Insteon PLM Plug-In Version 1.6.1.0 (license required)

[mnsandler]

Special Note: This version will not support Smarthome devices bought after March 2012. Please use v1.7.x

New Features
- Test Communications diagnostic tool; sends 20 insteon pings to selected device and displays the results. Must put RF devices into linking mode first.
- Message hop data added to Registered Device list. See the note at the bottom of the page for a description of the columns.
- Settings for on-level and ramp rates and resume dim for i2 dimmer devices.
- Debug log message show hop data for each message received.

New Device Support
- Fanlinc support! See http://www.smarthome.com/fanlinc.html for details on the device.

Revision
- Enhanced polling for i1 KPL buttons. Faster polling for i1 & i2 KPLs and buttons
- Updated Program and Replace device routine
- Removed fast on/fast off buttons from InlineLinc device
- Added All btn to RemoteLinc; still under development

Fixes
- Bug with new installattions and house code selection
- Bug in light on at ramp rate action
- Interface Crashes trigger wasn't firing under certain conditions

To Install:

1. Backup your current hs database and insteon.ini
2. Shutdown HS
3. Copy the hspi_insteon.dll to the homeseer folder
4. For new users only: copy the insteon.lf to the homeseer\config (this will provide a 30-day trial license)

Licenses are available in the HST store:
http://store.homeseer.com/store/MNSa...n-P948C94.aspx

[pbibm]

I loaded it up this morning Mark. So far, so good. I'm guessing there is not much difference between this finished version and .11 that I was using prior to this.

If anything happens, I will post back here.

Paul

[mnsandler]

I loaded it up this morning Mark. So far, so good. I'm guessing there is not much difference between this finished version and .11 that I was using prior to this.

If anything happens, I will post back here.

Paul

thanks. I think the only difference is I enabled the Test Comm feature for RF devices. not much else related to this feature however.

[stevewinick]

also have the new one installed. looking good so far. love the new hop counts and communications tests

question, though. i never see any messages take 4 hops and the diagnostic statistics don't show 4 hops even though it is still a valid choice in the main configuration. any particular reason 4 isn't shown? can messages still take 4 hops?

thanks

sjw

[mnsandler]

Steve,

"4 hops", good question. This is leftover from the original code

4 hops isn't actually a valid choice and actually the underlying value sets the msgs to 3 hops which is the max.

So I need to change the display values from 4,3,2,1 to 3,2,1. Zero isn't really valid either from what i can tell; every msg takes at least 1.

I'll probably fix this in the next version

thanks for the feedback

[stevewinick]

terrific. thanks for the prompt response

btw, i had to replace a bad 8 button keypad over the weekend with about 50 links in it. in the past, i had so-so results trying to replace devices using the plug-in. this time, though, it worked perfectly. didn't have to fix a thing. don't know what you may have done, but it worked

thanks again

sjw

[mnsandler]

thanks for the feedback on the kpl replacement. I had the same issue a month or so ago so i spent some time looking closely at/fixing the code before i ran it on my own system.

did you have the old kpl linked in with groups? if so, how did that do?

[stevewinick]

no groups. just straight links, but many buttons with multiple links

[pbibm]

Mark, question on setting the linking mode for rf. Is that for pure RF devices like MS? My dual bands that are going through rf seem to respond properly

Paul

[mnsandler]

Yah, only battery operated RF devices (MSs, TLs, RLs, etc) need to be put into linking mode first. hardwired dual-bands aren't included in this footnote.

[stevewinick]

question. is there a way to tell in the logs or in diagnostics if a given path passes through an RF link? ie, PL -> RF -> PL or the like?

thx

sjw

[mnsandler]

question. is there a way to tell in the logs or in diagnostics if a given path passes through an RF link? ie, PL -> RF -> PL or the like?

thx

sjw

short answer no. insteon is a broadcast protocol not routed. is the controllinc still not working even after you manually linked the device to the PLM?

[stevewinick]

sorry for the confusion. i don't have any non-functioning devices. all is good. i'm just curious to see how much the RF path gets used. short of removing them and testing everything, it doesn't sound like there is a way to trace back the path

i know it's not routed, but i thought maybe the broadcasts, in addition to the hop count, might have kept a flag indicating the path class for each hop

all is working fine

thanks again

sjw

[kevini]

Number of hops in test

Thanks for adding the test feature to the new version of the plugin.

How do you calculate the number of hops? I only have 1 device (KeypadLinc) and the PLM so I don't know how it could be forwarded by anything (other than a Neighbour's house I guess ) I do have interference I need to fix this week but understanding how it is calculated will help me track down the issue. Does a re-transmission increase the number of hops?

I'm going to add more keypadlincs to control my mostly z-wave network but I want to get the one device working relabily before adding more and complicting the network.

This is my typical result below.

Testing communications complete for Living Room Keypad (1B.55.2E)
Ping Results: 19 out of 20 attempts = 95%

Summary of ping responses:

<TABLE border=1 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Message Stat</TD><TD>Count</TD><TD>Percentage</TD></TR><TR><TD>1 Hop (Excellent)</TD><TD>0</TD><TD>0%</TD></TR><TR><TD>2 Hops (Good)</TD><TD>19</TD><TD>95%</TD></TR><TR><TD>3 Hops (Poor)</TD><TD>0</TD><TD>0%</TD></TR><TR><TD>Failed</TD><TD>1</TD><TD>5%</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[mnsandler]

Yah retries will increase the hop count; the plm had to retransmit which is like another device retransmitting

interesting that you are mixing z-wave and insteon. z-wave doesn't have KPLs?