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JohnP
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Posted: October 10 2015 at 10:19 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

I first installed v2.1c, but then found it was a beta without the Device Wizard. I uninstalled it from Control Panel/Programs and Features. A message said all components could not be removed and remove them manually. I found there was still a PowerHome directory and I deleted it. I then did an install on v2.1b. When that launched, I get an error message:
"Error loading library. Please check whether PowerBuilder Accessibility library can be located in the path." After clicking OK, PH2 loaded.

What should I look for and on what path?
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dhoward
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Posted: October 10 2015 at 10:31 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

See the second post in this forum thread for a link to
the accessibility library http://www.power-
home.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?
TID=2862&KW=accessibility.

That being said, the 2.1.5c version (while labeled a
beta) is much more stable with more features than the
2.1b version. While it doesnt have the wizard (it does
have the Control Center wizard), you'll be much better
off without them as they were pretty limited. I would
be more than happy to walk you through setting up
2.1.5c using the PowerHome Explorer.

Dave.
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JohnP
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Posted: October 10 2015 at 10:44 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

Ok. I'll uninstall 2.1b and then re-install 2.1c and let you know if I have any problems. Having worked with HouseLinc and some of its predecessors for some years so I should be able to figure it out.

Thanks for your help.

John
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JohnP
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Posted: October 10 2015 at 13:14 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,
As I mentioned earlier I am now using HouseLinc. I tried installing PowerHome on the same computer that runs HouseLinc and there appears to be some conflict in that HouseLinc fails to run with PowerHome installed. So here is my plan to make the transition to PowerHome.
1. Install PowerHome on a second computer with the PLM 2448A7.
2. Setup PowerHome for my Insteon devices. I have about 30 devices.
3. See if I can control the devices.
4. Do not setup any scheduled events.
5. If all goes well, uninstall HouseLinc on first computer.
6. Install PowerHome2 v2.1c on first computer.
7. Move configuration and dB files from second computer to the first.
8. Finish setup of PowerHome.

Does this sound reasonable and what files need to be moved from second computer to the first?
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dhoward
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Posted: October 10 2015 at 13:38 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Definitely sounds like a plan and I see no issues.
When you setup PowerHome on the second computer, the
first thing you'll want to do is open the PowerHome
Explorer. Navigate the left hand treeview to
PowerHome|Setup|Controllers. On the blank line, enter
an appropriate ID. I use either INSTEON or PLM. Almost
everything in PowerHome requires an ID. I recommend
ID's be short but descriptive (you may type them
alot). If a record has a description field, you can be
more verbose there.

Back to your controller setup. Select Insteon PLM from
the controller type and then press the "Settings"
button. Set the COM port to match the COM that was
assigned to your 2448A7. The rest of the settings are
fine at default. Close the settings window and either
restart or reinit PowerHome for the controller
settings to take effect. Changes are saved in the
PowerHome explorer when you press refresh from the
menu (F5), change to a different detail screen (right
hand side of the explorer), or when you close the
explorer window.

Once PowerHome restarts, check Help->About-
>Controllers and verify that your PLM is properly
connected. If so, then your next step is to launch the
Insteon Explorer. Since you're using Insteon, you'll
pretty much do the rest of your setup using this
screen.

Now you've got several ways you can add your devices
to PowerHome. Since its a new PLM, you cant use the
scan PLM database as an option. My recommendation
would be to use the Auto-Discovery. Have a pad and
pencil ready. Turn on Auto discovery within the
Insteon Explorer. Next visit each Insteon device and
place the device in link mode. Write down the device
you discovered. Once you've visited all your devices
(and written them down in order), go back to PowerHome
and turn off the auto discovery. On the Devices tab,
press Save/Refresh and you should see all your devices
with an ID of something like NEW DEVICE 1, NEW DEVICE
2, etc. The first device you discovered would have
been Device 1, and so on. Using your list, give the
devices and appropriate ID and description. Save your
changes. PowerHome will begin scanning your links
automatically as you add the devices. It may take a
little while for this step to complete. Once it does,
you should be able to effect simple control and start
to add schedules are what not.

