Auto-Discover Insteon Addresses? Recover from PLM?

[Jeff_M]

Hi,

I had a HomeTroller SE-Pro with a Z-Stick and a 2413U PLM. I used MNSandler's HS2 Insteon Plug-in to control a few dozen Insteon Devices scattered throughout my home (lots of switches, multiple fan controls, sensors, keypads, garage, etc.).

This set up served me well for many years, but my HomeTroller died a few months back and I'm only now getting around to replacing it.

Like a dummy, I (inexplicably) neglected to back up the Insteon addresses for my many Insteon devices that are now installed all over my house (including some that are quite inaccessible e.g. fan and light controls installed in ceiling fans).

The HomeTroller device used a CompactFlash card for storage so I took it out to see if I could access the data (no luck) and even took it in to a local data-recovery shop, but balked at the price and unsure results.

As far as I know my 2413U is still viable (it's the HomeTroller that died).

If I were to purchase a new HomeTroller, new MNSandler Insteon Plugin and hooked it up to the old 2413U PLM, would it auto-discover my many Insteon Devices or would I need to comb through my house, find all the addresses, and add them back?

Thanks for your help.

Jeff

[mnsandler]

There is no auto discovery. But you can use the Insteon ids in the Link databases to register them.

[Jeff_M]

Thanks for the quick response Mark. I'm not entirely sure what the link database is, but since the HomeTroller is dead, it sounds like I'm out of luck (which I figured...but worth a shot).

Guess I'll have to go hunting through my house for Insteon Addresses...

Jeff

[mnsandler]

Each device has a link database. And so does the plm. You can display the plm link data from the plugin config page. This should get you the ids.

[Jeff_M]

Wow! That's great news Mark. Thanks.

I thought I was done. I was so sure that I decided to give up on the PLM and HomeSeer and I just bought at ISY with a Serial PLM. I actually hit "buy" before I saw your response...now I may need to cancel that order and go back to HS :-)

Now that I know I can get the Ids from the PLM, I downloaded a trial copy of HS3 & your plugin. I installed them on my Win10 PC and connected the USB PLM. Sure Enough, I was able to access the Insteon Ids from the Plugin config page.

I'm already further ahead than I thought I was. THANK YOU!!!

Of course, I now have 150+ Insteon Ids (more than I was expecting)...and no idea what any of them are. Does the Link DB in the PLM contain info on Device Type that I can extract to help me figure out which Ids go with which devices?

I tried generating and checking an Insteon Error Report (attached)...but don't see anything there.

Any tips?

Thanks again for the assistance!

Jeff

[mnsandler]

the plm link database doesn't store Device Types. But as you register the devices, the plugin will determine the device types.

Another option is to tap-add the devices one by one. That way you can edit the device name as you go.

[Jeff_M]

Fantastic!!!

I looked up some of my easily accessible Insteon devices, and realized that I was reading the links in the PLM Link DB incorrectly (I was originally reading links as devices...thus the number was way to high). I now notice that you have a legend in the "RF PLM Interface Links" page that explains this.

Data Legend
Byte 1 is the Link Flags
Byte 2 is the PLM Group Number
Byte 3 - 5 are the Device ID
Byte 6 - 8 are not used

By parsing the unique device ids from the LinkDB still contained in my PLM, I was able to recover all my Insteon device ids...and then add them back to HS3...and your plugin did a great job of determining the device types as I added them back.

In case anyone else ends up reading this thread, to view the Link DB in your PLM using HS3 with the MNSandler Insteon plugin, navigate to this page:

Plugins -> Insteon -> Configuration -> Display Interface Links

This allowed me to save a BUNCH of time uninstalling ceiling fans to find Insteon Ids.

As I said earlier, I already ordered the ISY...but now I'm having second thoughts. HS3 is running nicely on Win10 PC (familar, but better looking than HS2)...and I kinda like having it on a computer (as opposed to an under-powered...and surprisingly expensive appliance - I previously had a HomeTroller SE Pro). Since my trial is still active, I think I'll hook up my Z-Stick and check out HS3 a bit more.

Since I've already ordered the ISY...I guess I'll tinker around with it...but now I'm thinking about setting up a Server (my Windows Home Server that managed backups and a couple of other things also died recently)...and running HS3 on that.

Thanks again for your help Mark.

Jeff

[mnsandler]

Thanks for reporting back. Looks like you're making progress