Troubleshooting I/O Link messages

[twired]

I am having a very similar problem.  I/O Link connected through a relay to my siren output on the alarm panel.  While out of town in mid-July, every hour I would get 2 messages from different programs.  One indicated that I had no heartbeat on a door open/close sensor.  Immediately afterward I would get a message that is only sent when the alarm program ELSE section is triggered.  The IF program did not trigger.  I remotely disabled the programs.  When I returned, I tested everything and re-enabled the programs.  Yesterday the same thing started again.  Happened at 5:20 Pm and at 10:02 AM today.  I have confirmed that there is no heartbeat on the door sensor and that only the ELSE section of the Secuity alarm program is triggered.

I have read thru all of the help provided to Arzoo, and have narrowed down (I think) to 3 questions.

• Do I replace the door sensor?  Could be providing similar issue to the motion detectors mentioned above.
• Do I replace the I/O link?  Described as failure prone above.
• I am currently on 5.8.0 firmware.  Would upgrading firmware help?

Any help and advice is appreciated.

[Techman]

@twired

Yes, you should update your firmware and UI 5.8.4. It contains bug fixes and improvements.

If you're not getting a heartbeat signal then it's possible the battery needs to be replaced.

[IndyMike]

1 hour ago, twired said:

I am having a very similar problem.  I/O Link connected through a relay to my siren output on the alarm panel.  While out of town in mid-July, every hour I would get 2 messages from different programs.  One indicated that I had no heartbeat on a door open/close sensor.  Immediately afterward I would get a message that is only sent when the alarm program ELSE section is triggered.  The IF program did not trigger.  I remotely disabled the programs.  When I returned, I tested everything and re-enabled the programs.  Yesterday the same thing started again.  Happened at 5:20 Pm and at 10:02 AM today.  I have confirmed that there is no heartbeat on the door sensor and that only the ELSE section of the Secuity alarm program is triggered.

I have read thru all of the help provided to Arzoo, and have narrowed down (I think) to 3 questions.

• Do I replace the door sensor?  Could be providing similar issue to the motion detectors mentioned above.
• Do I replace the I/O link?  Described as failure prone above.
• I am currently on 5.8.0 firmware.  Would upgrading firmware help?

Any help and advice is appreciated.

Could you post the program that is running the Else clause (IOLinc activated)?

[Geddy]

@twired moved your post out of the long thread you tacked it onto to get help to your specific issue. While might be similar seems like you would require help for your issue and best to have in it's own thread to not get lost/hidden or off topic of prior thread. 

Please note to post the program that @IndyMike is requesting please right click on the program and select "COPY to clipboard". Then paste that as text in your reply. It makes it easier for people trying to help edit or make comment to the program. Thanks!

[twired]

Additional information.  Whenever the programs trigger it is xx:02.  (ie 5:02, 10:02, etc.)  Even in July they were always at xx:02, but not every hour.

Program is shown below:

Alarm IO Sensor triggered 

If
        'Alarm Sensor IO Linc' Status is On
 
Then
        Send Notification to 'Email TD & EDD' content 'Alarm alert'
        Send Notification to 'Text TD & EDD' content 'Alarm alert'
        Repeat 150 times
           Set 'Hall Cans - Den- 3-way' Fast On
           Set 'Front Lights' Fast On
           Set 'Dining Nook Switch' On
           Set 'Master Bed Lamp 2024replace' Fast On
           Set 'Rear Patio Floods' Fast On
           Set 'Nook - 8 button - A -Sitting ' Fast On
           Set 'Hall - 8 button - A - Courtya' Fast On
           Set 'Hall Cans - Den- 3-way' Fast Off
           Set 'Front Lights' Fast Off
           Set 'Dining Nook Switch' Fast Off
           Set 'Master Bed Lamp 2024replace' Fast Off
           Set 'Rear Patio Floods' Fast Off
           Set 'Nook - 8 button - A -Sitting ' Fast Off
           Set 'Hall - 8 button - A - Courtya' Fast Off
 
Else
        Set 'Hall Cans - Den- 3-way' Off
        Set 'Front Lights' Off
        Set 'Dining Nook Switch' Off
        Set 'Master Bed Lamp 2024replace' Off
        Set 'Rear Patio Floods' Fast Off
        Set 'Nook - 8 button - A -Sitting ' Off
        Set 'Hall - 8 button - A - Courtya' Off
        Send Notification to 'Text TD & EDD' content 'Alarm sensor off '
        Set 'Hall Cans - Den- 3-way' On
        Set 'Front Lights' On
        Set 'Dining Nook Switch' On
        Wait  10 minutes 
        Set 'Hall Cans - Den- 3-way' Off
        Set 'Front Lights' Off
        Set 'Dining Nook Switch' Off
 

[Geddy]

@twired Thanks for the program. Have you updated the eisy to 5.8.4 yet? In the other thread it seemed to be troubleshooting the IO Linc device (and battery motion sensors), but also updating firmware to the current version might have helped as well.

I don't use any battery device, but if you're expecting a heartbeat and don't get one then perhaps replace the battery and restore the device. 

[twired]

Geddy, thanks for the reply.  I will update the firmware in the next couple of days.  I have had some conflicts arise here.  I ordered a door sensor today and will replace that as well.  Even with new battery and restore, still no heartbeat.  The really perplexing thing is the ELSE triggering on the security program, and the timing of the triggers.

I will be back on here after firmware update.

Thanks

[paulbates]

A couple of efficiency comments:

• My belief is that it would be better for the If to use Control instead of status.
   
