Lost communication

[Brian H]

The 2.0 that is going bad. Does not sound encouraging.

It has the new C7 and C13 that was supposed to fix the capacitor issue. Firmware 9E was I believe the fix for the All On reports.

Though there could be another failure in it.

I have seen another user report X10 power line receive issues with a fairly new 2413S PLM but not X10 transmit. A replacement fixed the issues.

[Teken]

The 2.0 that is going bad. Does not sound encouraging.

It has the new C7 and C13 that was supposed to fix the capacitor issue. Firmware 9E was I believe the fix for the All On reports.

Though there could be another failure in it.

I have seen another user report X10 power line receive issues with a fairly new 2413S PLM but not X10 transmit. A replacement fixed the issues.

 

I would have to gather this may be a small fluke in production if not God help us all. Every time I read about v2.X PLM hardware having issues it just makes the hair on the back of my neck just stand up and I get this bad taste in my mouth.

 

It truly saddens me that UDI has been halted in this endeavor to release a more robust PLM to the general public. Having a single source supplier providing hardware is just a terrible place to be in the long run. Also having a single item that interacts with a Insteon network is just trouble.

 

As limited as, BLE, WiFi is at least no single device has command and control of its global operations. I've often dreamed about a world where new Insteon devices would have the ability to just talk to the ISY Series Controller with out the aid of a middle man like the 2413S PLM.

 

Given the computing power, memory storage, available to hardware vendors these days to me it would just make more sense if the ISY was a hybrid PLM, no?

 

All they would need is the PLM Insteon chip and integrate it into their box as they do with the Z-Wave / ZigBee cards. The only difference is that the PLM chip would be integrated to the main PCB of the ISY.

 

What a nice dream, sadly a pipe dream . . .

[paulbates]

I evaluated one of the Serial Hub PLMs. It worked for 3 months then began showing the symptoms discussed above, classic PLM failure. Within a week of that, it no longer would accept links. (This unit was from SL and before UDI will work their magic on the electronics for their version). 

 

I agree with the other comments. Why are there still BOM type problems that probably affect price minimally?  Please SL, raise the price of the PLM covering the cost to fix everything that needs to be fixed. That would be worth it to me, to not have worry about my PLM all of the time. 

 

I interpret this as either bad judgement trying to cut costs, or lack of discipline in design and testing. Is product reputation worth this chronic, incessant problem? 

[Teken]

I evaluated one of the Serial Hub PLMs. It worked for 3 months then began showing the symptoms discussed above, classic PLM failure. Within a week of that, it no longer would accept links. (This unit was from SL and before UDI will work their magic on the electronics for their version). 

 

I agree with the other comments. Why are there still BOM type problems that probably affect price minimally?  Please SL, raise the price of the PLM covering the cost to fix everything that needs to be fixed. That would be worth it to me, to not have worry about my PLM all of the time. 

 

I interpret this as either bad judgement trying to cut costs, or lack of discipline in design and testing. Is product reputation worth this chronic, incessant problem? 

 

So not to take this thread on a complete tangent but did you receive another HUB PLM to help resolve the ALL ON issues?

[pmwill]

And so the saga continues. I received the new PLM and it is V2 .1 with the numbers 1530. However, even with that installed, I now have a mixture of issues. With the PLM that was presumed to have failed, it indicated that there was no communication with any of the devices and also I could not send on/off signals through it. There was complete lack of communication through the device even though the ISY you that it was connected and provided the firmware definition. The ISY does note that the new PLM is connected and the firmware designation is the same as the previous one. Interestingly, the new one says that it cannot communicate with most of my devices. It does communicate with one of them. However, I can send on/off signals to some, but not all, of the other devices even though they indicate that there is no communication. I can also do this with some of the devices activating the "then" command line in the program. In part of my trying to work out the problem with the old PLM I had removed some of the devices to try to relink with them but then with the old PLM I was not able to reconnect at all. Now, with the new PLM I still cannot add the devices by auto search. I tried to add one of them using its MAC address but that failed also because it said that the ISY could not understand or define the Insteon protocol or words to that effect.

Sorry for this long description but I am now completely at a loss and am wondering whether it is possibly the ISY, though I really do not think so and maybe I need to go back and start all over and completely clear the ISY. I hope someone can help.

[stusviews]

Did you follow the procedure to replace the PLM? http://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=ISY-99i/ISY-26_INSTEON:File_Menu#Restore_Modem_.28PLM.29

[pmwill]

Yes, I did follow that procedure exactly. I also followed the restore modem option which only flashes on the screen for a moment and nothing further seems to happen and there is no change in status of the recognition of the devices. That is why I somehow feel I need to go completely back to square one and blank everything and rebuild. However, my fear in that regard is that I then will not be able to load any of the devices since I cannot relink any of those that I have previously deleted.

[Brian H]

The new PLMs ID is shown in the PLM Info/Status test in the Tools Diagnostics Tab?