When you're ready to transfer PowerHome to the other
computer, you'll basically just need the pwrhome.ini
and pwrhome.db files from the original (second)
machine.

Let me know how it goes.

Dave.
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JohnP
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Posted: October 17 2015 at 16:54 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

Here is an update. On the second computer I have all of my Insteon devices installed and recognized in PowerHome with the new 2448A7 controller. Before I move to the first computer and shut down HouseLinc I want to make sure I understand macros triggered by a time event. It has been several years since I've done some programming so bear with me. I have a few groups of Insteon devices that I want to turn on at specified times every day. I have other groups that I want to turn off at specified times every day. I've completely read through the PDF help file and see PowerHome is a very powerful application, but I need some help in getting started. I would appreciate some examples on how to implement these events.

John
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dhoward
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Posted: October 17 2015 at 22:55 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

A couple of ways to do what you want. It sounds like
the main thing you want to do is turn on and off
several Insteon devices based upon time of day. Lets
say you have 5 insteon devices you want to turn on.
You could create a PLM group that contains all 5
devices and then send a command to turn on or off that
group. You could also just turn off all 5 devices
addressing them individually. The first way will
control all 5 devices simultaneously, the second way
will control the sequentially. You would need to
decide upon which effect you want.

If you want to create a PLM group and control them all
together, you would do this in the Insteon Explorer on
the Links tab. Choose a PLM group number that is not
in use (1 to 254) and add the devices as a responder
to that group number. Then on the PLM Group tab, give
that group number an ID.

To control a group or devices individually, you can
execute a Raw formula calling Insteon functions, you
can create a macro that controls the group or devices
individually, or you can do a Device Control String.
If you have alot of devices that you want to control
individually, then using a macro makes the most sense.
You can create a new macro in the PowerHome Explorer
and just have each macro line control an Insteon
device like this:

10 Insteon YOURINSTEONDEVICEID1 On
20 Insteon YOURINSTEONDEVICEID2 On
30 Insteon YOURINSTEONDEVICEID3 On
and so on.

In the Timed Events screen of the PowerHome Explorer,
just setup the TE on the frequency you'd like it
performed. You'll probably choose Daily and then
select a specific time. One thing to keep in mind is
that the Frequency column is just a number in minutes.
You don't have to choose from the list and you type
any whole number you like. If you choose Hourly, it
will actually store the number 60. So even though a
frequency of every 10 minutes doesnt show in the list,
just type 10 and you'll have a timed event that runs
every 10 minutes.

For the TE action type, if you have a macro choose
that and you'll be able to select the ID of the macro
you created. If you're not going to use a macro, the
next easiest way is to use a Device Control string.
Choose the action type of Device Control and then
double click the ID/Keys/Formula field to open the
Device Control String builder. Select what you want to
do from the dropdowns. Its pretty self-explanatory. A
device control string can control more than 1 device
sequentially. Just create your first device control
string and then press the "Add" button. You can build
as many as the field will fit (the field should hold
1024 characters). Once you save, you'll see that the
Device control strings are pretty simple and after
awhile you won't even need the builder and can just
type them out. Multiple Device control strings are
just separated with a vertical bar.

Hope this helps,

Dave.
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JohnP
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Posted: October 18 2015 at 14:00 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

Thanks. I decided to use the PLM Group approach and I've got the TimedEvents set up.

I'm now ready to shut down HouseLinc and move PowerHome and the 2448A7 controller (it's ID is IPLM) to computer 1. Recall computer 1 has a 2412SH - PowerLinc Modem Serial attached running HouseLinc. I will want to keep that for handling X10 devices. That modem shows up now in PowerHome and I have it IDd as XPLM. I assume I should clear the XPLM data base which still has the links used with HouseLinc.

