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    PLM failure

    Mark,
    I have a 2413u which has been working for a couple of years w/o problems, until now. On 1/24/15 16:58:20 I lost comms with the PLM, and a few times since then. Yesterday, I upgraded HS3 to 3.0.0.152, then upgraded your PI to
    3.0.5.16 after reviewing this forum, hoping that might solve the problem, but I lost comms again last night. I have the latest chipset drivers. Nothing else relative to the placement of the PLM and/or cable has changed in the last few months. Yesterday, I tried a hard reset of the PLM, but apparently that didn't help either. I am attaching the error report. If you can see anything that might be causing the problem, I'll try anything. I have a feeling that the PLM is flaky and will need replacing. Is there any utility that can monitor or diagnose the PLM?
    Attached Files

    #2
    this might just be the 'usb disconnect' issue if a restart of hs fixes the issue. search on the quoted keywords for more info.

    there are insteon triggers you can use to get notification when comm is disrupted
    Mark

    HS3 Pro 4.2.19.5
    Hardware: Insteon Serial PLM | AD2USB for Vista Alarm | HAI Omnistat2 | 1-Wire HA7E | RFXrec433 | Dahua Cameras | LiftMaster Internet Gateway | Tuya Smart Plugs
    Plugins: Insteon (mine) | Vista Alarm (mine) | Omnistat 3 | Ultra1Wire3 | RFXCOM | HS MyQ | BLRadar | BLDenon | Tuya | Jon00 Charting | Jon00 Links
    Platform: Windows Server 2022 Standard, i5-12600K/3.7GHz/10 core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD

    Comment


      #3
      FWIW, I've migrated away from Insteon due to having two failures with PLMs. We have a winter home and a summer home, and the PLM at the summer home failed one time a month before we were scheduled to go back. There was no rhyme or reason as to either failure, however.

      I think Smarthome has quality control issues, unfortunately, with Insteon. I have not had any Z-Stick ever fail, by comparison.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by mikedr View Post
        FWIW, I've migrated away from Insteon due to having two failures with PLMs. We have a winter home and a summer home, and the PLM at the summer home failed one time a month before we were scheduled to go back. There was no rhyme or reason as to either failure, however.

        I think Smarthome has quality control issues, unfortunately, with Insteon. I have not had any Z-Stick ever fail, by comparison.
        Mike,
        Based on conversations, I believe SH is aware of the plm issue and is working on it.
        Mark

        HS3 Pro 4.2.19.5
        Hardware: Insteon Serial PLM | AD2USB for Vista Alarm | HAI Omnistat2 | 1-Wire HA7E | RFXrec433 | Dahua Cameras | LiftMaster Internet Gateway | Tuya Smart Plugs
        Plugins: Insteon (mine) | Vista Alarm (mine) | Omnistat 3 | Ultra1Wire3 | RFXCOM | HS MyQ | BLRadar | BLDenon | Tuya | Jon00 Charting | Jon00 Links
        Platform: Windows Server 2022 Standard, i5-12600K/3.7GHz/10 core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD

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          #5
          After reading Mark's response, even though my setup (laptop placement, cords, etc) hasn't changed in months, I relocated the PLM to a different outlet via extension cord to see if that would help. The interface has been holding up so far (I had 3 failures in 2 days prior). The only thing that bothered me about the setup was the close proximity of the PLM in relation to the Plug/cord of the UPS. A UPS can throw out some crazy line noise. All was fine for many months but as components age their effectiveness degrades as well (referring to the UPS circuitry).
          I had a failure about 6 weeks ago while away on vacation, so I had someone stop at the house and restart the laptop after unplugging the PLM. That got the system back up but it is disconcerting to have failures of this nature when away from the location, especially if one lives in NJ and using HS for temp control and security.

          Comment


            #6
            I have my UPS plugged into an Insteon filter. I have the PLM plugged into the pass-through outlet on the filter.

            At this point, I have a few events in HomeSeer that keep the PLM alive. It used to be that I had to trigger an event to reboot the HomeSeer PC after power was restored after a power outage (because the PLM/plug-in would lock up). Now, I use the disable Insteon feature to disable the PLM while the power is off, and then re-enable the PLM when power returns. So far that is taking care of it without having the reboot the PC.

            At first, the PLMs weren't quite lasting the full warranty period. The last replacement that I got has gone longer than any of the others.

            Comment


              #7
              joegr,
              If my temporary fix holds, I had planned to try the filter - glad to hear it works!
              A few questions:
              How long has the last PLM been working so far?
              What was the length of power loss duration that caused a PLM lock-up?
              How are you detecting power loss, are you getting data from the UPS?
              It seems to me that if there is normally constant polling of the devices, loss of many device responses would be enough to signify a power loss.
              Another thing I'd like to throw out there is that 2 concurrent interface failures occurred after a relatively long period of daily inactivity - in the AM, when an event attempted to turn off the outside lights.

              Comment


                #8
                I think this last one has been going over two years now. It seems like the three before only went about a year each.
                I was seeing problems with power failures from a few seconds on up. The ones for a few seconds didn't always do it. I think that it depends on how many commands are sent to the PLM while the power is out.
                I use the "Power Monitor" plug-in with the UPS that I have to detect power failure.
                I couldn't find any pattern to my PLM failures. Two failed with what seemed like FLASH memory problems. Before they failed completely, they would sometimes lose all their memory. The result of this was that they could control devices, but couldn't get responses back. Reprogram interface would bring them back at first. On the third, either the RF or the line part of the PLM failed and the other part still worked. Now, I forget which it was.

                Comment


                  #9
                  I've had a 2413U in service for a couple of years with no issues. A few weeks ago it started to get intermittent. Restarting HS would typically bring it back. Well, it finally failed. After replacing it I opened up the defective one up to take a look at what all is in it. What I noticed was an odor typical of burned electronic components. Nothing looked burned, but there is a transformer on the board that is probably what has failed.

                  Fortunately the Insteon devices I have in service have been reliable. Occasionally I have a switch that goes brain dead, but pulling the reset tab clears the issue.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Mark,
                    The PI crashed again this morning. Restarting HS did not work, neither did restarting the PC. I had to remove power from the PLM, then restart the PC to get the interface up and running. There was no power glitch (UPS status log showed nothing). As noted in other posts, the usb cable & PLM had already been relocated. The one consistency with previous crashes seems to be the long time duration without traffic prior to the crash. This crash occurred @ 6:41AM when the outside lights were set to be turned off via an event. The last logged status prior to that was shortly after midnight. My next thought involves polling. I thought all devices were polled according to the interval specified in the config screen, but now I see that each individual device must be configured. I have motion detectors set for "Read settings after On cmds" and mis-interpreted the number in the 'poll Inv' column to signify an actual poll rate for the detectors. I now see that is incorrect. I will setup some polling on other devices to see if the traffic generated keeps the PLM alive. Other than that, I'm calling SH to check for firmware updates, else a new PLM. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!

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