Something's Gone Horrible Wrong...Solved

[tomsans]

It started with a Com failure with the PLM which was resolved (see earlier post) but now I have a whole new set of problems.

All was working fine a few days ago but today I noticed that certain switches do not show up in the log when they are switched on/off. The associated light works but there is no log entry. I can go into HomeSeer Status page and manually toggle the light on and off and it shows up in the log and the light responds accordingly. This is not the case with all the switches, most still work but 3 or 4 exhibit this symptom.

Secondly, the keys on my KeypadLinc and RemoteLinc that I use to initiate events no longer intiate those events or show up as acuated in the log.

Things went from 100% working to this set of problems with no changes by me other than those described in the PLM problem I mentioned earlier.

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom

[mnsandler]

Tom,
you have noise on the powerline or in the RF band causing interference.

a little reseach on the hs forum will help you find ways to identify the source.

[joegr]

Turn on full debug and see if the PLM is seeing the messages from the switches. If it is, you may need to do a reprogram interface. My PLM did this (forgot most or all of its links) a few times before it died.

[tomsans]

Mark,

Help me understand a few things before I get into troubleshooting.

First, if the PLM can receive the command from the PC and send it to the appropriate device and the device executes it properly, why can't the PLM see the signal generated by the device when it's actuated manually? Wouldn't noise cause a problem in both directions?

Second, all these devices are dual-band. I can understand the noise problem on one element (powerline or RF) but I don't understand how it could affect both. Shouldn't at least one transmission method work?

Third, if I look at all the devices in the Insteon Configuration page they all have a message quality of Good or Excellent. Some of the devices exhibiting the problem show Excellent. Wouldn't noise cause a lower message quality?

Fourth, if it's a device that may be causing the noise is it sufficient to simply pul out the set button to disable the device? Is that an adequate means of taking the device out of the network?

A lot of questions I know but if I can understand better how this all works I can do some logical troubleshooting.

Thanks,

Tom

[tomsans]

joegr,

Thanks for the suggestion but I have a couple of questions.

If the link has in fact has "forgotten" some of it's links wouldn't that prohibit a command from going from the PC through the PLM to the device? You can tell my knowledge is sketchy on this but the link works one way but not the other.

Also, I know I've seen the full debug option somewhere but I can't remember where. Can you give me some assistance on how to enable it and I'll check and see what the PLM sees.

When you say to reprogram the interface, do you mean "Reset and Reprogram Interface" under Plug-in utility Functions. If so, are there any down sides or issues to doing this?

Thanks for the help,

Tom

[mnsandler]

see joegr's post (#3) i think he may be right if the only problem is the plm/plugin isn't seeing inbound msgs from devices controlled manually.

[mnsandler]

joegr,

Thanks for the suggestion but I have a couple of questions.

If the link has in fact has "forgotten" some of it's links wouldn't that prohibit a command from going from the PC through the PLM to the device? You can tell my knowledge is sketchy on this but the link works one way but not the other.

Also, I know I've seen the full debug option somewhere but I can't remember where. Can you give me some assistance on how to enable it and I'll check and see what the PLM sees.

When you say to reprogram the interface, do you mean "Reset and Reprogram Interface" under Plug-in utility Functions. If so, are there any down sides or issues to doing this?

Thanks for the help,

Tom

outbound msgs are handled differently and have different requirements

yes, please run the reset and reprogram. there are no downsides. this will clear the plm database and recreate it.

[tomsans]

WOW!!!

Ran "Reset and Reprogram" and not it all works.

Thanks for the help guys.

The only remaining question is should I replace the PLM now in anticipation of a failure? It's probably more of a rhetorical question than anything else but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks again,

Tom

[mnsandler]

WOW!!!

Ran "Reset and Reprogram" and not it all works.

Thanks for the help guys.

The only remaining question is should I replace the PLM now in anticipation of a failure? It's probably more of a rhetorical question than anything else but I thought I'd ask.

Thanks again,

Tom

i have my suspicions that this problem is caused when there is a lot of programming done to the plm (when registering devices, creating groups, etc)

Once things are static, this doesn't seem to be a problem. Power outages and spikes can cause this kind of problem (the plm lossing links)

so, i wouldn't run out for a new plm just yet

[tomsans]

Ok Mark. I'll take your advice.

But when I wake in the middle of the night with the temp near freezing because the PLM failed I'll remember you.



Thanks for the help,

Tom

[joegr]

Ok Mark. I'll take your advice.

But when I wake in the middle of the night with the temp near freezing because the PLM failed I'll remember you.



Thanks for the help,

Tom

In my case, it was a while before it failed completely, and at that it might not have been related. Smart Home wanted to know what version it was. When I told them, it seemed to become a no more questions asked replacement. (I think it was V1.0, but I'm not 100% on that.)

After going through all that, I now keep a spare in case of sudden failure.

The only real pains to swapping PLMs are the battery powered devices.