edokid Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Is there anything the ISY would do to mess up a PLM? I had a Veralite a year or so ago and I had the 2413S PLM. Since it is serial I bought the recommended FTDI serial to USB adapter and plugged it into the Vera. It would detect it and Insteon worked fine. I then switched to the ISY shortly after. I am switching to Indigo for Mac and was trying to use the same adapter on it but no luck. The system detects the USB to serial, but says cannot communicate with PLM. I factory reset it but no luck, installed drivers even though it says Mac doesn't need them but no luck. I then took out the old Vera and tried to set it up, and no matter what I do, it's the same problem, the Vera sees the USB to Serial interface, but says failed to communicate with PLM. Tried factory resetting it by unplugging, holding set for 10+ seconds, plugging in keep holding it 10+ seconds but nothing. When I set it up the first time (and subsequent times) with Vera, I literally plugged it in and it would just work. Might be the adapter that isn't working but it was only used for maybe a month when I did have it, so I don't think that's the issue. Just thought I'd check here is there anything the ISY would do that would maybe prevent the PLM from working elsewhere? I did the Delete PLM in the ISY, the factory reset above as mentioned etc. Will just get the 2413U but this adapter is supposed to work, and has before, so wanted to make sure the ISY doesn't do something that requires I "undo" it. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeG Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 What does Indigo look for when it is interfacing through a USB port? Is it looking for a USB PLM? If so the Serial PLM will not match what Indigo is looking for. The ISY does not do anything with a PLM that would stop another product from using it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian H Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 The 2413S has a reputation of failing. Many times around the two year mark. Mine died at two years four months. Just out of warranty. There are a few threads here, on the Smarthome Forums and the Insteon Forums on them failing. Most common problem is the power supply capacitors and there is a how to repair them thread here. Smartlabs recently updated the hardware to reportedly beef up the 2413S. Time will tell how it will work out. I would try everything the others have suggested. Though it may have failed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbates Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 The serial PLM uses a rudimentary serial protocol. There is nothing specific that the ISY can do to the PLM to prevent it from communicating with anything else that connects to it. If something happened to the PLM configuration wise, the factory reset would fix that. I'm with Brian that something happened to the PLM, or something happened to the serial/USB adapter. Its not clear in this case which one it is. Can you plug the PLM back into the ISY and see if it still works? That would eliminate one versus the other. Edit: Cables and serial connectors / Pins can get damaged more than we'd like. Does the serial/usb converter use a old db9 connector with pins? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 On Indigo it gives a drop down to select your PLM, so I select "2413S/2413U (USB or Serial to USB)" below that a new drop down appears for port, and by default it's blank until I plug in the USB adapter then it immediately changes to USB to Serial Adapter, which is what it should as per the instructions. Once I click Enable though it says cannot communicate with PLM. The reason I'm thinking something is up though is like I said on the Vera I used it a LOT before so I'm familiar with it there. The Vera detects it on /dev/ttyUSB0, but can't communicate with it, nor can the 3rd party Vera Insteon plugin, both say errors about communicating with the PLM. The PLM is not dead, the light comes on and if I plug it into the ISY and add a device it does the chirp and adds it and I can control it, so that seems to be fine. Just really strange as it always worked before, guess it's the USB to Serial adapter even though it's barely been used. Just wanted to confirm it wasn't the ISY, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nestor Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I have an adapter similar to yours that I used to use in Win 7. I know that it was configurable (baud, parity, bits, etc). If yours is similar, check to see if the settings line up with the PLM. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teken Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Is this in fact a *real* FTDI chip set inside of the adapter? I ask because the market is flooded with clones and knock offs that on the surface work fine for most dumb appliances. The problem appears when every bit needs to be transferred and some of the clones / knock offs actually drop a bit from the transfer. Another thing is to try another USB driver to see if the updated or (different) driver makes a difference. Back in the day when Microsoft championed the whole Plug And Play. It really wasn't so much plug N play it was a lot of farting around, testing, trial, error, and hacking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 25, 2015 Author Share Posted January 25, 2015 Yes it's the one on the Vera site they recommend buying. It's this one here: http://ca.