I had an interesting Insteon hiccup this morning. I first noticed it when my Insteon motion sensors wouldn't trigger programmed actions in the eisy. The troubleshooting steps I took:

• Used my good ole ELK ESM1 X10 signal strength meter to see Insteon transmissions from the motion sensor. Yup. It's handy for that.

• Tried activating am Insteon wall switch to see that it wasn't updating it's status in admin console. Event log showed no events either.

• Tested a 3 way switch, confirmed that the slave switch was activating the one with the load. Could also control switch from admin console. So outgoing Insteon comms and signals between devices was ok.

• Rebooted the eisy, in case something wasn't working right or stuck with Insteon reception. No change

• Now focused on the PLM: unplugged it and plugged it back in. No change

• Alright, launched a "PLM Restore". That fixed it.

Sign of a failing PLM? That's my thinking.

Opinions, comments? 🙂

That is a sign. If either restore PLM or unplugging from the wall and replugging fixes it... highly likely a dying PLM.

Look at the link table count can help, but..... wait for it to happen again as once you restored, it has its memory of links back for a while.

If it is a failing PLM, these events will cascade until its finally dead.

Yes, I'll wait, to see if this was just a freak one time occurance.

For the link count, are you suggesting that I check if the link count has changed, or just if the link count is getting high? I only have about 340 links.

Update: I went ahead and replaced my PLM. Another thing I noticed a few days ago is that it was unreliable at sending X10 commands. I only have a couple of X10 devices, but one important one is sending a command to my Ocelot, to trigger an automation routine involving transmitting IR commands. Replacing the PLM is a pain because I have about two dozen battery powered devices (motion detectors, leak and open/close sensors), so I have to go to each one, put it in linking mode, and tap on "write changes" for that device in UD Mobile. Ugh.

I then took the bad PLM and installed it in place of the usual one on one of my test Polisys, and tested turning an X10 appliance on and off. It works, but with varying delays, up to 8 or 10 seconds. I saw retries on the Elk ESM1 meter. Put back the usual PLM and X10 commands are very consistent.

So trying out sending X10 commands might be another test to add for a suspected bad PLM. We all have a few old X10 modules in a box somewhere!

@Guy Lavoie ,

Rather than placing your motion sensors in linking mode, you can use a program to write updates to your motion sensors. The program watches for the device to "wake up", then writes the updates (thank you UD). Saves a lot of angst. I would think this would work for other battery devices as well (I have not tried it).

In the past I have put all my motion sensor "Program" routines in a folder and disabled the folder. I enable the folder only when I want to write updates.

BSMT Stair Sensor Program - [ID 0036][Parent 0066][Not Enabled]

If
        'Motion/RF / BSMT Stair.1 Motion' is switched On
     Or 'Motion/RF / BSMT Stair.1 Motion' is switched Off
 Then
        Set 'Motion/RF / BSMT Stair.1 Motion' Write Changes
 Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

@IndyMike That would work for sending option changes, but not for a PLM replacement, since the motion detector would be sending it's on/off events to the old PLM Insteon address, and doesn't know about my new one yet.