My Insteon hub died, new ISY994i on the way, need advice migrating

[Cover]

Just when I had all my devices and scenes working the way I want, my Insteon hub died an untimely death. The thought of setting everything back up from scratch is overwhelming and nearly sends me into a panic. It took a lot of effort to get everything working as desired and I have a few inaccessible Insteon devices in light fixtures, etc.

 

I was able to get a list of device addresses and names that had been added to the hub from support, but that's all they can do apparently.

 

How can I best go about adding my devices and scenes to the new ISY controller? I'd really rather not completely reset everything and start over. I gather from the manual that it may be possible to read existing links from devices as they're added to the ISY and automatically create scenes that way? Is that correct? (I know I'd still have some work to do even then, but having the devices and their existing links automatically set up scenes in the ISY would go a long way. )

 

Also, if I understand correctly, it would be best to remove the link to the dead Insteon hub from all the other devices. Is there a simple way to go about that?

 

Any help or advice appreciated. Thanks

Edited April 26, 2017 by Cover

[apostolakisl]

The ISY can "crawl" your network.  Not that this is brainless.  All of your scenes and devices will have no names and you'll have to start figuring things out by trial and error and giving them all names.  

 

Then BACK IT UP!!  ISY can be backed up and then restored.  Also, the PLM can be restored from ISY.

 

You'll still need to manually link battery operated devices and devices on your network that are on "islands".  In other words, single devices or groups of devices that are not linked to any devices outside of themselves or their group.  Basically, you need to manually enter at least one device on each "island".  

[oberkc]

Alternatives also include manually inputting the insteon device and address.  This could come in handy for those inaccessible devices.

 

I am unaware of a method for globally deleting a particular link, such as from the old hub.  Having said this, once you crawl your network, it may be useful to perform a link records check of the devices versus what the ISY comes up with.  Performing a "restore" device may eliminate the dead records from the various devices.

[Cover]

The ISY can "crawl" your network.  Not that this is brainless.  All of your scenes and devices will have no names and you'll have to start figuring things out by trial and error and giving them all names.  

 

Then BACK IT UP!!  ISY can be backed up and then restored.  Also, the PLM can be restored from ISY.

 

You'll still need to manually link battery operated devices and devices on your network that are on "islands".  In other words, single devices or groups of devices that are not linked to any devices outside of themselves or their group.  Basically, you need to manually enter at least one device on each "island".

 

Thanks, that makes sense. Most of my devices are linked in All On / Off scenes, so I hope the ISY can add most of them without much trouble. Is there any separate step to "crawl" as you said, or just add the devices and keep the links?

 

Insteon support was able to give me a list of my device ids and names from the hub, so naming everything may be tedious but shouldn't be difficult. Scenes shouldn't be too hard to puzzle out.

 

I'm a big believer in keeping at least 3 backups in separate places, at least one off site. There was just no facility to do so with the hub and app. I wrongly assumed Insteon would be able to do more from the cloud to help with the eventuality of a hub replacement.

[Cover]

Alternatives also include manually inputting the insteon device and address.  This could come in handy for those inaccessible devices.

 

I am unaware of a method for globally deleting a particular link, such as from the old hub.  Having said this, once you crawl your network, it may be useful to perform a link records check of the devices versus what the ISY comes up with.  Performing a "restore" device may eliminate the dead records from the various devices.

I was wondering if the ISY might see and add the old hub's ID as a device (even though its incommunicado) and then be able to delete it as a device, removing its reference from all other linked devices at the same time. If that's not possible, it sounds like restoring each device would do the trick, just take more effort.

 

I appreciate the advice. I'm kind of glad to have a good excuse to upgrade to the ISY. I know of a few things the hub can't do that I'd like to set up and am sure I'll discover more.

[larryllix]

I would be factory reseting each device and adding them to ISY. Once a process has been set up it doesn't take that long except for battery devices somewhat.

 

This way you know you have a clean slate for each device. They can tend to act strangely if not cleaned out first, especially from the factory.

 

I think you will enjoy the power of your ISY so much more, being able to do compound logic programs instead of just timer events or extension of device controls.

 

I bought two hubs and once I saw what they could do I sent one back for a refund and gave the other one away.

 

Welcome to the forum!

[apostolakisl]

Thanks, that makes sense. Most of my devices are linked in All On / Off scenes, so I hope the ISY can add most of them without much trouble. Is there any separate step to "crawl" as you said, or just add the devices and keep the links?

 

Insteon support was able to give me a list of my device ids and names from the hub, so naming everything may be tedious but shouldn't be difficult. Scenes shouldn't be too hard to puzzle out.

 

I'm a big believer in keeping at least 3 backups in separate places, at least one off site. There was just no facility to do so with the hub and app. I wrongly assumed Insteon would be able to do more from the cloud to help with the eventuality of a hub replacement.

 

I haven't ever needed to crawl my network.  But, when you go to link your first device, it asks you if you want to add all devices that are linked to it.  If you click to do that and keep the existing links, then I believe this will crawl through your network adding all links and keeping all your scenes intact.  If you instead tell it to add all devices and the devices that are linked to it, but delete the links, then you will get all devices added, but no scenes.  So you would then need to create all your scenes from scratch.  But the devices would all be there.

 

I am not sure, but it might add your hub as a device even though it isn't online by virtue of the fact that it is linked to your other devices?  Maybe not.  HOwever, if it does add the hub, then you can delete the hub  from ISY and ISY will go through and delete it from everything it is linked to.

 

If you start from scratch, be aware that ISY makes creating scenes pretty quick work.  It is just drag and drop.  If you have the pro model, you can delay writing the links so you can create all your scenes, then click the button to write it all and go have a beer or two.  When you get back it will be done.

Edited April 27, 2017 by apostolakisl

[oberkc]

was wondering if the ISY might see and add the old hub's ID as a device (even though its incommunicado) and then be able to delete it as a device

 

Truth is, I have used the "crawl" option sparingly, so my experience is limited.  What I believe happens is that the ISY would, indeed, see the old hub ID and would then try to add the device.  Unfortunately, with the hub being gone, it cannot respond to the effort to add it, so I believe it will fail.

 

Hopefully, I am wrong.

[apostolakisl]

Truth is, I have used the "crawl" option sparingly, so my experience is limited.  What I believe happens is that the ISY would, indeed, see the old hub ID and would then try to add the device.  Unfortunately, with the hub being gone, it cannot respond to the effort to add it, so I believe it will fail.

 

Hopefully, I am wrong.

I suspect you are correct.  I'm not sure what it does with the links then.  Does it load the orphaned links if it can't contact the device?

[larryllix]

IIRC there has been a few users that have adopted links using the "absorb" method and then they had a hard time getting the links to a non-existent Hub type device out of their ISY / PLM link tables.

 

Now the devices are doing multiple retries to get an Insteon ACK from a device that will never respond.

Edited April 27, 2017 by larryllix