PLM 2.0 HW Failed

[hart2hart]

I've had it in place about 1 year since they were introduced. Failed 4 times in last 6 weeks. ISY PLM restore gets it back so just got RMA for replacement. UDI version still on radar?

 

This makes me want to pull all this high tech out of walls throw it away. If it were not for ISY, I'd be done with SH.

[stusviews]

Throw your high tech my way. In spite of some difficulties, the ISY is the best thing that happened to Insteon

[hart2hart]

Throw your high tech my way. In spite of some difficulties, the ISY is the best thing that happened to Insteon

My point exactly. Best technical and support from UDI and ISY makes SH tech tolerable.

[jerlands]

I wish Smartlabs would wise up to 3rd party development..

 

 

Jon..

[Brian H]

Your last PLM was a hardware 2.0 or above, that failed?

That is not a good thing to read about.

[smokegrub]

Your last PLM was a hardware 2.0 or above, that failed?

That is not a good thing to read about.

No, its not. I preemptively replaced an "old" PLM in a location which I will not visit for the next 5 months. Of course, I used the latest version. I received replacement caps from mouser today and will replace the caps in the old PLM with those recommended on this forum. Hopefully, the repaired PLM will be durable for the long haul.

[stusviews]

I wish Smartlabs would wise up to 3rd party development..

 

 

Jon..

 

SH already has third party development. The ISY for one, also the motion sensor, cameras, thermostats, Smartenit devices such as the EZFlora, even more.

[Teken]

SH already has third party development. The ISY for one, also the motion sensor, cameras, thermostats, Smartenit devices such as the EZFlora, even more.

 

I believe Jon was inferring to (new) 3rd party development of the Insteon product line.  Those you have mentioned are old and existing vendors since product launch besides the camera's. Which have been in place for at least five years now etc. I am afraid outside of software support or where a device has some kind of open API such as the Amazon Echo, Harmony Remote, etc.

 

You're not going to see a large vendor actually create product, integrate, or incorporate Insteon technology. That ship has sailed away long ago and those who enter the fray have decided ZigBee / Z-Wave, WiFi, BLE, is the path to follow.

 

As I indicated in the past many times the business plan for Smartlabs (Joe Dadda) should be to offer the PLM chips for free or at a very low discounted price which can be incorporated into any appliance device.

 

Essentially, this would allow a person to see the status, control it, and monitor the energy consumption of said product(s). I don't recall the name of the Chinese company last year that was mentioned. But, this one company has decided to do the exact same thing and if it takes off it will be a huge disrupt-er for the HA industry.

 

On Topic: I am quite sadden to read that a hardware 2.XX 2413S PLM has failed. It would be great to know the exact details of production, firmware, etc. 

[paulbates]

My Insteon successes: I have lamplincs and inlinelincs from the beginning of insteon, still working perfectly. I had a USB PLM on homeseer that was well into its 3rd year when I came to ISY and sold it. My current PLM is a refurb and continues to work perfectly.

 

My Insteon failures:  I had the misfortune to buy most of my keypads in 2011-2012 timeframe and had to replace most of them within the past few years.  And 2 PLMs die with in weeks of plugging them in.

 

In summary, they can build quality product, but only do it part of the time:

• We know that they know that they have a problem.
• And they know that we know that they know.  Everyone knows.  

That was step 1, awareness. Why aren't we getting to step 2?

 

From what I can tell, it comes down to a handful of caps and a difference in product cost < 50 cents, and this only seems to happen part of the time.. 

[Teken]

My Insteon successes: I have lamplincs and inlinelincs from the beginning of insteon, still working perfectly. I had a USB PLM on homeseer that was well into its 3rd year when I came to ISY and sold it. My current PLM is a refurb and continues to work perfectly.

 

My Insteon failures:  I had the misfortune to buy most of my keypads in 2011-2012 timeframe and had to replace most of them within the past few years.  And 2 PLMs die with in weeks of plugging them in.

 

In summary, they can build quality product, but only do it part of the time:

• We know that they know that they have a problem.
• And they know that we know that they know.  Everyone knows.  

That was step 1, awareness. Why aren't we getting to step 2?

 

From what I can tell, it comes down to a handful of caps and a difference in product cost < 50 cents, and this only seems to happen part of the time.. 

 

There is so much truth and honesty in the above posts where does one begin? As I have stated many times here and abroad in other forums. When you let *profit before people* and the focus on producing the cheapest hardware to ensure the highest profits.

 

This will impact your long term business sales and the product line.

 

As I also stated in the past the amount of public awareness (shaming) has driven what has been seen now. I don't personally believe that public shaming should ever be used to make a company realize their faults etc. Every company has R&D and procedures to determine root cause of faults when excessive warranty and out of warranty items are sent back.

 

Its obvious to me they sat on this for awhile because there was a large 2-3 year gap where nothing was being done. But slowly with the advent and huge push of HA as seen from hundreds of vendors now entering the fray. That if Smartlabs (Insteon) was to be seen as a viable and serious contender in the *Long Term* HA industry.

 

They needed to change the *Profit before People* mentality and change the hardware. This was seen in the PSU now used in many of the devices which support wide voltage ranges. The fact they natively support 100 - 277 VAC, higher surge, and lower energy consumption indicates most of the feed back was taken in and a revamp was done.

 

This doesn't help those early adopters like you and me but it does bold well for others moving forward. To be fair to Smartlabs most of this is driven by Senior Management and not at the engineering level. Because we all know these people are more than capable of designing, creating, and building quality products.

 

It simply comes down to the will to do so . . .

[mwester]

...

That was step 1, awareness. Why aren't we getting to step 2?

 

From what I can tell, it comes down to a handful of caps and a difference in product cost < 50 cents, and this only seems to happen part of the time.. 

 

'Tis true that the component cost is minimal.  However, what I've learned from my customers who have product manufactured in China is that there are huge problems in oversight of the manufacturers.  More specifically, I've been told that you can specify certain critical components, but ensuring that your manufacturer doesn't substitute cheaper components (and pocket the difference) is a huge problem.  I suspect that at least part of the problem is that Smartlabs/Smarthome/Smartwhatever doesn't have what it takes to keep their manufacturer honest.

[paulbates]

....  I suspect that at least part of the problem is that Smartlabs/Smarthome/Smartwhatever doesn't have what it takes to keep their manufacturer honest.

 

I agree that it points to problems with contract manufacturing, and the problem is qc related. It seems like the inspection and lab testing of the final product is not rigorous, or the testing methodology does not parallel powerline reality. This is neither a complicated nor sophisticated assembly. I believe visual inspection could expose component substitution of caps in this case.

 

Its common practice for electronics manufactures to fully outsource the the manufacturing of their components in a tiered supplier model, yet deliver consistent product quality. QC is a cost of business. "You get what you inspect, not what you expect" was hand me down advice from a senior engineer years ago.