You never used the Delete Modem (PLM) function?

[pmwill]

Yes, I have the address of the new PLM already and, as I noted earlier, it shows that it is connected and the version of the firmware is the same as the previous PLM as v9E. No, I have not used delete modem at this point. There is the warning about removing the ISY from the network and reattaching needing to restore an ISY backup. Unfortunately, because of Windows 10 issues I have had to resort to an older laptop and do not have a copy of original backup on this machine. That is why I am thinking to go right back to the beginning and treat this like a completely new set up. There are probably a lot of corrupted and crossed-up links on my present system at this point.

[Techman]

Yes, I have the address of the new PLM already and, as I noted earlier, it shows that it is connected and the version of the firmware is the same as the previous PLM as v9E. No, I have not used delete modem at this point. There is the warning about removing the ISY from the network and reattaching needing to restore an ISY backup. Unfortunately, because of Windows 10 issues I have had to resort to an older laptop and do not have a copy of original backup on this machine. That is why I am thinking to go right back to the beginning and treat this like a completely new set up. There are probably a lot of corrupted and crossed-up links on my present system at this point.

 

Did you remove power from both the modem and the ISY, then restore power to the modem, wait about 10 seconds restore power to the ISY and then do a restore modem?

[pmwill]

Yes. I did exactly that. It looks as though the  standard procedures are not going to work here.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi pmwill,

 

I am so very sorry to hear. It seems to be communications related.

 

1. Please move your PLM to a different outlet

2. Please make sure you have at least twice as many links in the PLM as your nodes in ISY. If you don't try File / Restore Devices (newer INSTEON devices do not respond without having a link back to the PLM)

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[pmwill]

Thank you everyone for the advice and help.  After doing absolutely nothing differently and doing absolutely nothing since my last communication,  I planned to attack the problem again today.  I went to admin console and for no reason that I can see or understand all started to work properly.  I was able to  restore all the devices I had kept in place and then re-link with all the devices I had deleted.  All programs are functioning properly and I have done nothing differently.  In a way this is a little more disconcerting since I have no idea what the problem really was or what corrected it, except that the other PLM had definitely failed.

[LeeG]

I suggest looking at what appliance(s) are not active now.   Those symptoms between two PLMs that just stop indicates an outside source of interference.  Something that is injecting noise or absorbing Insteon signal.     

[stusviews]

That can occur if you didn't allow the ISY enough time to complete writing links.

[pmwill]

As in my last post all devices and programming are functioning properly for no apparent reason so I do not havr have any appliances that are non-active. As for allowing time for the ISY to write to the PLM, that process was tried repeatedly and failed mid-course until suddenly today all started to work appropriately. It is still more concerning when it is not clear where the malfunction lay and why it corrected without a clearly obvious intervention.

[Teken]

If you haven't done so moving forward please do make another image back up.

[LeeG]

An appliance of concern that runs 24 hours a day is unusual.   Looking at what is running or not running is done when it is not failing.  Or just leave it alone and debug it the symptom when it comes back.  The beauty of all this is the choices are all yours.

[pmwill]

Thanks to all.  I guess this thread can be closed.

[Rufus]

And so the saga continues. I received the new PLM and it is V2 .1 with the numbers 1530. However, even with that installed, I now have a mixture of issues. With the PLM that was presumed to have failed, it indicated that there was no communication with any of the devices and also I could not send on/off signals through it. There was complete lack of communication through the device even though the ISY you that it was connected and provided the firmware definition. The ISY does note that the new PLM is connected and the firmware designation is the same as the previous one. Interestingly, the new one says that it cannot communicate with most of my devices. It does communicate with one of them. However, I can send on/off signals to some, but not all, of the other devices even though they indicate that there is no communication. I can also do this with some of the devices activating the "then" command line in the program. In part of my trying to work out the problem with the old PLM I had removed some of the devices to try to relink with them but then with the old PLM I was not able to reconnect at all. Now, with the new PLM I still cannot add the devices by auto search. I tried to add one of them using its MAC address but that failed also because it said that the ISY could not understand or define the Insteon protocol or words to that effect.

Sorry for this long description but I am now completely at a loss and am wondering whether it is possibly the ISY, though I really do not think so and maybe I need to go back and start all over and completely clear the ISY. I hope someone can help.

I have the same issue? Except I haven't given up and waited days yet.

I can communicate to the one x10 device.(have only one)

I have dimmers, can't communicate with them through ISY, however, they are manually dimmed and I can see current state. That is the part that has be baffeled.

[Techman]

I have the same issue? Except I haven't given up and waited days yet.

I can communicate to the one x10 device.(have only one)

I have dimmers, can't communicate with them through ISY, however, they are manually dimmed and I can see current state. That is the part that has be baffeled.

 

Do you have a red ! or a green 1011 in the ISY tree next to the device in question, if not the try a RESTORE DEVICE on one of the dimmers. Let me know if that helps.