PLM Restore & Home Assistant

[wswartz]

About every 6 months or so, for some reason I have to restore my PLM.  I find that after some time, my programs stop working - but a PLM restore puts everything right again.  It hasn't been a big deal to me since it happens so infrequently.  However, in the last two months, I've had to restore my PLM three times.  The only change in my setup has been the addition of Home Assistant which I installed just about two months ago.  My main purpose for adding HA was so I could monitor the ESP8266 temp sensors I built.  But when I discovered I could integrate my ISY with it as well, I really got interested.  At this point, I'm not running any automations from HA - just using it to monitor status and turn on/off the occasional switch. 

Would the addition of HA be the cause of my frequent PLM restores?  Anyone else experiencing such an issue?

Thanks.

[Teken]

About every 6 months or so, for some reason I have to restore my PLM.  I find that after some time, my programs stop working - but a PLM restore puts everything right again.  It hasn't been a big deal to me since it happens so infrequently.  However, in the last two months, I've had to restore my PLM three times.  The only change in my setup has been the addition of Home Assistant which I installed just about two months ago.  My main purpose for adding HA was so I could monitor the ESP8266 temp sensors I built.  But when I discovered I could integrate my ISY with it as well, I really got interested.  At this point, I'm not running any automations from HA - just using it to monitor status and turn on/off the occasional switch. 
Would the addition of HA be the cause of my frequent PLM restores?  Anyone else experiencing such an issue?
Thanks.

Sounds more like a failing 2413S PLM.


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[Brian H]

Older 2412S/U power line only or 2413S/U Dual Band PLM?

The 2413S/U has had a bad reputation for its power supplies getting flaky. Causing all kinds of issues. If your is over two years old  that could be an issue. The white date code sticker on the back may give you a clue to its age and hardware revision.

The latest V2.5 seems to have  had improvements in its supplies and has not been in use long enough to have a reliability history.

[wswartz]

I have a 2413S Dual Band v2.0.  I believe it's over two years old - I didn't see a date on the back of the unit.  It's my second PLM that replaced one that did experience power supply issues.  Totally get that the PLM is a finicky beast, but I can't ignore the correlation.  Add HA and now having to restore every other week or so.  Guess I could remove HA for a bit to see, but I'm getting so much out of using it. 

[Brian H]

I may have missed something.

Are you using an ISY994i and HA maybe to control it or HA and ISY994i both are accessing the PLM?

[wswartz]

Well, frankly, I'm not clear exactly how the HA/ISY integration works.  I installed this integration on HA:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/isy994

My impression is that HA is calling ISY and the ISY is talking to the PLM.  But I could be wrong on how that works. 

[simplextech]

21 minutes ago, wswartz said:

Well, frankly, I'm not clear exactly how the HA/ISY integration works.  I installed this integration on HA:

https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/isy994

My impression is that HA is calling ISY and the ISY is talking to the PLM.  But I could be wrong on how that works. 

The integration using the PyISY module which is an IP connection and uses the REST interface of the ISY.  It does not do anything directly with the PLM.  I'm not aware of anything exposed via the REST interface that could be causing any PLM issues either. 

[Brian H]

Thank you for the clarification.

I was not aware of that HA had a way to interface with an ISY994i.

[simplextech]

36 minutes ago, Brian H said:

I was not aware of that HA had a way to interface with an ISY994i.

There's actually two versions of the integration for HASS.  The version from HACS updated and has more features.  The developer @shbatm visits here as well.

[Teken]

I have a 2413S Dual Band v2.0.  I believe it's over two years old - I didn't see a date on the back of the unit.  It's my second PLM that replaced one that did experience power supply issues.  Totally get that the PLM is a finicky beast, but I can't ignore the correlation.  Add HA and now having to restore every other week or so.  Guess I could remove HA for a bit to see, but I'm getting so much out of using it. 

Perform a PLM link count 4 times and let us know what you see in terms of results. How many Insteon devices do you have in the network?

In the UDI WiKi you can get a general idea if the links you have are too low for the amount of hardware in place.

With respect to the date please reference the information on the two white stickers on the back of the 2413S PLM.




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[Brian H]

My latest 2413S PLM has one large sticker. Insteon six digit ID, model number, revision number and date code . Not sure when they went from two to one large sticker.

[wswartz]

@Teken

I have 123 devices in my network.  I ran the PLM link count (from: Tools->Diagnostics->Show PLM Links Table) 5 times with the following results:

#1: 980

#2: 312

#3: 473

#4: 634

#5: 461

I did a search of the wiki here-> https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=Main_Page  for "link" or "links" and found no relevant information regarding a correlation between links and devices.  If you can guide me to more specific documentation, that would be great.

As far as the date sticker on my PLM, there are 3 stickers:

#1: "QC5" - imagine it's a quality control sticker

#2: Address of the device ("xx.yy.zz")

#3 Sticker with the Model, rev, and another number - the sticker reads: "2413S", "Rev 2.0", "1438".  Not sure what that last number is.  The "Rev 2.0" is a printed sticker on top of the sticker (and in a different typeface).  There could be a date below it - I didn't take it off to look.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

[Teken]

@Teken

I have 123 devices in my network.  I ran the PLM link count (from: Tools->Diagnostics->Show PLM Links Table) 5 times with the following results:

#1: 980

#2: 312

#3: 473

#4: 634

#5: 461

I did a search of the wiki here-> https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=Main_Page  for "link" or "links" and found no relevant information regarding a correlation between links and devices.  If you can guide me to more specific documentation, that would be great.

As far as the date sticker on my PLM, there are 3 stickers:

#1: "QC5" - imagine it's a quality control sticker

#2: Address of the device ("xx.yy.zz")

#3 Sticker with the Model, rev, and another number - the sticker reads: "2413S", "Rev 2.0", "1438".  Not sure what that last number is.  The "Rev 2.0" is a printed sticker on top of the sticker (and in a different typeface).  There could be a date below it - I didn't take it off to look.

Thanks for your assistance.

 

 

Based on the link table count and 2413S PLM produced on 2014, 38 week. It’s time to replace the PLM.

 

Once you receive the new 2413S PLM. You may consider repairing it based on the forum thread at UDI Forums. That will provide you a back up and you’ll learn a new skill for future endeavours.

 

I’ll try to find the reference link as to how to determine Insteon links once I get back to a real computer.

 

 

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[shbatm]

I think this is the link you were looking for:

Made the repair to mine 5 years ago, been **knocks on wood** working since.