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Serial-Cards-Adapters/1-Port-USB-Serial-RS232-Adapter-Cable~ICUSB2321F Will just get the 2413U I think as there's no options for setting like bit rate etc, unless Nestor means you use an app on Windows 7 to code the settings into it, but again it worked fine for a month, I packed it away when I got the ISY and now took it out again, so very odd that settings would change or that it would be defective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teken Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Yes it's the one on the Vera site they recommend buying. It's this one here: http://ca.startech.com/Cards-Adapters/Serial-Cards-Adapters/1-Port-USB-Serial-RS232-Adapter-Cable~ICUSB2321F Will just get the 2413U I think as there's no options for setting like bit rate etc, unless Nestor means you use an app on Windows 7 to code the settings into it, but again it worked fine for a month, I packed it away when I got the ISY and now took it out again, so very odd that settings would change or that it would be defective. Yes, that is a good brand not a clone. Its funny to see some of these shysters trying to rape you so much money for such a simple interface cable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stusviews Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Install a serial card/port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I ruled the problem out to being the serial to RJ45 adapter that comes with the PLM, that's what has failed. The serial adapter I think works, as every system I connect it to pops up and adds it as a COM port and so on, it just can't connect with the PLM. I tried to cut the cable and made a new one as I have spare RJ45 ends around, but no luck. Tried to plug into a desktop PC that has a serial port instead and downloaded HouseLinc and that detected it immediately. (It shows 256 scenes, 0 links, 0 devices, etc so seems a bit lacking or weird, but if I click add Insteon device it does the chirp etc). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeG Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 The PLM is working if HouseLinc recognized it. That means HouseLinc used Serial commands to talk to PLM. The 256 Scenes is the Insteon design point for the total number of Scenes (one byte field in Insteon messages). It has no links or devices as the PLM was factory reset. There is no serial to RJ45 adapter. The PLM uses an RJ45 connector for access to the serial port. Serial ports are COM 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I know, when I say serial to RJ45 I mean serial as in I don't know the name, I think it's DB-9, the cable that comes with the PLM one end is RJ45 for the PLM and the other is serial or db-9 whatever it is for your PC etc or for the USB to Serial adapter. It's that cable that isn't working, so will check with Insteon anyway as my PLM is maybe 7-8 months old less than 12 so I'd hope there's warranty. Also the PLM "was" factory reset but I've had it on the ISY since then so all devices are on it, which is why it's odd that nothing comes up in HouseLinc. Problem solved either way, thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeG Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Do not assume the PLM has the devices defined. The Delete Modem (PLM) removed that PLM information from the ISY. It would be necessary to go back to earlier ISY Backup and then do a Restore Modem (PLM). To use the Serial port on the PC required using the DB9/RJ45 cable so I would think the PC HouseLinc test cleared the cable and PLM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Forgot to hit send before typing my reply so lost it. The PLM has been restored it's not still erased, so works with ISY just doesn't show anything in HL for some reason. Either way I bought the 2413U instead to see as even trying to use the StarTech FTDI USB to Serial adapter on my PC, HL doesn't work either even though device manager shows it as USB COM4. So guessing the adapter might be bad, which is surprising based on the reviews and how new/unused it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeG Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 If the 2413U PLM has hardware v2.x (on paper sticker) it will not work with HouseLinc. HouseLinc has not been updated for a long time. The Devices file does not have information on the latest PLMs (nor other recent Insteon devices). . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian H Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Some users have modified the devices.xml file to add the 2413S. I would think {I have not looked} the 2413U would also have two places in the file. Where it could be added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edokid Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Oh I'm not using it with HouseLinc I am using Indigo as each room of my house has an AirPlay device, and Indigo fully supports iTunes and AirFoil Speakers, so my KPL buttons can control music zones, songs, playlists, etc without needing anything else. I was just using HouseLinc to test the 2413S PLM that I had with the adapter to rule out it being the PLM that has the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stusviews Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 edokid, because the PLM won't work with HouseLinc it will fail the test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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