Kentinada Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 So a follow-up report... I sent my PLM into INSTEON for repairs and I got it back yesterday. I am once again able to communicate with my INSTEON devices which is great. Thanks INSTEON for repairing it since I could not buy a new one. But one follow-on question is what are these log events in the attached file? When on type 1 events, these just keep scrolling on by. Is this normal behavior? ISY-Events-Log.v5.3.4__Sun 2023.03.19 07.54.58 AM.txt Link to comment
MrBill Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 Something is generating stray noise that looks like X10 traffic to the PLM. Interesting that its Status request, house code J because status request in binary is 1 1 1 1 and house code J is binary 1 1 1 1 the start frame however is 1 1 1 0 and the final bit is 0 when the frame is a unit code and 1 when it's a command code... so if I remember the whole frame is start code, house code, function code, final bit or in this case 1 1 1 0 - 1 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 - 1 (dashes added for clarity) And it appears to be repeating this "frame" with great regularity. It might be an older insteon device (early insteon was capable of having an X10 address) that has gone rogue, Or it might be something else. To find it use process of elimination. I tend to do this quickly by turning off half the breakers, then if not found the other half, once we know which half has it (without turning off the PLM/ISY circuit) then i turn off half of that half and keep working with halves until i have it down to 1 breaker.... once you know which breaker it's on then search that circuit. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 What if I disable all my devices in the Admin console and then start enabling them 1 by 1. Can I isolate that way? Turning off breakers while effective is a little disruptive to the house. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 (edited) OK, I had to go through the breakers. I found the circuit that was causing the issue. It was the kitchen GFI circuit. There are 2 GFI outlets in the kitchen. I tested both and found the GFI receptacle that is causing these events. When I preset the Test button on this device, the events stop. When I reset the GFI, they start again. I assume I should replace this GFI as these events may interfere with ISY/PLM/Device communication? Should I leave this GFI popped out till I can replace it? Edited March 19, 2023 by Kentinada Link to comment
lilyoyo1 Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 1 hour ago, Kentinada said: OK, I had to go through the breakers. I found the circuit that was causing the issue. It was the kitchen GFI circuit. There are 2 GFI outlets in the kitchen. I tested both and found the GFI receptacle that is causing these events. When I preset the Test button on this device, the events stop. When I reset the GFI, they start again. I assume I should replace this GFI as these events may interfere with ISY/PLM/Device communication? Should I leave this GFI popped out till I can replace it? Does it matter? You can replace it in less than 5 minutes. Link to comment
MrBill Posted March 19, 2023 Share Posted March 19, 2023 5 hours ago, Kentinada said: OK, I had to go through the breakers. I found the circuit that was causing the issue. It was the kitchen GFI circuit. There are 2 GFI outlets in the kitchen. I tested both and found the GFI receptacle that is causing these events. When I preset the Test button on this device, the events stop. When I reset the GFI, they start again. I assume I should replace this GFI as these events may interfere with ISY/PLM/Device communication? Should I leave this GFI popped out till I can replace it? I'm curious if it's the actual GFCI causing the interference, or a device wired downstream of the GFCI off the line side terminals. As far as leaving it off or on, I'd choose off if you can do without it until you pick up a replacement. Less interference of signals/noise is always better. I get where you're coming from with the power interruptions, it's a pain to reset clocks and whatever else is different because the power was off. That is about the fastest method to track down the offender tho. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 20, 2023 Author Share Posted March 20, 2023 OK this is odd. To test your idea @MrBill I moved the Amazon Echo device I had plugged into a downstream outlet last night because with the GFI popped, the other outlet was dead. So I moved the Echo to a different plug on our kitchen counter. No events in the event viewer this morning. So I wondered was it my Echo causing the events. I reset the GFI this morning and no events! I moved the Echo back to the downstream outlet and ... no events!! Everything is back the way it was when it was logging X10 events every second or so and now nothing, it's clean. I don't get it. Good news is I don't have to replace the GFI. Bad news is I have no idea what was causing the events and why they stopped. Link to comment
