Setting up Insteon Devices using MNS Plug in - Help!

[tcaruana]

Hello, I purchased the Hometroller and the MNS Insteon plug in. I got the plug in set up and have my table of Insteon inerfaces per the instructions (I copied it to a word doc for reference later). I added two devices bu obviously I have no clue what I added since I don't know my switches and plugs by their device IDs. A step in the instruction says

1. Go to to the HS Devices page to try and control the new device.
2. if the device doesn't respond, please restart HS

I"m sorry I'm not clear how you "control the new device" from HS Devices. I called HomeSeer support and they said to go to Devices in the hub interface and there is a button there for the two devices I added with "on" and "off" options. I selected "on" for one device and it didn't seem to change the status to On. Then I noticed a device I didn't add entitled "Plugin Global Insteon" it says "Insteon Devices, global controller". I have no idea what that is, but it has a drop down box and when I selected the drop down box and selected on, he status on one of my two devices changed to on, but I didn't see any light in my home respond to it.

Anyway I'm totally confused at wha this "Plugin Global Insteon" is because I didn't add it. Also not sure how I'm supposed to control the devices to check if they are working. I didn't want to add more without first knowing what to do

[mnsandler]

you are making great progress.

the plugin global insteon is a group/scene that plugin creates that includes all dimmers and on/off switches. you can ignore or hide it if you dont need it. but dont delete it.

restart hs4, if the insteon devices aren't responding to the ui on/off buttons on the HS Devices page. the below is a dimmer on the HS Devices page in Grid view



can you post the HS tools/about info. so can I verify the versions you are running

[Guest]

Also remember to restart Mark's plugin under Plugins - Manage. I screwed that up a couple of times and wondered why things were not working.

And no harm in adding, changing and deleting devices as you learn how they work and then reset them up with what your preferences are.

I did so repeatedly as I learned how things work.

Assumptions I made early on proved in some cases to be dead wrong, some were unnecessary and I went back and tinkered until I got my devices and UI working and looking like I wanted.

This is a big change from the old Insteon days where virtually everything was predefined and hard coded....

[tcaruana]

mnsandler is this what you needed?
Date/time
5/13/2022 10:22:41 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Version
HS4 Standard Edition 4.2.11.0 (Windows)
License

[mnsandler]

I recommend upgraded hs to 4.2.12.0 to avoid previous bugs. Install the latest plugin v4.0.3.0

did you restart hs4 and retest control of your devices on the HS devices page?

[tcaruana]

mnsandler I did restart HS4 (or I think I did. I'm not techie at all. I just closed the tab on my web browser running HS4 and launched it again) and still can't control anything. How do I upgrade the plug in and how do I know when there is a new update so I can update it moving forward?

Also found this.. not sure what it means by "unregistered". I have a ton of devices I haven't added yet. My whole home is Insteon.
You have 3 internal Insteon device(s) registered in the system, 0 external device(s), and 0 group(s).
These devices and groups currently consume 160 link database entries in your interface.*
You have 254 unused outbound link addresses out of 254 total available.

* Click the Display Interface Links button to update this number.

The following are unregistered Insteon addresses found in the network.
48.42.1A found in Device 2 Location item 2
45.33.2C found in Device 3 Location 3
48.40.99 found in Device 3 Location 3
48.42.1A found in Device 3 Location 3

[mnsandler]

mnsandler I did restart HS4 (or I think I did. I'm not techie at all. I just closed the tab on my web browser running HS4 and launched it again) and still can't control anything. How do I upgrade the plug in and how do I know when there is a new update so I can update it moving forward?

Also found this.. not sure what it means by "unregistered". I have a ton of devices I haven't added yet. My whole home is Insteon.
You have 3 internal Insteon device(s) registered in the system, 0 external device(s), and 0 group(s).
These devices and groups currently consume 160 link database entries in your interface.*
You have 254 unused outbound link addresses out of 254 total available.

* Click the Display Interface Links button to update this number.

The following are unregistered Insteon addresses found in the network.
48.42.1A found in Device 2 Location item 2
45.33.2C found in Device 3 Location 3
48.40.99 found in Device 3 Location 3
48.42.1A found in Device 3 Location 3

closing the browser does not change the state of HS4 or plugin

you need to close the hs4 application running on your windows box, and restart it.

then you can reinstall the plugin.

right now you will need to periodically check the forum or HS Updater for the latest version. I do not have a push notification

Don't worry the unregistered devices right now, this is informational only. lets get your system running.

[tcaruana]

I'm on it!!! Thanks for saving us Insteon customers.

[tcaruana]

Ok mnsandler I"m stuck. So I closed the app on my Windows desktop. Relaunched HS4 and then selected to add my plugin. I had to add back in my license and password - no issue there. Then I looked at my devices and the two I added weren't there. But the Global Insteon one that was added automatically is there still. I noticed when I went to the Devices page in the plug in section to add a device I got this message: Warning: Cannot contact the Insteon Interface on . Please check the Settings page.

I went to the settings page - no clue what I'm supposed to do here.

So I checked to see if I can log into the Insteon hub from my browser going back to step 0 in your insructions and I can't get the IP address for my Insteon hub, I see the MAC address but it says offline. it's connected to my router though. So now what? or what am I doing wrong?

UPDATE: Closed HS 4 again and reopened it and I'm getting prompted for a user name and password which I assume is my Insteon hub one. I entered it and it's not accepting it. Really frustrated right now.

[mnsandler]

what ip address does your router report for the insteon hub?

maybe power cycle the hub? this is safe

[tcaruana]

That's the problem mnsandler I'm not geing an IP address. I see the MAC address and IP address is blank and it shows up in my list as "offline" I unplugged it and plugged it back in. Same. Thursday night, the hub was making a wierd sound (like the sound it makes when you were programming an insteon switch) so I unplugged it and pugged i back in and that stopped it. While it was making that sound the hub light was flashing yellow. went back to red after I unplugged it and plugged it back in. it started making that sound after I was in the plug in interface and went to add a device and there was an option to tap add and I selected it. Not sure if any of this is related but thought it would be good to mention anyway

[mnsandler]

try a factory reset on the insteon hub

To Factory Reset the Insteon Hub (2014)
This will erase any Schedules and clear the hub link database, but will not delete any plugin data. the last step will reprogram the insteon hub link database

1. Stop the plugin from the Plugins/manage page
2. Disconnect Insteon Hub from power
3. Press and hold the set button while reconnecting power. Insteon Hub will emit a long beep.
4. When the long beep ends, release the set button. Insteon Hub will double-beep and after 30 seconds, Insteon Hub will beep again.
5. Power cycle Insteon Hub by disconnecting and then reconnecting it to power.
6. Restart the plugin
7. If the reset works, Goto the plugin Interface page and run Update Interface

[tcaruana]

mnsandler I got the IP. Let me try again and then If no luck I'll Factory reset

[tcaruana]

mnsandler I"m back in business. Ok so I've added several devices now. I went to the Devices page in HS4 and I see all the devices I've added. I still have more to add. I tried to turn some on but they don't respond, like it still says "off", however, there is one item that is on a 6 button switch that I can seem to turn on. I don't know what device it is still, I'll walk around later and see, but it is responding. All the rest are not. That's odd. Also I noticed that if I go to the Devices list in the plug in. all but two say "not enough data" the other one has 1 failure out of 67 cmds and the other 0 failures. No idea what any of this means. I'll keep adding in my devices. Thoughts?

[mnsandler]

restart hs4. this should take care of the control issue.

please make sure to give the devices unique names while you are adding them otherwise it will cause problems.