I also have an old X10 Maxi Controller on my desk which I find useful for directly sending out X10 commands. Is there someway to have IPLM and XPLM work together so I can send an X10 command with the Maxi Controller and have it execute an Insteon Group command? I was thinking of having IPLM as a responder to XPLM and set up some X10 triggers for the Insteon Group Commands.
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dhoward
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Posted: October 18 2015 at 16:27 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Definitely sounds like you're making progress .
You can clear the XPLM database if you like or you can
even use it as a backup. If you do go ahead and clear
the XPLM database (and remove any links in devices
that are for the XPLM) then you should eliminate the
possibility of seeing the same Insteon command come in
twice (once for each PLM).

While looking through the code, one thing I never
really considered was how the Insteon Explorer would
act with active Insteon controllers. I see now that I
need to add some code to handle this possibility for
the next release. In the meantime, it shouldn't cause
you any problems since both the 2448A7 and 2412SH are
both setup as an "Insteon PLM" controller type. Just
make sure that the 2448A7 is a lower number controller
in the Setup|Controllers screen. The way this works is
it looks first for the lowest numbered Insteon DM
controller type, then the lowest Insteon PLM
controller type and then the lowest Insteon SmarLinc
controller device with the SmartLinc overriding the
PLM and the PLM overriding the PLC. I'll add a
dropdown selection so that you can have the Insteon
Explorer select which Insteon controller is to be the
currently active device.

So, controller ID IPLM should have a Load Order of 10
and XPLM should have a Load Order of 20. This will
make sure that the Insteon Explorer is always dealing
with the IPLM vs the XPLM. If you do want to go ahead
and Clear the XPLM Insteon database, just uncheck the
"Active" column on the IPLM and restart or reinit.
When PowerHome restarts, you can open the Insteon
Explorer and then push the "Clear" button to clear the
PLC/PLM database in the XPLM controller. When its
complete, just make the IPLM active again and restart
or reinit again. If you do have links in devices that
go to the XPLM, then you can clear those out of the
devices using the IPLM controller. Once this is done,
you should pretty much never have to deal with Insteon
with the XPLM controller again.

Sorry to be so long winded.

For your second question, the answer is most
definitely "yes". Just create a trigger for an
incoming X10 command with an action that controls the
Insteon device (or group) of your choosing. Just open
the PowerHome Explorer and navigate to the "Triggers"
screen. Its pretty much self-explanatory. Choose an
ID, Description, Action Type, and Action. To trigger
on an X10 command that will be coming in from a
controller, you'll use a Trigger Type of "X10 In".
Once you select this type, you'll be able to select
the Housecode, the unitcode, and then the command.
Leave the Boolean field as 1 and press F5 to save your
commands. Should work right away once you've saved.

Hope this helps,

Dave.
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JohnP
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Posted: October 18 2015 at 20:05 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

It turns out I never declared XPLM as a Controller in Setup. I think what happened is that in spidering the links PH found the Insteon address and I gave it the XPLM ID. So under Controllers in Setup IPLM is the only one and it loads at 10. So to clear XPLM DB can I simply go into Insteon Links for the Device XPLM and drag all of the links to the left hand device list?
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dhoward
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Posted: October 18 2015 at 21:12 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Gotcha. To remove the XPLM links from the devices,
open Insteon Explorer and on the Links tab, make the
XPLM the currently selected device. You'll likely have
links in both the controllers and responders window.
Highlight all of them and drag to the left hand
window. Save and let it run. That will clear the links
from the Insteon devices themselves but won't really
do anything for the XPLM controller itself (its a PLM
device which uses a different mechanism for updating
links). You'll want to add it as a controller (you'll
need to do this anyway to use it for X10) with a Load
order of 20 and then set the IPLM to inactive. Reinit
and use Insteon Explorer to do the PLC/PLM database
clear. This will completely eliminate its internal
database. Make the IPLM active and reinit and you
should be set.

Dave.
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JohnP
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Posted: October 19 2015 at 14:32 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

I moved PowerHome to computer 1 which is the one I normally use for automation. No problems making the transfer. I added XPLM to the Controllers list with a load order of 20. I cleared its DB following your directions. XPLM is 2412SH, but in adding I figured the closest type was PowerLinc Serial 1132. Is that correct?
So now I have IPLM with load 10 and XPLM with load 20. Both are active and are connected to computer 1.

