Process to revert back to ISY994 if ISY-Polisy has issues (two PLMs, two Z-Wave dongles)

[JTsao]

I have an ISY994-Pro/IR with the Z-Wave 500 module.  I also have Polisy Pro and have ordered a Zooz ZST10 stick and a 2448A7 Insteon USB PLM (wireless only).  So, in theory, I can keep my ISY as-is and revert back to it, if the ISY-Polisy experiment doesn't work, right?  I understand that z-wave does not port between the ISY and Polisy.  That is fine as I have < 10 Z-Wave devices - but I have a lot of Insteon devices.  Can someone verify the high level process of migrating to the ISY-Polisy and going back to the ISY994?  I think it would work like this (note: not discussing z-wave):

1-Backup ISY; 2-Unplug ISY and old PLM; 3-peform restore of ISY backup to ISY-Polisy; 4-Perform a Restore Modem on ISY-Polisy

Then, to go back to the ISY:

1-Unplug 2448A7 PLM; 2-Plug in ISY/Old PLM; 3-Restore Modem on ISY

Does the above sound about right?  Do I need to do a "Delete Modem" process anywhere?  Or can I just make sure that only 1 modem is actually powered on at a time?

Edited January 21, 2022 by JTsao

[brians]

I think the old PLM will still be responding to insteon commands if still connected so make sure it is unplugged like you said.

Otherwise you are correct I think that you only have have to restore modem/plm.

I have exact same Zooz z-wave dongle and Insteon USB wireless but I decided to use my existing serial dual band PLM with Polisy so I modified a cisco rollover cable (cut off rj45, rewired and crimped a new end on). I will keep the Insteon USB dongle as backup if (when) my PLM dies. I am doing this tonight/tomorrow. I also only have around 15 Z-wave devices so not too concerned about that.

Edited January 21, 2022 by brians

[brians]

I did the migration using my existing PLM and all seems to be working now.

If you plug ZooZ Z-Wave dongle and the 2448A7 there is not enough clearance between the USB ports for them to fit nicely side by side so the USB port will sort of bend. I don't personally like this so I would suggest a USB extension cable for each device or at least the ZooZ.

You can unplug the PLM from old ISY994i and when you reboot it you can still access to reference old things but it will be in safe mode.  Restore PLM is all that is needed, no need to delete unless you decide to reset your ISY994i and want to remove all links from old PLM after migrating to Polisy.

[JTsao]

Thanks for the info.  I received the Zooz stick and noticed the clearance problem as well - still waiting on the 2448A7.  Some questions -

(1) if I manually unenroll my z-wave devices from the ISY994, then enroll them on the ISY-Polisy, then do a restore of the ISY994 backup on the ISY-Polisy, will that blow away the z-wave setup that I just performed?  It's not clear to me what will happen regarding z-wave in this case.

(2) Also, is there any special action that has to be taken regarding the Zooz stick?  Or 2448A7?  Or do I just need to plug them in?  I did see the checkboxes to enable Insteon and Z-Wave on the config tab.

[bhihifi]

@JTsao Answering Q2) The two USB dongles just plug in and they work. I would not recommend plugging them in while the Polisy was powered up. My process:

• checked both Z-wave and Insteon configuration checkboxes, saved config,
• unplugged the Polisy power cable,
• installed the two USB dongles,
• plugged the Polisy power cable in. 

After the Polisy booted up, I could add both Z-wave and Insteon devices using both the UD Mobile app on iOS and also via the Administrative Console and then connect them to Alexa via the ISY Portal.

I made sure both a dual-band Insteon device and a Z-wave device are both about 10 feet away; the dongles are in an interior closet so the signal has to pass through at least one interior wall.

I ordered a USB cable extender as the two USB ports are too close. I'll power down the Polisy before connecting one of the dongles to the extension cable.