PLM Replacement

[smokegrub]

I have a small second home located more than 300 miles from my primary residence. I visit the second home frequently during the summer but beginning mid November I shut it down and do not return until May of the next year. I use ISY/Insteon/X-10 devices to monitor the status of the home, create the illusion that the home is actively lived in and monitor the heating system and well system. The system performs beautifully. I am nearing the time of my last visit for the year and I have an old (more than 2 years) PLM (2413S) in place. Given the well-documented failure rate of these PLMs, I have purchased a replacement and want to install it proactively prior to shutdown. I have read most of the material here regarding the procedure but, candidly, I find much of it confusing. I have the following devices in this system:

ISY 994i (1)
PowerLinc Modem 2413S (1)
Firmware 4.2.18
UI 4.2.30
MacBook Pro (mid 2010; OS 10.10.5)
MobiLinc Pro v4.7

Hidden Door Sensor 2845-222 (3)
SwitchLinc 2466SW (3)
SynchroLinc 2423A5 (1)
Outdoor Module 2634-222 (1)
LampLinc Dimmer 2457D2 (2)
SwitchLinc 2477S (1)
X-10 Modules (6)
Wireless Thermostat 2411ZTH (1)
ApplianceLinc 2456S3 (2)

The replacement PLM is a new 2413S.

I understand that the battery devices (Hidden Door Sensors) may present a special challenge during the replacement. Would someone be so kind as to provide stepwise directions to help me successfully undertake this replacement?

By the way, my neighbor is very talented in working on electronics and he will replace the caps which are the problem in the older PLM. That will provide me a backup for the older PLM at my primary residence.

As always, any help will be appreciated.

[paulbates]

Its never fun, but you just have to do it.  Below are the directions from the wiki, I searched for "replace PLM". You have to go through it in waves. After the replace (restore modem) completed, I had devices with icons that showed then needed to be updated. You will need to work with those devices one at a time in the admin console to resolve. Hopefully not to many. 

 

I turned off (made grey) the little battery icon on the admin console during the restore modem, and did battery device as another wave of updates. You have to go around one at a time and put them in programming mode (long set button press usually)... its a pain, but you'll have to be prepared... ladders out, etc, to deal with it.

 

I've found iolincs to be fussy sometimes and have had to restore them individually. In one case I had to delete it and re-add it. Sometimes keypads too. 

 

Here are the directions:

 

Restore Modem (PLM) Replace Modem (PLM)

This operation is most useful when you need to replace a defective PLM and the ISY is rebooted with a new PLM. When the communication links were established via the Link Management Menu, the PLM and INSTEON devices adds each device addresses it is linked to, in its own link table.

The ISY also reads and stores the PLM’s address at boot up. The ISY stores all the configurations settings of the lighting network. If you are replacing a PLM the ISY will have the old PLM address link stored in it.

Warning: Never replace your PLM while the ISY is running because it will assume it is still connected with the old PLM. The ISY will appear to work, but it will be writing the address of the old PLM into the device links, thus you will not see devices updates etc.

If this menu option is selected, the ISY goes through all INSTEON devices looking for old and new PLM address links. If an old PLM address link is found, it replaces them with the address of the new PLM and adds the corresponding device link to the new PLM.

To replace a PLM:

• Unplug ISY from the power outlet
• Unplug the PLM from ISY and power outlet
• Connect ISY’s port A to the new PLM
• Plug the new PLM into a power outlet
• Plug ISY into a power outlet
• Go to Admin Console and wait for system initialization to complete
  • If you have PRO Series, click on the Battery icon at the top. This will prevent ISY from trying to update programming on your RF devices which are probably in sleep mode
• Click on the Restore Modem (PLM) menu option
  • In case ISY cannot communicate (or decides not to if an RF device/PRO Series) during the process, you will have a series of nodes with green 1011 icons in the device tree. For each one of those nodes:
    • If an RF device, ensure that the device is in Programming mode
    • Right mouse click | Write pending updates ...

[stusviews]

Before you do anything, update the firmware and UI so that they are both at the same level. They are not at the same level now. Be sure to follow all instructions (listed with the update).

[smokegrub]

Before you do anything, update the firmware and UI so that they are both at the same level. They are not at the same level now. Be sure to follow all instructions (listed with the update).

Good catch. I updated Java, cleared the cache and both the UI and Firmware are now 4.2.30. I will start the PLM replacement tomorrow.

[Teken]

Even though the process is straight forward please ensure you do a back up of the system and keep it on hand.

[smokegrub]

Even though the process is straight forward please ensure you do a back up of the system and keep it on hand.

Thanks, Teken. I have a backup on hand. Always makes me uncomfortable doing this sort of thing. It would seem to me that this would be a great candidate for a robust software guided step-by-step process. As much as I love the ISY some very important things are left to the end user gleaning information at this forum, the WIKI and the experts who frequent the forum. In my opinion that has to change for the ISY to become the tool of choice for many.

[smokegrub]

Everything went as planned...I think. Thanks for the help.

 

Despite the fact that the batteries in the Hidden Door Sensors were still going strong after one year I replaced them with new lithium batteries.

[Autonow]

Well jt was about 3 years before my PLM failed. The restore procedure as described is rather straight forward except it is totally unacceptable from the standpoint you have to reinitialize all battery powered devices. I suppose the reason for this is the poor design philosophy of wireless devices. Meaning wireless devices only come alive when there is an event otherwise they appear dead to the system.  Worst possible scenario for a "leak detector"  you don;t know if it works until it is too late,

 

Well after the restore about 4 wired devices are not working and I have to dig into the why.. reset or replace. As systems grow larger this too is unacceptable. It can literally take days to reset a verify everything is working. I'm just venting it is what it is

[Brian H]

Can't do much about the battery operated devices. If they didn't go into power saving mode. The battery life would be real short.

 

If you have any Insteon modules that are old enough to only do the original I1 messaging. They can take for ever to update the link database in the module. With memory peeks and pokes.