In the links I made IPLM a responder for XPLM. I tried setting up some X10 triggers, but I must be doing something wrong since I can't get them to work.

Here is the way I set one up:
ID: NIGHTON
Action Type: Device Control
Action: INSTEONGROUP+NIGHT+ON
Trigger Type: X10 In
Trigger ID: P
Trigger ID Number: 14
Trigger Value: On
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Posted: October 19 2015 at 17:17 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Use a controller type of "Insteon PLM" for the XPLM.
The PowerLinc Serial 1132 is old SmartHome X10 only
controller.

Also, go ahead and delete any links you made between
IPLM and XPLM. They arent necessary. The XPLM will
essentially be an X10 only device and won't be sending
or receiving Insteon.

Once you do that and reboot, make sure under Help-
>About->Controllers that the XPLM is properly
connected. If it is, then your X10 trigger should
work.

Let me know how it goes.

Dave.
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Posted: October 20 2015 at 06:38 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

That worked. Thanks.
I have several misc questions:

1. The docs say that PH can run as a service, but can't find any details on that. I see there is phservice.exe in the folder. If I execute that and add it as a service with auto start, will that avoid loading pwrhome.exe every time the computer restarts?

2. Section 10.8 of the FAQs says that IPLM should be added as a responder for all Insteon devices. I find that some devices will not accept that as a responder.

3. What is Flash supposed to do? I find that if I click on that for a device, I get an error, then a critical error, and a restart.

4. In deleting links by dragging to the left hand device panel and then save, the links come back. If I repeat the process, they stay deleted. Is this normal behavior?

5. In the Insteon/Devices window I note there are 2 X10 address columns: X10 Address and Desired X10 address. Some devices have entries in the X10 Address field. I can add addresses to the Desired column, but they never get added to the other column. I suspect this has something to do with my HouseLinc setup and the data that existed there when I started the PH installation.

6. For Timed Events what is the purpose of the Start Time and the Reference Time? Also for times associated with the sun and an offset, I would have assumed that for 30 minutes prior to sunset I would use Absolute-, but is appears it should be Absolute+. Is this correct?

I'm sure I'll have more questions...smile.

John
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Posted: October 20 2015 at 14:23 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Glad to hear it worked. I'll the answer the questions I can below. Some will have to wait until later today when Im at my development machine .

1. PowerHome can be run as a service but its really no good for Windows 7 and above due to the way Microsoft changed the virtual desktop environment for services. If you're running PowerHome on a machine that is pre-Win 7 (not likely), then the service will work just fine. On Win 7 and above, PowerHome will load as a service and run just fine but you won't be able to access the GUI at all. This is currently on the to-do list to actually separate PowerHome into two complete apps. One being a non-GUI backend processing application that will be able to run as a service and then another application that contains the full GUI environment. Until this is done, its really not practical to run PH as a service on Win 7 and up unless you really have no need to access the GUI (which is fine for some users once they have the system setup the way they like).

2. Certain Insteon devices that cant act as a Controller (such as Lamplincs) cant have the PLM (or any Insteon device) as a responder. This is all controlled by the "Types" tab and more specifically the "Ctlr Groups" column. If this column is 0 (meaning that the device cant act as a controller and can therefore have no responders), then you won't be able to add the PLM as a responder to any device with that "type". You could modify the "Types" entries and change the 0's to a 1, Save, refresh, and add the PLM as a responder and have the links created and then change the Ctlr Groups back to 0. This allows you to have the PLM as a responder of every device but it wouldnt be necessary for devices that cant act as a controller.

3. Flash is supposed to "flash" the device on and off to help in locating a device that was added with auto-discovery or one of the other methods that auto generates a PowerHome ID. If its causing an error, this is something I'll have to check when Im at my development machine.

