carealtor Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) When I got my first ISY, it was around the time that the 2412S PLM was replaced with the 2413S PLM. I'm guessing this was probably 8-10 years ago. I really liked the idea of having the ISY powered through the PLM so I really wanted to use the 2412S, but it was no longer available. I ended up purchasing a SimpleHomeNet (now Smartenit) 5010K PLM which, at the time, was advertised as being functionally equivalent to a 2412S. This PLM has worked flawlessly with my ISY(s) since I purchased it and used in 3 different homes over the many years. This last weekend I was rearranging some cables in my closet. I unplugged the cable between the PLM and ISY, repositioned it where I wanted, and plugged it back in. When I plugged the cable into the PLM, I heard a "snap!" and the ISY did not light up. I went and dug up the power cord that came with the ISY and plugged it in and it lit up. So this told me that the PLM just blew something. I remembered I had another PLM in my stash of stuff from when I was playing with OpenHab a little bit. This is a 2413U. I knew about the capacitor replacement fix for the PLM, so Plan A was that I would scavenge the capacitors out of the 2413U and fix the 5010K. I opened them both up and realized immediately that the "guts" were very very different between the two and that Plan A was not going to pan out. This is all new to me as I've never had a PLM failure before, but the next thing I noticed was that I could physically swap the daughter boards that have the USB and RJ45 jacks on them. So that is what I did. I used the main board from the 2413U and the RJ45 daughter board from the fried 5010K PLM. The third thing I noticed was that this guy was cracked in two in the 5010K PLM. This no doubt was the snap that I heard. What is really interesting, is that I can power the ISY through my Frankenstein PLM, even though the 2413 supposedly does not do this. Seems like the ability to power the ISY is a function of the RJ45 daughter board. Now, the problem. My Frankenstein PLM is exhibiting the same symptoms that I've read for a failing PLM, even though it is barely used. If I do more than a few device writes, it stops working and the green light goes out. When this happens, if I unplug the cable from the PLM (leaving the PLM plugged into the wall outlet), wait a bit, then plug it back in, it will all work again. It also seems to be very warm. Seems like maybe it is overheating and I wonder if this is because I am also powering the ISY with it. However, using the ISY power cable does not help. Edited February 21, 2018 by carealtor
stusviews Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 PLMs are known to run warm (but not hot). The ISY does not have a power cable, it has a connection for an external power supply. Is that what you mean?
Brian H Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) The earlier Smartenit units where built on a base 2412 main board . Then on a base 2413 main board when the 2412 was discontinued. The 2412S did power the ISY99i or ISY994i through the Serial Port connection. The same base daughter board was used in the 2413S. The F1 fuse was not installed. So it did not power things through the serial port connector. The fuse was 400mA if memory serves me. I am not too sure how much extra current capacity a 2413 main board has. So how well it will power the ISY99i or ISY994i is not known. Also not 100% sure the DC is total y isolated from the power lines in a 2413 main board. From your description it very well could be the extra power used by the ISY994i is overloading it. Also the memory on the 2412S daughter board was slower and depending on the age. Had a 417 or ~ 2000 Link Database on it. Depending on its age you may have a small Link Database . It will also have a slower memory access speed over the 2413S daughter board. I don't have any information on the differences between a 2412 daughter board and what Smartenit may have on their added daughter board. You could try disconnecting F1 if it has one and powering it through the external wall wart. To see if anything changes. If the PLM and the external wall wart are trying to power the ISY994i. The higher voltage will power it. Since the PLM voltage is higher. Even if both are connected. Most likely the PLM is still powering it. Edited February 21, 2018 by Brian H Add data
carealtor Posted February 21, 2018 Author Posted February 21, 2018 Thank you Brian. That is the kind of knowledgeable feedback I was hoping for.
Brian H Posted February 21, 2018 Posted February 21, 2018 Glad I may have helped. One thing I may not know. Is what Smartenit did to their daughter board. So my memory size and speed. Along with the F1 fuse may not apply to theirs. As I believe it has a optional RS485 interface.
carealtor Posted February 21, 2018 Author Posted February 21, 2018 The Smartenit daughter board does have the F1 fuse. In fact, I just disconnected it to test some of the things you said in your post. After disconnecting the F1 fuse the ISY will not power on unless the "external power supply" is used. Letting it run for awhile and trying a few things that were causing failures before, the PLM is now stable. So it seems running the ISY from a 2413 causes it to overload.
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