MrBill Posted March 20, 2023 Share Posted March 20, 2023 3 hours ago, Kentinada said: Bad news is I have no idea what was causing the events and why they stopped. keep an eye out... i bet they return under some condition. I doubted it was the GFCI from the start which is why I suggested something downstream of it. 1 Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 So I had the events start showing up again so I once again moved my Echo to a different outlet. The Events stopped and haven't returned. I'm going to leave it for 24 hours. If the events don't return, I'll move the Echo back to the original outlet and see if the events come back. If they do, it must be that outlet rather than the Echo I'm guessing. We'll see. Link to comment
Geddy Posted March 21, 2023 Share Posted March 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Kentinada said: If they do, it must be that outlet rather than the Echo I'm guessing. We'll see. Check if you have another power supply available to test on the Echo if you move it back and they return again. It could be that the brick of the power supply for the Echo is flaky and where you're using it is causing the noise. I recall there being other posts that cell wall warts started causing noise randomly. So it might not be the Echo itself, but it's power supply. Depending on how old the Echo is you might get Amazon to replace the cord, but they don't usually offer that kind of option. I've seen elsewhere that some have been able to get Amazon to issue a credit for the amount of a new cord, but it's also difficult to get. Good luck. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 Well, still no events so I'm going to move the Echo back to the original outlet and see if the events start up again. If they do, it must be the outlet itself? Could it still be the power supply even though it's not generating events now on a different outlet? Link to comment
DennisC Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 40 minutes ago, Kentinada said: Well, still no events so I'm going to move the Echo back to the original outlet and see if the events start up again. If they do, it must be the outlet itself? Could it still be the power supply even though it's not generating events now on a different outlet? Is the PLM on the same circuit? You could try moving the PLM to a different circuit. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 The PLM is on a different circuit already. Link to comment
DennisC Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 Just now, Kentinada said: The PLM is on a different circuit already. Try moving it to another outlet on a different circuit anyway. Sometimes it's a combination of items on the existing circuit and the Echo circuit. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 So as soon as I put the Echo back in the original outlet, the events started again. On the different outlet, no events so it must be the physical outlet. I'm going to try replacing it and see what happens. It's just a plain outlet, not a GFI, so it's a cheap attempt at a fix. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 This is a follow-on question to this topic. My repaired PLM had been working fine... until today. Programs were working, voice commands thru Alexa were working, etc. What has changed? I updated my Mac to MacOS Ventura 13.3 this morning. Now all my devices including Z-wave devices are unreachable thru the Admin Console. Is this a Ventura issue? Is the PLM used in communicating with Z-wave devices? Ideas? Link to comment
tlightne Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 The PLM is only used to communicate with Insteon devices not to Zwave devices. If you just changed your MAC os then I would suspect that is the issue. Did you clear your Java cheche and down load the latest Start.jnlp ?? Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 I just cleared the Java cache, downloaded the start.jnlp from the wiki and have the same result. The admin console cannot connect to any device - INSTEON or Z-wave. Is anyone here running MacOS Ventura successfully with ISY994i? Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 I am booting up my old iMac again that has MacOS Monterey to see if the Admin Console works there. If it does, something in Ventura broke the console. Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 No difference on previous MacOS so I don't think that's the issue. When I query an INSTEON device, I just end up with the red ! mark by the device. I tried quering a Z-wave device and a pop up says "Could not open file [/CONF/PORTALS.PSF] Subcriber didn't reply to event: 1" Ideas? Is my ISY all of sudden dead? Link to comment
Kentinada Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 I was mistaken about my Z-wave devices. They're working fine. As soon as I plug them in, they show ready in the Admin Console. I unplugged my PLM and plugged it back in again. I also pulled the power from the ISY and waited a bit and plugged it back in. I seem to be communicating again but for how long? Not sure if my repaired PLM is marginal or what. I did pre-order a brand new one. Link to comment
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