4. When a link is deleted by dragging and dropping to the left device panel, they'll disappear from the controller/responder view until you hit Save. When you hit Save, they should reappear but should have a status of "FLAGGED DELETE" because they actually do still exist until they PowerHome is able to delete them from the device. If Enable Pending is checked and everything is working (the device hasnt been disabled manually or automatically due to failed COMM attempts), you should see these delete's show in the "Pending Operations" window. As the operations move to the "Completed Operations" window, if you refresh the "Links" view (you can just double-click the "Current Device" detail line), you should see the actual links start dropping off. What I suspect you're seeing in your case is that you delete the link, save, they show up still but as Flagged Delete and in the time you drag and drop a second time and save, they've actually been deleted show don't show again.

5. The "X10 Address" column would be the X10 address that has been assigned to an Insteon device. This data is read from the Insteon device's internal memory when PowerHome initially scanned the device. Most of the time, you'll want this to be blank as the X10 communications are not reliable and can interfere with the Insteon comms of the device. Ive had a number of devices come straight from the factory with an X10 address already programmed in and I think this is just sloppy. The "Desired X10 Address" is the field where you either clear or set the address you want the device to have. It won't actually be written to the device though unless you have "Write Level/Ramp/X10" checked in your Insteon controller settings at the top of the Insteon Explorer (I believe its unchecked as default). Once PowerHome actually updates the X10 address in the device, the "X10 Address" field should update as well.

6. In Timed Events, the "Reference Time" is the time you enter as the starting point or reference for your timed event. If your "Timing" and "Offset" is Exact and None, then the Reference Time should equal the Start Time. The "Start Time" is the calculated time based upon your reference time, timing, offset, and offset amt and is the actual time that your Timed event will be triggered. If you choose one of the "Sun" based times (Dawn, Dusk, Sunrise, Sunset) then make sure that you've properly configured your location in PowerHome|Setup|Sun (you'll need to restart or reinit for changes in the "Setup" section) in order for the calculations to be correct. Absolute- will subtract the offset amt (in minutes from the Reference Time). Absolute+ will add the offset amt to the Reference Time. So if you want something to happen 30 minutes before Sunset, then you would use Absolute- with an Offset amt of 30.

I'll look into the "Flash" issue when I get to my development machine tonight.

Dave.
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Posted: October 20 2015 at 18:29 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John,

Im unable to replicate the "Flash" issue on either my
development or production machines. Can you give me the
details of the error messages you're getting? Also, what
Insteon device type is it?

Thanks,

Dave.
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Posted: October 21 2015 at 08:32 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

Details on Flash error:
A critical error occurred at 2015-10-21 09:24:03.636.

PowerHome Version: 2.1.5c
Critical Error Count: 1
Error Number: 2
Error Message: Null object reference at line 82 in clicked event of object dw_1 of uo_insteoncontrol.
Window: uo_insteoncontrol
Object: dw_1
Event: clicked
Line: 82

This was caused by selecting Options on a LampLinc Device from Insteon Explorer. Then select Flash and then Close that window. Get the error above. Then I ReInit.
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Posted: October 21 2015 at 08:48 | IP Logged Quote BeachBum

Dave, I can reproduce it also...

__________________
Pete - X10 Oldie
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Posted: October 21 2015 at 09:22 | IP Logged Quote JohnP

Dave,

Comments on the msg above with the numbered paragraphs:
1. Ok, I understand about the service issue. I've just added PH2 to the StartUp folder on that computer.

2. Ok, I will quit trying to add IPLM as a Responder on Devices that are not Controllers. You might think about changing the FAQ 10.8 wording.

4. That is exactly what is happening and I now understand why.

5. I enabled "Write Level/RAMP/X10" and cleared all of the "Desired X10 Address" that existed. Looks like "X10 Address" was cleared for all devices except for 2 ControlLinc devices, where 1 of the buttons is still associated with an X10 address. It is not clear to me on how to manage ControlLinc devices with PH.

