Be kind to your PLM -- out of stock until late April

[mwester]

FYI.

 

Be extra nice to your PLM for the next month.  Buy it some roses.  Give it compliments.  Pat it fondly on the top of the case whenever you pass by.

 

Smarthome has pushed delivery of the PLMs, originally to be available on the 21st of this month, out to late April.  Same for Amazon's store on amazon.com.

 

Other suppliers on Amazon.com claim to have stock, and in an emergency that's probably a viable solution -- but I'm concerned about getting an out-of-rev unit going that route (I already have one of the "die every two years like clockwork" ones, and I really hate replacing capacitors, don't need another of those!).

 

So, be kind to your PLM.

 

(Sure wish UDI had been able to supply their version of the PLM; I'd much rather send my $ to UDI than to continue to reward SmartHome for a crappy poorly-designed product!)

[Teken]

FYI.

 

Be extra nice to your PLM for the next month.  Buy it some roses.  Give it compliments.  Pat it fondly on the top of the case whenever you pass by.

 

Smarthome has pushed delivery of the PLMs, originally to be available on the 21st of this month, out to late April.  Same for Amazon's store on amazon.com.

 

Other suppliers on Amazon.com claim to have stock, and in an emergency that's probably a viable solution -- but I'm concerned about getting an out-of-rev unit going that route (I already have one of the "die every two years like clockwork" ones, and I really hate replacing capacitors, don't need another of those!).

 

So, be kind to your PLM.

 

(Sure wish UDI had been able to supply their version of the PLM; I'd much rather send my $ to UDI than to continue to reward SmartHome for a crappy poorly-designed product!)

 

Based on the last four months of this year those with hardware 2.1, 2.2, and some random user with a 2.3 model have all experienced a less than six month failure.

 

At this point its clear to me the flaws in the 2413S PLM are not just in the capacitors but the regulated power supply. Meaning this specific device is not well designed to endure low to high voltage conditions. People often think a surge / spike is what kills their devices and in many cases that is true.

 

The opposite is also true where you have low voltage swings and causes what most people know as a brown out. In the industry its known as a voltage sag in the power line. Most electronics surprisingly are not designed to operate below 100 VAC. In those cases when voltage drops current rises and thus the magic smoke comes out.

 

The fact they don't have a 85 - 277 VAC PLM is quite telling because it obviously can't sustain every day line issues. This is why I was so very happy to see many of the Switch Lincs / KPL's offering dual frequency and wider voltage range.

 

The difference here is unlike a surge / spike the device is purposely designed to operate and sustain RMS line voltage that run from 100 -277 VAC.

 

Just this simple concept will ensure longer service life and enable the hardware to endure random voltage swings in the home. The fact we haven't heard a word about the UDI PLM indicates to me this project is either stalled or has been killed off due to the lack of PLM chips for sale along with being granted the ability to flash said chips.

[Brian H]

If UDI ever got the needed chips

The 2413S would be dead in the water. I would NEVER recommend a Smarthome 2413S if there was a well designed UDI PLM being sold!

 

I still have extra capacitors {both 10uf and 100uf values for C7 and C13} if I have to rebuild my Hardware 2.1. That is stock from when I purchased it. Through Amazon.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hello all,

 

Only if we got the chips!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Brian H]

This out of stock status. May also effect ISY994i/PLM packages sold by Smarthome.

Bummer.

[Teken]

I would hazard to guess lots of these sales promotions going on is a concerted effort to push out old stock. Next, is to bring in revamped products I offered here in this forum which is the global PLM.

 

I am eager to see and use the dual band I/O Linc . . .

[SteveT]

I had my PLM die early this week, and purchased a replacement via Amazon - delivered yesterday seller was AvSoundz .

 

The version delivered was v2.2 (1546).  

 

For those in a bind...

[Brian H]

Amazon is rotating through their market place vendors. That still may have some stock.

There is now a different vendor showing the 2413S as still in stock.

HPP Enterprises. Is the vendor now found.

[YW84U]

I bought a new PLM back in October 2015, and received a 2413S with a Version 1.A and 1239 date code... It completely died about three weeks ago, so I sent it back for warranty. I just got an email a couple days ago advising that it was in fact DOA, and they were advised by INSTEON that PLMs are backordered (but they were anticipating an ETA of some stock this week). I'm currently limping with an old spare PLM from ~2008, and am reluctant to do much of anything with it as it's likely 'fragile'!

