Insteon signal strength good, comms bad?

[David D]

As stated in a previous thread, I've been tracing some intermittent comm issues and came across a device that was providing good signal strength, but was still giving me an error when I did a "restore device" on the ISY994. 

 

I connected my Elk ESM1 at my PLM and had my wife turn the offending device (SwitchLinc Dimmer v.35) on and off while observing the ESM1. I had PLENTY of signal strength (over 2.5 volts) coming from the SwitchLinc as measured at the PLM, however, when I tried to do a "restore device", I got a communication fail error on the ISY admin console. I pulled the air gap switch on the SwitchLinc for about 30 seconds and pushed it back in to reset it. I then tried another "restore device" and it worked that time.

 

My question is, what would cause this to happen to a device that had been working fine for awhile? I have had this happen a few times over the years (I migrated to Insteon starting in 2005), but am perplexed as to why. No known electrical issues that I know of coincided with the problem.

 

Any ideas?

 

David

[Brian H]

The electronics in the module could have been scrambled by maybe some line noise or fast power dip and it was not running correctly.

Pulling the Air Gap did a power cycle reset and it then was running correctly.