• When you turn an Insteon device on or off, there are multiple message exchanges between the PLM and the device. I'm counting 14 separate devices being addressed in a row. The way the ISY works.... it doesn't wait between each of the on or off commands. So your Insteon network is flooded with traffic and the next on or off is colliding with the previous.
  
  Is individual device reliability a reason for repeating it 150 times? To be candid that is really extreme. Put the individual devices into one or more scenes (one should be fine), and turn that one scene on or off... One time.... no repeat statement. They'll all go on/off appropriately  at the same time

I know this approach is different than you're asking, but the chain of separate devices coupled with the loop 150 times is going to give you unreliable results.

Edited August 26 by paulbates

[Techman]

1 hour ago, twired said:

Geddy, thanks for the reply.  I will update the firmware in the next couple of days.  I have had some conflicts arise here.  I ordered a door sensor today and will replace that as well.  Even with new battery and restore, still no heartbeat.  The really perplexing thing is the ELSE triggering on the security program, and the timing of the triggers.

I will be back on here after firmware update.

Thanks

@twired

I just took a look at my open/close sensor and noticed that the heartbeat status was also blank, so I replaced the battery and it was still blank. I put the sensor into the linking mode and did a restore device. Now all the sensor nodes are reporting. For some reason, prior to the restore,  the admin console was not seeing the device status but UD Mobile correctly displayed the device status after the restore.

[IndyMike]

@twired, I find it extremely interesting that your program is ONLY executing the Else section.  If the IOLinc status NEVER becomes true, I'm not sure how you could be activating the Else multiple times (there is no state change).

1. Are you basing your statement that the IF section didn't run on the Lack of and Email?  I'm asking because this might be interrupted by a quick change in the IOLinc status.  A quick Off - On - Off might exit the If section and run the Else.
2. Do you have another program that calls the Else section of the alarm program?
3. Are you running a periodic query program on the IOLinc?

Please do perform the changes as suggested by @paulbates and @Techman.  If things still aren't happy, we can take a look further.

[twired]

I have upgraded the firmware.  Interesting...exactly 1 min after the reboot finished (as shown in system status), the Else section of the program triggered.  Could this somehow be related to the eisy rebooting periodically?

IndyMike, I agree, no idea how this Else is triggered.  To answer your questions:

1. I am making the assumption that only Else triggered based on no email, not lights turning on/off, etc.

2. No other program calls the ELSE.

3. No query program on IOLinc.

Here is what the log showed when it triggered after reboot.  The actions are directly from the ELSE section other than the last Hall Cans-Den-3-way Off command.  No idea what is causing that.

[twired]

paulbates, thanks for your feedback.  I will make the change to control vs. status and test it.  As for the 150 times, I am flashing llights for that many times before stopping the flashing.  Good point on putting them in a scene.  That is much more straight forward.  

But I do not see how those changes will address the random Else trigger unless as IndyMike suggested, the IOLinc is doing a random very fast On/off creating a jumble of traffic.  But it appears not really random, always happening at xx:02.  Still perplexed.

[Geddy]

@twired Is your program set to run at boot? (can check and change this setting on the program summary tab and right click to not run at startup) It's possible that it's being triggered with the reboot, but wouldn't explain random times of that happening unless your system is unstable and rebooting.

Keep an eye on the program summary tab for "last run" times around the times that the notification happens. 

You can also try to keep your event viewer running at level 3. It might scroll really fast so after you see a few things happening or get the notification copy it out to clipboard and review if something triggered the event you get notified about. I know @IndyMike is very qualified to help you on the event viewer info.

[twired]

Ok.  Several programs were set to run at restart.  I have disabled those.  Is there any condition when a program should run at re-start?

One of the programs is probably the culprit.  I have an override program that turns the security program off when a certain button is pushed.  It was set to run at restart.  That has been disabled to not run at restart.  But none of the IF conditions were true at restart.  So not sure this is the smoking gun

However if the issue is caused by a restart, that begs the question, why does my system keep restarting randomly?  Is there a way to see history on when the eisy restarts?  The re-boot today after firmware upgrade show starting exactly 1 min before the message and light on/off issue happened.

I think we are on to something.  Thanks so much for your help.  Hopefully we can determine the reason of restarts and solve that as well.  I really appreciate your expertise and help.

[Geddy]

2 hours ago, twired said:

Is there a way to see history on when the eisy restarts? 

There might be something in the eisy log files, but I can’t begin to suggest what to look for. I would suggest opening a support ticket with UD to get their insight into if the system is rebooting or possibly find what’s causing this to happen at 2 minutes after the hour randomly. 

https://www.universal-devices.com/my-tickets/

2 hours ago, twired said:

Several programs were set to run at restart.  I have disabled those.  Is there any condition when a program should run at re-start?

I’m sure there might be, but it’s personal preference for if things need to be run following a reboot. There is also a grace period option for catch up after a reboot. (You can learn more about those options in the ISY Cookbook or wiki)

I think the “old” query ISY program was one that many would have run at start since it would update most statuses to be correct for other programs to evaluate. Personally, I don’t have any others running on start.

[twired]

After firmware update and disabling programs to run at restart, the problem seems to have gone away for now at least.  I have ordered new open/close sensor and IOLink from Insteon and am waiting for it to arrive.  I will install those, and install a voltage regulator to assure IOLInk sees 5v vs 12V.  Also will rewrite programs as suggested by paulbates.  After all that if the issue arises again I will submit a ticket on potential system reboots.

I went back thru the event log and saw that on July 23 (while traveling) when this happened the first time, it triggered 7 times in 9 hours before I could disable the all the associated programs thru UDMobile.  Since re-enabling the programs in early Aug it has happened twice.  Was there anything crazy going on with eisy's or portal on July 23?

Still perplexed, but very appreciative of all the help provided!