Beta Test of new PLM this week (B2412U)

[CompKing]

Smarthome has a select audience for testing the new unit. Is anyone testing this unit with the UD units?

[upstatemike]

The current shipping model already supports 2K links, so what is new in the beta unit?

[Michel Kohanim]

CompKing,

 

The unit in question is USB. We do not support USB.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Smarthome has a select audience for testing the new unit. Is anyone testing this unit with the UD units?

[Guest]

From what was explained to me the new PLM is hopefully a fix for the Homeseer users. It should address most of their concerns including (hopefully) the communicaitons failures that the PLM is prone to. SH would not tell me if there are plans for a version that would work with the ISY.

 

If enough people show interest (basically complain as loudly as the Homeseer group did) they might make another version.

 

Everybody "Squeeeeeeeeeeeek" at the same time and maybe they will oil this wheel to.

 

BTW tomorrow will be two weeks and no lockups with the newest PLM (thank you to the person that provided it). It really looks like they fixed that issue.

[upstatemike]

From what was explained to me the new PLM is hopefully a fix for the Homeseer users. It should address most of their concerns including (hopefully) the communicaitons failures that the PLM is prone to. SH would not tell me if there are plans for a version that would work with the ISY.

 

If enough people show interest (basically complain as loudly as the Homeseer group did) they might make another version.

 

Everybody "Squeeeeeeeeeeeek" at the same time and maybe they will oil this wheel to.

 

BTW tomorrow will be two weeks and no lockups with the newest PLM (thank you to the person that provided it). It really looks like they fixed that issue.

 

If the current PLM is working fine with the ISY then what are we sqeeking to get SH to provide in a new version? More transmit power?

[Guest]

From what was explained to me the new PLM is hopefully a fix for the Homeseer users. It should address most of their concerns including (hopefully) the communicaitons failures that the PLM is prone to. SH would not tell me if there are plans for a version that would work with the ISY.

 

If enough people show interest (basically complain as loudly as the Homeseer group did) they might make another version.

 

Everybody "Squeeeeeeeeeeeek" at the same time and maybe they will oil this wheel to.

 

BTW tomorrow will be two weeks and no lockups with the newest PLM (thank you to the person that provided it). It really looks like they fixed that issue.

 

If the current PLM is working fine with the ISY then what are we sqeeking to get SH to provide in a new version? More transmit power?

 

I am not so sure its transmit power, or if it is, transmit power alone. If you talk to some of the Homeseer users or look on their forum they were/are having communication problems amongst several other problems with the PLM and had stopped development of the plug in. There were more issues then I cared to remember and some may have already been resolved.

 

If the rest of the mesh is stable with communications the PLM should be as well. There was a thread on Cocoontech where someone has posted the sensitivty level of devices. The PLM was the worst which may also be part of the problem.

 

SH tech support does not come out and give a straight answer. They are only indirectly acknowledging the problem and asking questions and in my case asked me to try a few things to give them some information. They did say that if the PLC works and device to device works then it should not be a noise issue. Also Insteon is supposedly designed to be immune to noise (according to them LOL).

 

Some people have comm failures and others dont. According to Powerhome I have over 98% reliable communications. SH Tech support recently had me use Houselinc and the ISY and turn on each switch individually at the location then go back and check in Houselinc log and ISY status screen. Houselinc had 100% of the switches I turned on in its log. The ISY did not indicate almost half as being turned on. Both the PLM and the PLC were plugged into the same outlet (one with a short pigtail cord).

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi diggger!

 

Although it's not my place to make any comments in this forum, but I have to interject just to understand and address statements such as

The ISY did not indicate almost half as being turned on. Both the PLM and the PLC were plugged into the same outlet

 

So, let me understand:

1. You have HouseLinc, PowerHome, and ISY on the same network

2. HouseLinc reports that a device was turned on which, in turn, it means that the device in question has a master link and the PLC has a slave link (otherwise, the PLC would not know that the device turned on when you turn the device on physically)

3. Same as 2 for PowerHome

 

As you may already know, ISY does not know anything about any linking activities that may have been done outside of it. As such, I can assure you that as long as there's a mismatch between what ISY thinks you have and what the reality is, then you will experience the same type of issues/unreliability even if you had the most super duper PLM in the world.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Guest]

Hi diggger!

 

Although it's not my place to make any comments in this forum, but I have to interject just to understand and address statements such as

The ISY did not indicate almost half as being turned on. Both the PLM and the PLC were plugged into the same outlet

 

So, let me understand:

1. You have HouseLinc, PowerHome, and ISY on the same network

2. HouseLinc reports that a device was turned on which, in turn, it means that the device in question has a master link and the PLC has a slave link (otherwise, the PLC would not know that the device turned on when you turn the device on physically)

3. Same as 2 for PowerHome

 

As you may already know, ISY does not know anything about any linking activities that may have been done outside of it. As such, I can assure you that as long as there's a mismatch between what ISY thinks you have and what the reality is, then you will experience the same type of issues/unreliability even if you had the most super duper PLM in the world.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

The PLM has a log feature and shows any activity on the powerline from insteon or X-10 etc. So they said to use that to see if the PLC will see the switch transmitting the change of status.

