Migrating Insteon from HS2 to Hs3 with Jon00 Connector

[Burrington]

Well, I can certainly understand that. I originally purchased the HS3 license just because I knew the HS2 wouldn't be supported forever. The HS2 Insteon plugin is very stable for me now, so I am okay with the thought that it won't be able to keep supporting new Insteon devices. I'm already at that point with Z-wave and other HS2 plugins.
When something comes along that I just have to have, I guess I'll have to bit the bullet and "upgrade" to HS3.
I really appreciate that you have continued HS2 support for as long as you have.

Joegr, don't be concerned about stability of Mark's HS3 Insteon plug-in. I have been using it for about a year with 115 Insteon devices of all flavors and can't remember a single incident where it had a problem that it didn't invisibly recover itself from. So don't be afraid to switch over from that point of view.

I was reluctant to do the big job of migrating from HS2 to HS3, but it really isn't so bad. In fact it gave me a chance to clean up a lot of stuff that had "evolved" poorly. Now that I'm done, I can say that it is really worthwhile. Once over the small learning curve, HS3 is much nicer to use than HS2, and considerably more powerful.

You can also make good use of Jon00's "HS2 to HS3 Connector" software (free with donation). You can have both HS3 and HS2 running simultaneously and keep devices synchronized in both. It works really well and provides a simple migration path so you can move events bit by bit as time allows and ultimately shut down HS2. Or keep HS2 running with the plug-ins that are not supported on HS3.

[LeeIII]

Joegr, don't be concerned about stability of Mark's HS3 Insteon plug-in. I have been using it for about a year with 115 Insteon devices of all flavors and can't remember a single incident where it had a problem that it didn't invisibly recover itself from. So don't be afraid to switch over from that point of view.

I was reluctant to do the big job of migrating from HS2 to HS3, but it really isn't so bad. In fact it gave me a chance to clean up a lot of stuff that had "evolved" poorly. Now that I'm done, I can say that it is really worthwhile. Once over the small learning curve, HS3 is much nicer to use than HS2, and considerably more powerful.

You can also make good use of Jon00's "HS2 to HS3 Connector" software (free with donation). You can have both HS3 and HS2 running simultaneously and keep devices synchronized in both. It works really well and provides a simple migration path so you can move events bit by bit as time allows and ultimately shut down HS2. Or keep HS2 running with the plug-ins that are not supported on HS3.

As I just learned of this Jon00 connnector, I am very interested in this approach. I have now purchased HS3 and will buy the necessary plugins as I get a plan. Can you advise how this really works?

• Will I be able to have HS3 communicate with the same PLM interface as HS2 simulataneously
  (OR do i need to install some type of separate interface for HS3, like the Insteon HUB)?

• What do you do to migrate the actual INSTEON settings for Mark's PI from HS2 to HS3? Is there a simple path to move the devices & Insteon groups?

I'm pretty clever, but would really appreciate a step by step to avoid me pecking around aimlessly due to sheer time constraints.

[Burrington]

Lee - No, you can't control the PLM from both HS2 & HS3 at the same time. You would switch the PLM to be controlled by HS3, and disable the Insteon plug-in in HS2. The Connector software creates duplicate devices in HS3 to match those in HS2 - you specify which ones. The connector then keeps the two in sync. A change to a device in HS2 is instantly changed in HS3 and vice versa. So if a HS2 event tells an Insteon device to turn on, it is also turned on in HS3 and the HS3 Insteon Plug-in will make it happen. As you migrate events from HS2 to HS3, the HS3 events control the Insteon plug-in directly. So, you can actually have both HS2 and HS3 events controlling devices, but they are acted on by HS3. Very simple to use. It can be used for any devices, not just Insteon. I am using it to access the phone routines in HS2 since there is no HS3 plugin for Way2Call.

For more detail, do a forum search on "Connector" and then look for the sticky for Jon00's "HS2 to HS3 Connector". To get to Jon00's download server, just click on the blue bar in any of his posts. If you download it, don't forget to leave a donation so he keeps making this great stuff available to the rest of us...

As far as migrating your Insteon settings and devices from HS2 to HS3, Mark has made it very simple. Follow his migration instructions on his Insteon pages in this forum.