Test spare PLM?

[Kentinada]

Is there any way to test a spare PLM to see if it’s any good short of swapping it in for my working PLM?

[Brian H]

There was a very basic test program we had in the now defunct developers group (was to test their developers group set of devices) and BusyRat gave us one in the old Insteon section of the Smarthome forums.

Both only would send and receive Insteon commands to modules we had. So we could see things like dumping the link database one entry at a time and you needed the commands (hex string sent and received by the PLM) in the Insteon developer guide (now found on some sites). Used a serial port on the computer or sometimes a USB to serial converter.

In my tests the BusyRat program only did the low comm port numbers and the developers one (for DockLight Scripting free evaluation version) was hard coded to a serial port ID though you could change it but not store the new com port as the DocLight Evaluation version was restricted. Though it could be modified by a plain no special features text editor and carefully reading the setup file.

Can you test one maybe but it would not be too easy. Unless someone here has one they used and I don't know about it.

The hardware revision on the back may give you a clue. As some improvements where made in later revisions.

Edited January 6 by Brian H
add information and clear up information

[lilyoyo1]

13 hours ago, Kentinada said:

Is there any way to test a spare PLM to see if it’s any good short of swapping it in for my working PLM?

Not really. If it’s that important, you can probably pick up an extra 994 for cheap on eBay and connect it to that to see if it works

[ELA]

16 hours ago, Kentinada said:

Is there any way to test a spare PLM to see if it’s any good short of swapping it in for my working PLM?

Sure there are lots of ways to test a PLM to see if it's ANY GOOD.    Its important to note that there are many different operational aspects of a PLM to be tested in order to assure that it is TOTALLY GOOD.

     Brian detailed  a good method to test the serial interface of the PLM.  As he pointed out that requires quite a bit of effort , but is doable with a serial terminal test program such as Docklight.  Docklight is a great tool to have.

    An easy way to test the power line communications aspect of the PLM is to add it, like any other Insteon device, to your existing ISY/PLM setup.    Use the Add Insteon device option, enter the address, and have it auto find the PLM you want to test.   It will add to your existing network as an unrecognized device if it is operational.  You will have limited ability to communicate with it as an unrecognized device.  The Beep option should work as a test.   You can then also monitor the comms using the level 3 viewer looking at the hops used.  You can move it further and further away from your system PLM to stress its ability to communicate over longer distances within your network using more hops.

I have some more advanced tools at my disposal to test Insteon devices.   I have done a lot of pre-testing of new devices before adding them to my network.   One reason that pre-testing can be important is for identifying new devices that are not always TOTALLY GOOD.   I once returned a brand new 2413S PLM because its power line signal strength was only  1/2 that of what a new PLM should be.   While that PLM might work ok in some Insteon networks it may also work very marginally in many other networks. 

 

 

[Kentinada]

Thanks all for the info. Looks like for the common eISY user, which I think I am, there is no simple method to test. I guess I’ll have to wait for my current PLM to die (which it more than likely will do) and swap in one of my spare PLMs.