 

2008-02-08 00:40:43.187: Master Bathroom Highhats (01.38.4D) off pressed

2008-02-08 06:51:00.359: Katelyns Lights (04.50.CA) on pressed

2008-02-08 06:51:40.828: Katelyns Lights (04.50.CA) off pressed

2008-02-08 07:55:44.359: Small Kitchen Counter (05.57.AD) on pressed

2008-02-08 07:59:15.828: Master Bathroom Highhats (01.38.4D) on pressed

2008-02-08 08:42:19.093: Kitchen Counter (00.CB.1D) off pressed

2008-02-08 08:42:24.031: Kitchen Counter (00.CB.1D) off pressed

2008-02-08 08:43:53.953: Master Bathroom Highhats (01.38.4D) off pressed

2008-02-08 15:33:26.375: Laundry Room (00.CB.19) faston pressed

2008-02-08 17:33:18.546: Living Room Light Keypad (01.09.D1) "Paddle 1" on pressed

2008-02-08 18:27:44.140: Jonathan Room (0B.B7.83) on pressed

2008-02-08 18:30:13.921: Den Lights Slave (04.4E.9E) on pressed

 

Now of I go to the ISY some of those devices that were turned on by the person at the switch may not show as being on.

 

I did not use Houselinc to set up the links I used the ISY. I have many scenes control and for status. Is there something I am missing? SH tech support did not seem to think there were problems other than the PLM not seeing the status change.

 

I am not saying that the ISY has an issue I am saying the PLM does and hopefully for not much longer with the Beta release of the USB version. Not sure if SH will do a serial version as they refuse to comment.

 

Edit: Just so its clear I have never used Powerhome for anylinking I just discovered the devices and use it as a monitor to communications when I am truoubleshooting. Houselinc I now have running and minimized if I want to see if the status change is seen by the PLC and not the PLM to see if the signal is getting to the outlet where the PLM and PLC are plugged in. Well at least this week since SH suggested it.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi digger,

 

Thanks so very much for the detailed response. It clarifies a lot. This said, however, there's a difference between what PLC does and what we have PLM do:

1. PLC monitors all traffic and shows the status of any device within its database

2. We have disabled traffic monitoring feature on the PLM. So, the only way the PLM would hear anything is if the device has a slave link in the PLM

 

The question is:

Does this happen with the same devices all the time or does it happen to different devices at different times?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

[Guest]

Hi digger,

 

Thanks so very much for the detailed response. It clarifies a lot. This said, however, there's a difference between what PLC does and what we have PLM do:

1. PLC monitors all traffic and shows the status of any device within its database

2. We have disabled traffic monitoring feature on the PLM. So, the only way the PLM would hear anything is if the device has a slave link in the PLM

 

The question is:

Does this happen with the same devices all the time or does it happen to different devices at different times?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Different devices at different times. I can do back to back queries and see different comm failures. I can turn a switch on and off several times and it would show in the log in houselinc and either all the time or sometimes on the ISY GUI.

 

I can restore a device with the ISY a few times in a row and some of the times I get a "request failed" and sometimes its fine everytime. When I used to use houselink for linking (last year etc) I never had a problem like that.

 

EDIT

 

When you say slave link in the PLM you mean it was manually entered into the ISY and "enrolled" successfully and seen on the device list etc. That and you can control it with the ISY GUI etc.

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Digger,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Slave link in the PLM means that every time there's a change in a controller (such as SWL/KPL) PLM is one of the receipients of the group command being sent out. We do not put the PLM in the monitor mode because it never worked correctly.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

Hi digger,

 

Thanks so very much for the detailed response. It clarifies a lot. This said, however, there's a difference between what PLC does and what we have PLM do:

1. PLC monitors all traffic and shows the status of any device within its database

2. We have disabled traffic monitoring feature on the PLM. So, the only way the PLM would hear anything is if the device has a slave link in the PLM

 

The question is:

Does this happen with the same devices all the time or does it happen to different devices at different times?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Different devices at different times. I can do back to back queries and see different comm failures. I can turn a switch on and off several times and it would show in the log in houselinc and either all the time or sometimes on the ISY GUI.

 

I can restore a device with the ISY a few times in a row and some of the times I get a "request failed" and sometimes its fine everytime. When I used to use houselink for linking (last year etc) I never had a problem like that.

 

EDIT

 

When you say slave link in the PLM you mean it was manually entered into the ISY and "enrolled" successfully and seen on the device list etc. That and you can control it with the ISY GUI etc.

[Guest]

Hi Digger,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Slave link in the PLM means that every time there's a change in a controller (such as SWL/KPL) PLM is one of the receipients of the group command being sent out. We do not put the PLM in the monitor mode because it never worked correctly.

 

With kind regards,

Michel

Hi digger,

 

Thanks so very much for the detailed response. It clarifies a lot. This said, however, there's a difference between what PLC does and what we have PLM do:

1. PLC monitors all traffic and shows the status of any device within its database

2. We have disabled traffic monitoring feature on the PLM. So, the only way the PLM would hear anything is if the device has a slave link in the PLM

 

The question is:

Does this happen with the same devices all the time or does it happen to different devices at different times?

 

With kind regards,

Michel

 

Different devices at different times. I can do back to back queries and see different comm failures. I can turn a switch on and off several times and it would show in the log in houselinc and either all the time or sometimes on the ISY GUI.

 

I can restore a device with the ISY a few times in a row and some of the times I get a "request failed" and sometimes its fine everytime. When I used to use houselink for linking (last year etc) I never had a problem like that.

 

EDIT

 

When you say slave link in the PLM you mean it was manually entered into the ISY and "enrolled" successfully and seen on the device list etc. That and you can control it with the ISY GUI etc.

 

But isnt every device added to the ISY automatically linked to the PLM? Meaning if I can see it in the GUI and control it from teh GUI its linked to the PLM?