Event Viewer - Detailed Guide

[justin.cool]

Does anyone know where I can get a reasonably comprehensive guide to the Event Viewer?

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi justin.cool,

 

Unfortunately there's really no comprehensive guide to the Event Viewer. Unfortunately, the events shown are INSTEON traffic and thus you would have to know about INSTEON protocol. We have had this outstanding request to make the Event Viewer more English but just haven't had time.

 

At a high level and what you should look for:

1. For EVERY INST-ACK there should be an INST-SRX ... if there's none, then you have comm errors, if you have mulitple then you will see "Duplicate, ignored"

2. INST-ACK is the response from the PLM to a command sent by ISY

3. INST-SRX is the response from the destination device back to the PLM and in response to #2

4. If you use INST-SRX only without INST-ACK, then these are unsolicited responses such as button press, motion sensor, and thermostats

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[justin.cool]

Michel,

 

Thanks!

 

Justin in Dallas

[Sub-Routine]

We do have a page in the Wiki for the Event Viewer:ISY-99i/ISY-26_INSTEON:Using_the_Event_Viewer

[LeeG]

Justin,

 

I recommend learning how Insteon works, then interpret the results in that light. All those INST-xxx notations are useful to understand when looking at it from an ISY perspective. However, if you understand basic Insteon commands, the sequences associated with them, what Insteon expects and what response from Insteon to expect, it makes much more sense. It is daunting in the beginning but well worth the effort. There is an insteondetails.pdf document accessible through the public space on the Smartlabs web site. It is an old document but the discussion about Insteon Direct commands versus Insteon Group commands, the flag byte in each Insteon message and just how much information those 4 leading bits tell you about each Insteon message, the link database, all that still applies.

 

Some basic information from an Insteon perspective.

 

All the common messages to and from the PLM start with 02 6x and 02 5x.

 

02 6x are outbound messages from the ISY PLM to the powerline. The Event Viewer does not trace the actual outbound call itself but does trace the "Echo" of the outbound command the PLM sends back to the ISY when an outbound command is issued. This Echo normally ends in a 06 with a 15 on the end indicating the PLM was not ready to accept the outbound command (rarely seen).

 

02 62 xx ....... xx 06 are outbound Insteon Direct commands

02 61 xx ....... xx 06 are outbound Insteon Group commands

02 50 xx ....... xx are inbound Standard Insteon messages

02 51 xx ....... xx are inbound Extended Insteon messages

02 52 xx xx are inbound X10 messages.

 

Once these messages are understood from an Insteon perspective then you can understand traces that may be posted on other forums. The Smarthome forum, the Powerhome forum, the Simplehomenet forum, all good places to gain information on Insteon messages. There is not one forum topic, you have to look through many forum posts. Discussions on the Smarthome forum about the SmartLinc and the use of Custom Commands discusses raw PLM commands, showing the hex strings and what they accomplish. All of this applies to any application using a PLM to interface to the powerline. It can take lots of time but once you understand how Insteon works you know how the world works (chuckle) .

 

You DO NOT have to know this level of information. The ISY is very good at masking the complexities of Insteon and I think that is one of ISYs strengths. However, if you want to know how things work under the hood, knowing Insteon itself in invaluable.

 

Lee

[justin.cool]

Lee,

 

Excellent! Thanks for your effort and having to repeat something that has surely been done before on this forum!

 

Justin in Dallas