6. I had StartTime and ReferenceTime mixed up. I'll see what happens tonight 1 hour prior to Sunset.

New item:
I think one of my biggest problems has been the result of having the remnants of HouseLinc around. I'm still having some problems with "Link Not Found". This may also be related to not having good RF comms with all of the Devices. I may have to move the USB stick for IPLM with an extension cable. Are the CommReliability readings in InsteonExplorer/Devices pretty accurate?

So I'm working on solving the "Link Not Found" errors.
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Posted: October 21 2015 at 12:34 | IP Logged Quote dhoward

John/Pete,

I can reproduce it now as well. It never occurred to me to close the window with Flash still active . I'll add code
so that if the window is close, Flash will be first disabled.

John,

I'll update the FAQ to include that adding the PLM as a responder is not necessary (or even capable) if the device cant
act as a controller.

The ControLinc is indeed a slightly different animal. The one I had died a few years ago so I need to revisit the code
and see what is going on with X10 programming with that device. I'll get back to you on that one.

The Comm Reliability score should be fairly accurate. Nearly every COMM to an Insteon device (that expects a return or
ACK) is counted as well as ACK/NAK or timeout. The Reliability is just the ratio of the ACKs and NAKs to the total of
ACKs, NAK's, and Timeouts. Even though a NAK means the command did not run properly, it was still a successful
communication. Another screen you'll want to check for Communication issues is the "Reports" tab (of Insteon Explorer)
and the Overall COMM's report. Its very possible that the stick is not having good COMMs particularly if its not close
to an RF enabled Insteon device. I usually have one of my Insteon Access points within 5 feet of my PLM stick.

What I would do is turn off (uncheck) the "Link Scan" option at the top of IE as this is what we add to your "Link Not
Found" messages. Try to clean up and get your Insteon COMMs in good shape. Once that is done, then on the "Devices"
tab, check the "Scan DB" for all your devices and re-enable the "Link Scan". This will take awhile as PowerHome will
scan the internal database of ALL your Insteon devices.

When the scanning is done, look at the Links tab for each of your devices and analyze the problem links. You'll need to
make a determination for each one as how best to handle it. Keep in mind that this screen is color-coded and "blue"
columns represent data stored in the currently selected device. Reddish-brown columns represent data stored in the
Controller of the currently selected device and Green columns represent data stored in the responder of the currently
active device.

Understand what the error messages are (the Help file and the little ? marks should give more info. If not, let me know
and I should be able to explain what they mean). [ID NOT FOUND] means that an Insteon address was found in a device but
that address is not found in the PowerHome Devices tab with an ID assigned to it. Is this because its an old link that
should be deleted or should the device be added to PowerHome?

[LINK NOT FOUND] means that PowerHome at one time scanned the link and recorded it in its internal database. When a
later scan was done on the device, that link was not found. This is often due to link management being done outside of
PowerHome with a different tool or because of bad COMMs. Say PowerHome scans the link the first time and stores the
info. If a scan is done at a later time and due to bad COMMS a different address or other value is returned, you'll get
a new link record created with this bad data and the original link will be marked as LINK NOT FOUND. A good way to help
decide between these types of errors is to look at the record number. If you have two different links utilizing the
same record number, one of them is wrong. If you're unsure which is correct, you can highlight the link and drag/drop
on the reverify button (or just press the Reverify button with the links highlighted) and PowerHome will rescan those
links. Depending upon the error, you'll want to either delete the links (drag/drop in the left hand window..this causes
PH to actually send Insteon commands to remove the links from the device) or "Remove" them (drag/drop to the button or
press the button with the links highlighted). The Remove option does not send any Insteon communications and will
simply delete the link out of the PH database.

Whew...alot to take in. Once you've got all your links squared away and everything looks proper, I would uncheck the
"Link Scan" option and leave it off. The links should not change unless you're actually changing them and since Insteon
communications are not 100% reliable you will eventually build up problem links within PowerHome over time again if
this option is checked.

Hope this helps,

Dave.


Edited by dhoward - October 21 2015 at 12:38
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