Re: [mh] Problems communicating with 2413U PLM, brand new installation

[Eloy P. <pe...@ch...>]

Hi Rich,

On 12/09/2010 08:16 PM, Richard Hill wrote:

> Here is my follow up on some suggestions I received.
>
> 1) Confirm that I have the FTDI driver and that the PLM is detected
> (suggested by carl and Neil)
> When I disconnect the PLM, dmesg has:
>
> usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 4
> ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: device disconnected
> ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from
> ttyUSB0
>
> And when I re-connect it I get this:
>
> usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
> usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
> ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
> drivers/usb/serial/ftdi_sio.c: Detected FT232BM
> usb 1-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
>
> 2) Try plmtools to see if I can talk to the PLM (suggested by Eloy)
> This was an interesting experiment. Before I tried using plmtools here
> tonight I cycled the power to the PLM and it powered up with a solid red
> LED. I'm not sure what this indicates, and wasn't able to find the
> manual for the PLM 2413U online to investigate so I just unplugged it
> (from its AC socket) and re-plugged it. Then the LED was dim green. And
> I went ahead ...
> Using plmsend (the exact command I typed at the command line was
> 'plmsend -d /dev/ttyUSB0 -v 02621645070F11FF') I was able to turn on and
> off my 2876DB switch. So I think this is really good!

Indeed!

> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data: 02601482ab031592
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM Generating Voice commands for all Insteon objects
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM Rereading .menu code files.
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM [Insteon_PLM] Prepending prior data fragment:
> 02601482ab031592
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data: 02601482ab03159206
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM [Insteon_PLM] PLM id: 1482ab firmware: 92
> 12/09/10 07:32:01 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data: 02621645070f190006
> 12/09/10 07:32:02 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data:
> 02501645071482ab2b00ff
> 12/09/10 07:32:02 PM [Insteon_PLM] Processing message for
> $Dining_Ceiling_light

This is very good; it indicates that MH is talking to your PLM.

> 12/09/10 07:32:02 PM [Insteon_Device] received status request report for
> $Dining_Ceiling_light with on-level: 100%, hops left: 2

These messages are produced during the MH startup scan. The scan at 
startup is control by "Insteon_PLM_scan_at_startup=1" in your 
mh.private.ini.

> 12/09/10 07:34:03 PM Running: PLM scan link table
> 12/09/10 07:34:04 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data:
> 0269060257a20116a2ad000000
> 12/09/10 07:34:04 PM [Insteon_PLM] ALL-Link Record
> Response:0257a20116a2ad000000
> 12/09/10 07:34:04 PM [Insteon_PLM] Parsing serial data: 026a15
> 12/09/10 07:34:04 PM [Insteon_PLM] responder record to 16a2ad(01)
> (d1=00, d2=00, d3=00)

This is you doing a link table scan through the web interface. Again, it 
shows good communications between MH and the PLM.

[...]

> What is interesting is that the Warn message I mentioned in my OP is now
> not happening.
>
> This startup looked good, so I tried controlling my one 2876DB from MH's
> web interface and it worked fine! This has never worked for me before.
> Honestly, the only things I changed in my system since the problem I
> described in my OP were:
>
> a) reset my 2876DB to 'factory defaults', and
> b) remove one other switch from my .mht file so that I only had one
> Insteon device configured

You also cycled power to the PLM. I think that's probably what fixed 
whatever problem was taking place since (a) and (b) above should not 
have an impact on MH <-> PLM communications.

> There is no such thing as a 'glitch' when it comes to software (as they
> say), so I wonder what happened here? Was it the solid red LED on my
> 2413U that maybe I didn't notice before? Could I have a bum PLM that's
> flakey?

PLM lockups are known to happen. Since everything started to work after 
cycling power to the PLM I would think your PLM was locked up while you 
were trying to get things to work. Unless you continue to have problems 
with your PLM on a regular basis I wouldn't think you have a bad PLM.

> I'll keep expanding my Insteon network with the other new parts I've
> purchased, and let the list know what I find. Thanks everyone for your
> help and suggestions, you put me on track.

Good luck with the rest of your INSTEON deployment. Let us know how it goes.

Cheers,

Eloy Paris.-