Experience with replacing a PLM

[Illusion]

I replaced my older 2412S PLM that was limited to 417 links with the 2413S Dual Band PLM. My ISY 99 Pro was on v2.8.2

 

I restarted my ISY with the new PLM attached and turned off Batch Mode. Then I put my seven version 1 motion detectors and 2 Remotelincs into programming mode. I then executed a 'Restore Modem' command. The two Remotelincs made it through this process just fine, the motion detectors did not. I do not think most of them stayed in programming mode long enough for the restore to take. I repeatedly turned battery batch mode on and off while trying one MD at a time. Finially I got all the MDs to show that they were done writing in the device tree. (no more 1010101 arrows beside the device)

 

Now the interesting thing here is that the other devices in my device tree now show they need to be updated (10101010 arrows beside the device). This makes sense as I had batch mode enabled when I issued the 'Restore Modem' command these updates were not written to wired devices.

 

But there is one KPL that does not have the batch mode flag next to it. This device is a v.36 6 button KPL that was added along with two others (8 button) under v2.7.15.

 

I turn off batch mode and the ISY begins the big restore. I go away. Later, after the ISY is done with its hard work, I see that there are 3 devices that still want to have updates written to them. I turn on and off batch mode. The ISY begins writing updates again. It picks up the troublesome devices this go around.

 

But the KPL that did not have the batch mode flag is not showing its statuses. So I try one more 'Restore Modem' round. This has the effect of putting the waiting for updates to be written again flag on all my battery powered devices, but does not bring the missing KPL into compliance.

 

I again go through all my battery powered devices trying to get the updates written into them. Even after success I find that the MDs are flashing their LEDs as though they are not successfully communicating. The results of pressing the set button in the MD is showing up as proper status and in the event viewer, but each MD complains with the flashing LED about failed communications. Ultimately I factory reset and restore each MD in succession to correct this issue. Once factory reset and restored the MDs work great again.

 

But the KPL does not play nice even after a factory reset and restore. The two other v.36 KPLs added at the same time are fine.

 

I am forced to remove the KPL from the ISY and add it back in again before functionality is restored.

 

All in all, the process of changing PLMs took me about 3.5 hours.

[upstatemike]

I had similiar issues in updating to a 2413S and spent a similiar amount of time working on it. Unfortunately I still have some motion sensors that do not work right even though I have removed and added them each a couple of times. Finally just ran out of time to mess with it.

 

I think there is a post from a couple of weeks ago that talks about the best way to do a PLM restore if you have a lot of battery devices but it was too late to help me. Also a lot of scenes stopped working and I had to delete them and create them over again.

 

I think that over Thanksgiving I might wipe the ISY completely and add everything over again, one device to a time, to see if that cleans things up once and for all.

[Illusion]

I had one MD that I just could not get right. I changed to a brand new battery and it worked fine after the next factory reset and restore.

 

While the battery that was in the MD was fine for sending motion events and on and off signals via set button presses, it did not have enough juice to get the factory reset right. I also believe a weak power supply can effect the programming mode of these devices. I did not do any amperage testing, buy my anecdotal evidence suggests that these devices take a lot more power to program or factory reset.

[upstatemike]

Interesting observation. I will retry with fresh batteries and see if that helps.

[Illusion]

I just learned about a method that would have change my PLM replacement experience. See:

 

http://forum.universal-devices.com/view ... 2253#42253

 

This methodology would have made my experience much less time consuming and painful. So much so, that I would recommend that if you own a non-pro ISY unit you should upgrade to the Pro line before changing the PLM. This is assuming you have a lot of battery powered devices that is. If you do not have many devices that require "waking up" I am not sure the upgrade is necessary.

 

But if you have lots of devices that require being put into programming mode I would highly recommend using the method listed in the mentioned post after upgrading to the Pro line of ISY with Batch Mode for writing updates to devices.