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RichardL
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| Posted: March 27 2016 at 21:24 | IP Logged
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I graduated from XP and am running PH on a newer PC (HP Pavilion A6360T). The PC has 4GB RAM, a solid state drive, and is running Windows 10Pro, 64bit.
Looking to upgrade all around - I also have a new USB PLM (2413U), this has been in place for about a month now.
A few times I have seen the PLM go funky - meaning it loses communication with PH, and some alerts don't trigger. I have rebooted the PC, powered off/on the PLM, changed USB ports, verified that Windows device manager matches the PH controller setup (COM3), and done a PLM clear/reload full. It even once threw PH into a critical error.
Sometimes when it goes bad, I hear beeps from it (the same sound as a keypadlinc in beep mode). It can stay bad for a few hours.
And…magically it then starts working OK and everything is happy…
I contacted Amazon for a return, since I am about to hit the 30 day refund period.
I had also tried/returned a 2448A7 – it generated many, many NAKs, no matter where I placed it.
In waiting, I have my original 2412S serial port PLM which worked flawlessly for years to revert back to.
Before I send it back I want to do a sanity check on any experience or ideas.
And any thoughts to stay with the old 2412S (I know no dual-band).
As usual, thanks for all.
Richard
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RichardL
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| Posted: March 27 2016 at 21:26 | IP Logged
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PS: Running PowerHome 2.1.5d
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smarty
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| Posted: March 28 2016 at 12:42 | IP Logged
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I'm not sure I have anything to offer here....
I am running the USB 2448A7 and seeing decent (but not perfect) results. I (and maybe a few others) had mentioned to Dave that there still appears to be something a little flakey with the latest Insteon control. I am running 2.1.5d as well.
In one of Dave's posts replying to this concern, I think he does mention that their might be room for some enhancement of the Insteon control code.
Back to your question...Whichever Insteon PLM hardware is deemed the best is something that I too desire....
__________________
Elk - Insteon - BlueIris - DMC1 - PowerHome - XLobby - HA_Bridge w/Dots - Brultech
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dhoward
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| Posted: March 30 2016 at 11:30 | IP Logged
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Richard,
If the 2412s is working for you, there is probably no real need to swap it out. As long as it is capable of sending the proper extended commands that are now necessary for the newer Insteon devices (including I2CS), then it should be fine as long as you have a serial port to connect it to. I have found that the older serial devices are actually more stable than the USB devices (which are actually just a serial device with an integrated USB to serial controller which seems to be the source of most problems). The problem seems to stem from the USB to serial controller being powered by the computer USB port while the rest of the PLM is powered by the powerline and it seems they get "out of whack".
Dual band is definitely nice, but can be handled by the access points (now called range extenders I believe) or other dual band devices. As long as communication is reaching all of your devices on both phases I wouldnt worry to much about the dual band.
Steve is right that Im still working on perfecting the Insteon code associated with how the newer USB devices get "out of whack" with power fluctuations. Your original 2413U that you sent back could have been bad but it could also have been due to unreliable power conditions. If the new one exhibits the same behaviour, that is the likely culprit.
Concerning the 2448A7....were you getting NAK's or timeouts? Timeouts would probably mean you werent getting signal and most likely need a range extender in close proximity to the controller. Also the version of PowerHome you were using at the time could have been a factor as well since a previous version (not sure of the actual number) did have problems with the timing of the commands to the USB stick that did result in higher than normal NAK's from the device.
Dave.
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RichardL
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| Posted: May 16 2016 at 11:46 | IP Logged
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Apologies for the reply duration.
Dave, thanks for the info. Your description is accurate.
I did make some PC-side changes that seem to work. I was running PH under a regular user account with admin privileges. I changed it around an am now running PH under the administrator account itself. One thought I had was that the USB connection was pausing or had intermittent interruptions. My power settings have always been to never turn off anything, so that part was covered. I did not return the USB PLM, and am keeping the serial PLM on the sidelines.
I do not remember if the 2448A7 was generating NAKs or Timeouts, chances are that I saw both.
Since this new PLM, now about 7 weeks, the (USB wired) PLM has been working OK, not great. A few timeouts here and there, have had to do 2 PLM clear/full rebuild and an unplug/replug in. This is usually to address PH not getting a signal from IO-Lincs. PH outbound to devices has been OK.
I am also working hard to clear up many “Link not found” and “Device type not found” errors. I am looking into any patterns here as well.
It is good to know that the old serial workhorse will handle everything still today. I may have to revert back to it.
Smarty - as far as my “PLM experience”, I had the serial PLM for years and only very occasionally had any issues, or had to rebuild it. The 2448A7 was terrible, and the USB wired, seems stable but acts up more than I would like. Hopefully the updates Dave mentioned will help.
An ongoing issue is that I have those “Ghost lights”, that just come on randomly anytime. I was hoping that retiring the old PLM would fix that, but nope.
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Topic: PLM 2413U issues.
