELAM was not in monitor mode.

I then sent the "ALL OFF" command from the ISY and the test PLM "logged" the command.

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Ok. So... I got Docklight and the PLM_Command_Set script. I connected to an old 2412S that I had removed from the system not too long ago.

 

When I send the "Developer LampLinc on" command I see a response from the modem but, when I send commands from the ISY's PLM, I don't see anything on Docklight.

 

Any ideas what I might be doing wrong?

 

Thanks!

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If Docklight is looking at the old 2412 PLM it will not report commands from the ISY PLM. The old PLM would need link records that match the devices the ISY PLM is commanding and the 2412 would have to run in Monitor mode.

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Thanks LeeG.

 

Update.. I do see communications from device to device just not from the ISY. I'm guessing the ISY connected to Docklight needs to have a link in it's database for the PLM connected to the ISY. If this is correct, can anyone tell me how to put the link into the PLM connected to Docklight?

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Thanks LeeG.

 

Update.. I do see communications from device to device just not from the ISY. I'm guessing the ISY connected to Docklight needs to have a link in it's database for the PLM connected to the ISY. If this is correct, can anyone tell me how to put the link into the PLM connected to Docklight?

I would factory reset each device to clear all links out of the devices.

 

Then I would build scenes to link devices together inside the ISY, the ISY has complete management control and awareness of all links, and can restore them easily from the Admin Console into the devices anytime later.

 

There may be better ways to do this.

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  • 5 months later...

I figured I'd update all who've contributed (thank you)...  right after my last post, 5 months ago, the problems (all of them) disappeared and haven't reappeared since.  I did nothing.  I didn't factory reset devices or anything.  This has happened before. It comes and goes like a rash.   I'm cringing as to when my next Insteon outbreak will happen  :(

 

And I still can't believe that  Smart Labs hasn't developed a passive sniffer so that we can easily see the data on the PLC without participating actively in the network (needing addresses).

 

Thanks again.

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Seemingly random events are best examined systematically. So, a statment such as only these and those devices are affected is not detailed enough. If and when the problem recurs, try as best you can to record the specific devices and times invloved.

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  • 2 months later...

It's been a long time since I added anything here to my original post.  To recap this thread; back in May 2014 I was having problems with spurious on/off events. After weeks of troubleshooting, I wasn't able to isolate the issue.  Then it just stopped happening.  Now it's 8 months later and it happened again.  It was fine for 8 months. I arrived home this evening and opened my garage door (1 of 3 doors) with the RF remote for the door. ELK MIG saw the zone violated and with an ELK rule communicated to the ISY994 to turn on some lights (as it has for 5 years). All was fine and then a few seconds later all lights in the house came on.  Then the open door closed and the two closed doors opened.  Apparently something sent an all-on command.  I looked at the ISY console and it didn't show any lights on except for the ones it normally is programmed to have on at this time. So something sent all-on and the ISY didn't see it.

 

I've experienced this and other spurious on/off issues periodically for years now.  I'm conditioned to deal with it by just waiting for it to stop happening. I'm posting this to see if  anyone has any experience like this and a solution to share.

 

Thanks.

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