Migrating 2412s from Girder

[jmbraben]

I am migrating to ISY994i from Girder 5.1, my PLM is an (amazingly reliable for Insteon) 2412s.

All of my (like 70+) devices are linked to the PLM currently, my question is...do I need to completely factory reset everything and start from scratch?

Or can the ISY994i work with those linkages and discover the connections?

The problem being there are many/many device/device links that will have to be recreated if I wipe the switches...does anyone have experience migrating from Girder?? (cough/cough) @mjcumming

[paulbates]

Hi and welcome to the UDI forum!

I migrated from another package (HomeSeer) a few years back. In the end, it was best to factory reset devices and reinstall. The ISY needs to create scenes as the Insteon network manager. 

I was able to gather information from HomeSeer printouts for devices and scenes, and rebuilt things room by room or function by function.

Paul

[larryllix]

Even if ISY could adopt all those links, your devices would all need to have names associated with each device and then programs would all have to be built on those names.

In the end you would likely regret the confusion and want to start clean anyway. Paul's advice above is the way I would go.

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[lilyoyo1]

Besides what has already been mentioned, I'd get the newer plm. It's much faster than the 2412 and holds more links. 

[mjcumming]

I tried this and it did not work well - you need to have the ISY wipe every device clean and start over   

Mike

[jmbraben]

Thanks everyone for the input.

@lilyoyo1, @mjcumming

I've heard bad things about the reliability of the 2413, and this 2412 seems pretty reliable...is it really faster? (my experience the dual-band devices (wireless) are much faster than the my older PLC only nodes)...but as far as network interface, does the 2413 have a speed advantage? Is the ISY just using the 2412/2413 links for global scenes? Does it use for anything else? As I have to wipe everything, I guess now would be the time to migrate if I'm ever going to.

I'm guessing there is no effort in trying to get the ISY to support the (now unavailable) 2242-222? (Which I picked up when I was still on girder but never migrated to using).

[lilyoyo1]

Since UDI doesn't support the 2242 by now I doubt it'll ever happen since it's discontinued. No point in working on something that isn't available anymore.

The plm issues that are for older models. Newer revisions are too me too know if their fixes have actually improved to it's life span. Personally, I think the plm gets blamed far to often when there are other issues but that's argument for a different day. 

Yes, the 2413 communicates with your devices much faster than the 2412. If you have a large installation you will see a difference. With a small set up probably not as much. 

[jmbraben]

@lilyoyo1...thanks, SH has a sale on today so I picked up a 2413s for $52...I guess we'll see.

I'm a very early adopter of Insteon (and I have a pile of more than 20 dead nodes to prove it...i stopped counting) and haven't been impressed with their reliability in general.

...btw if anyone knows a solid fix for their node power supply issues, please let me know and I'll rework these things.

 

[mjcumming]

That's my experience as well. Between my home and cabin I have about 150 Insteon Devices. I started way back with the PLC and the failed SDM stuff. I am guessing over those 14 years I have replaced 100% of my devices. I still have a couple of original pluginlincs still working.  But I just ordered another 7 pack of switches to replace various devices around that house. Really frustrating. 

[jmbraben]

You really aren't making me feel better Mike ?...I'm probably only at 50% (with a few being replaced a couple times)...I think I started this in early 2006...so little less time than you.

I'm guessing you're mostly seeing the "flicker of death" too? I've jacked in isolated power supplies into a couple corpses to bring the MCU online to test and the node seems to come right up...their power supply is kinda a hack in my opinion, but just wondering if anyone has a "replacement parts list" that has consistently revived these things. 

[paulbates]

I’ve been lucky. I’ve been in Insteon from the beginning, only a handful of lost devices and a couple of PLMs. I’ve had a whole house power conditioner from my X10 beginnings.. that may have a lot to do with it.


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[paulbates]

.I think I started this ibut just wondering if anyone has a "replacement parts list" that has consistently revived these things. 

There’s a thread on repairing the plm around here somewhere in n the forum. I think the basic repair is similar in many of the devices

Paul


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[lilyoyo1]

Older devices were notorious for going out. While I can say I've been blessed not to have issues with my insteon devices like some has, the quality has improved greatly. With that said, if check the environment when it comes to large Installations and failures. All of my homes has had whole house surge protectors installed. My current home has multiple levels of whole house protection. In the 10 years of using insteon I've only experienced 2 failures and 1 was my fault 

[Brian H]

The early models seem to fail more than the presently made ones. Well except the 2413S and 2413U PLMs.

There was a production period. Where the 2475S and 2475D SwitchLinc modules. Had a problem with the tact switches the paddles activated. They would click but not make an electrical connection. So the local paddles would stop working. Got so bad Smarthome actually gave an extended warranty on them for seven years.

The 2456D Lamplincs and 2456S Applianclincs had a 30 volt zener diode in them that failed.  I did rebuild a few of the 2456S modules with new diodes or the main filer capacitor. Had one start pulsing On and Off at about a one second interval.

I still have two 2476S Switchlincs in use since 2006.

[jmbraben]

@Brian H ...oh yeah...I forgot about the paddle issue. I swapped many a dead unit as "paddle failure" in that period (my failure rate is probably higher). And to to be honest, most of my failures have been very early units (and maybe quality has improved), but that is mostly what I had. Even from the beginning, all of their nodes have had integrated MOV's (surge protectors) and 90% of my failures have been the power supply slowly dying...I'm not sure a whole home surge protector would really make much difference...but I don't have one, so I'm not going to disagree. 

[mjcumming]

I do have whole surge protection at both my home and cabin. I am now replacing 5 devices where the paddle problem I have ignored as the devices were part of scenes controlled by keypadlincs. But it is annoying so they have to go. Mainly power supply problems - I had 2 insteon hubs die from this. But just a month ago, I had a brand new keypadlinc go completely dead after literally 10 minutes of use.  I still have a few 15 year old lamplinc in use - and they have been tortured, outside, in the rain and snow.