 

I hope the replacement is at least a newer revision than the last one received

 

Cheers,

Tom

[jerlands]

Hello all,

 

Only if we got the chips!

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Is there ANY chance?

 

 

Jon...

[mwester]

I've pressed my USB PLM into service     My brand-new testing/spare ISY is happily talking to a 2413U that I had in the junk box from my HouseLinc days... my testing/spare Raspberry Pi is doing the work of transferring bytes between the serial port connecting to the ISY and the USB port connecting the PLM.

 

I actually had some code in there to translate the device subcategory in the ID response so that the 2413U would identify itself as a 2413S -- but it turns out that's not necessary; the ISY is quite happy with it just the way it is.

 

 

 

 

@Teken - I'd love to see a new, improved PLM from NotSoSmartHome, but I'm not holding my breath.     What do they sell anymore that uses a PLM?  It's hubs, hubs, and more hubs, all the way down.  Like "Yertle the Turtle"...  On the other hand, if it's all "cloud" and "hubs" for them, then why would they not provide the chips for UDI?  Makes no sense.

 

IMO the PLM chip problem and the Insteon chime API issue are two great examples of how dysfunctional Smart Home has become, at least with UDI.  If I were UDI, I'd be directing most of the new features in the next release on really building out support for an alternate to Insteon devices    Oh wait!  Isn't that what 5.x is doing? 

[Teken]

I've pressed my USB PLM into service My brand-new testing/spare ISY is happily talking to a 2413U that I had in the junk box from my HouseLinc days... my testing/spare Raspberry Pi is doing the work of transferring bytes between the serial port connecting to the ISY and the USB port connecting the PLM.

 

I actually had some code in there to translate the device subcategory in the ID response so that the 2413U would identify itself as a 2413S -- but it turns out that's not necessary; the ISY is quite happy with it just the way it is.

 

 

 

 

@Teken - I'd love to see a new, improved PLM from NotSoSmartHome, but I'm not holding my breath. What do they sell anymore that uses a PLM? It's hubs, hubs, and more hubs, all the way down. Like "Yertle the Turtle"... On the other hand, if it's all "cloud" and "hubs" for them, then why would they not provide the chips for UDI? Makes no sense.

 

IMO the PLM chip problem and the Insteon chime API issue are two great examples of how dysfunctional Smart Home has become, at least with UDI. If I were UDI, I'd be directing most of the new features in the next release on really building out support for an alternate to Insteon devices Oh wait! Isn't that what 5.x is doing?

I don't pretend to know the back story about why more than a year has past and Joe Dadda hasn't agreed to sell PLM chips to UDI.

 

I hazard to guess its a combination of pricing, in house flashing capability, and firmware code access.

 

Given nobody wants to make any Insteon hardware in the market place I can't understand why the two are in a endless holding pattern.

 

The HA protocol adoption war is long over and Insteon lost out to Z-Wave/ZigBee. Only second to WiFi/BLE devices.

 

At this point Smart Labs should be giving them away for free!

 

People will read more than 50 articles about HA in the months to come. In those 50 videos, blogs, magazines, etc you won't find one article talking about Insteon.

 

As I stated above the global PLM could be UDI's unit or not given strict NDA restrictions.

 

If it's not theirs and it's a smart labs hardware release well now we know why because they don't want to lose out on the international market profit!

 

We already know every two years the PLM is going to explode that assures the company (Smartlabs) a predictable revenue stream.

 

I believe with 5.XX and Z-Wave support UDI has started the process to ensure their company remains solid in the HA world.

 

With the ISY Portal and tight integration with 3rd party hardware like Amazon Echo, IFTTT, Honeywell, and Push Over.

 

Along with node servers & polyglot there are lots of possibility in the future.

 

Lastly, their energy monitoring / energy management has taken off and Mitchel indicates it contributes approx 30% of their revenue from the POCO's.

 

Let's see what happens in the next two quarters regarding product releases from both companies.

 

 

 

 

=========================

 

The highest calling in life is to serve ones country faithfully - Teach others what can be. Do what is right and not what is popular.

[Brian H]

This morning.

Smarthome is still showing 04/22/2016.

An Amazon dealer is now showing 03/29/2016.

Maybe Smarthome has not updated their site yet or have commitments to warranty replacements.

[YW84U]

I just received my replacement PLM last Wednesday March 30th, so there must be some new stock trickling in. I received a version 2.2 with a date code of 1611, so at least it's fairly recent!

 

Cheers,

Tom