Random on/off Events

[Ed Sybesma]

I have used Insteon with ISY for 10 years.  I am on my third ISY device and my third PLM module.  Throughout the entire time and all of these devices, I have always had occasional (relatively infrequent) random on/off events triggered on my Insteon devices.  Sometimes multiple devices will come on the same time, but as far as I know I have never experienced and ALL ON/ALL OFF event.  More often it is just one or two devices.  The problem has never been frequent enough to be much of a problem, but I now have two new Insteon microswitches which could cause some problems/damage if triggered accidentally under the wrong circumstances.  I am guessing that it has something to do with either stray signals as was the case with the old X10 devices, or signals erroneously emanating from the ISY or PLM.  (I have never programmed any Insteon device to be triggered by X10 and have not used X10 for many years.)  Is there any known cause or solution for this issue?

[kclenden]

16 minutes ago, Ed Sybesma said:

signals erroneously emanating from the ISY or PLM.

When it comes to Insteon, the ISY does not send any signals to devices.  It can only request that the PLM send Insteon signals.

17 minutes ago, Ed Sybesma said:

I have never programmed any Insteon device to be triggered by X10 and have not used X10 for many years.

I had never programmed any of my Insteon devices to be triggered by X10 either, but after experiencing unexplained activations of a switch, I discovered that it was indeed responding to a particular X10 address.  I performed a factory reset on the switch and a device restore from the ISY and never had the problem again.  Best practices dictate that you perform a factory reset on all devices before linking them to your ISY.

21 minutes ago, Ed Sybesma said:

Is there any known cause or solution for this issue?

A leading theory about the random "All ON" events is that they are caused by command collisions on the powerline.  Some people recommend adding WAIT's between commands that are sent by ISY programs.  There is also speculation that battery operated devices contribute to the problem because their transmissions can occur at any time.  Do you have any wireless devices?

[Ed Sybesma]

Thanks for the suggestion about factory resetting, albeit somewhat painful for my in the wall hardwired microswitches.  I wondered about that possibility after reading some of the posts regarding the ALL ON issues.

I do have wireless devices, In particular thermostats which have been in place for a long time, although I believe that I probably had the occasional random on/off problems even before I installed my first wireless device.

[Michel Kohanim]

@kclenden, thanks SO very much!

@Ed Sybesma, this is a known issue and, as @kclenden pointed out, there are some remedies most important of which are posted here:

https://wiki.universal-devices.com/index.php?title=INSTEON_Random_All_On_Events

With kind regards,
Michel

[Ed Sybesma]

Michael, thank you very much.  As it turns out, I don't utilize Scenes and do not have any motion detectors.  Also, my problem has rarely, if ever, been an ALL ON issue.  It has mostly been a single device randomly coming on, or sometimes up to 3 or 4 devices.  I suspect that the real problem is an Insteon issue similar to the old X10 noise problem despite the fact that Insteon is dramatically improved in that regard over X10.  Still, the question/possibility also remains that ISY may occasionally send "erroneous" commands to the PLM due to obscure or unknown triggers?

[larryllix]

23 minutes ago, Ed Sybesma said:

Michael, thank you very much.  As it turns out, I don't utilize Scenes and do not have any motion detectors.  Also, my problem has rarely, if ever, been an ALL ON issue.  It has mostly been a single device randomly coming on, or sometimes up to 3 or 4 devices.  I suspect that the real problem is an Insteon issue similar to the old X10 noise problem despite the fact that Insteon is dramatically improved in that regard over X10.  Still, the question/possibility also remains that ISY may occasionally send "erroneous" commands to the PLM due to obscure or unknown triggers?

I have always found this problem to be from forgotten old programs, programming errors I have made or, and this was only one device, a bad device. I had what seemed like random patterns of lights turning on or off for about a year. I always wrote it off to a bad program triggered by arriving home but could never find it. After a year of looking for it. I discovered it matched some Insteon scene patterns I had defined for other uses and that it happened occasionally when my humidifier cut it. Looking at ISY event records, I  discovered a bad signal instead of an ACK signal in respond to the humidifier On command.

Unplugging the onOffLinc  module, and plugging it back in, solved the problem and I haven't experienced it again in about 3-4 years now. The module still works flawlessly.

IOW: Check to see if these random things match any scenes you have created. Some of these things are hard to find.

Best of luck!!