You mean this?
I want to make sure it is clear what it means to be built into HA vs the path this effort is taking.
Being built into HA means that the frontend control panel is part of the frontend repository for HA ( home-assistant/frontend: Frontend for Home Assistant (github.com)) That is what was rejected by the moderators (i.e. balloob). I understand why this was rejected and am fine with it because balloob also gave a path forward.
The direction this development is taking is to create a custom panel that will be installed when you activate Insteon in HA. From a user perpective this will not be any different than being built into the frontend repository. The only difference is that the panel will be a side panel rather than built into the āDevicesā panel that I was hoping for.
I need a little more time to test the work but it is making progress and I hope to have a pull request into core by end of May.
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Well, yepā¦ 
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Insteon panel is great and Iām pleased to see the moderators have abruptly changed their tune with the recent sudden death (to be frank, we all knew it was imminent) of Insteon as a company. I wanted to let you know that Iām not able to set ramp rate with the drop-down input type. Iām assuming youāre aware of this, but I cannot add issues in your repo.
Thanks for keeping Insteon equipment alive and well. Iām glad to finally see it getting more love in the HA community as it deserves.
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With the demise of Insteon now clear, I had a discussion with balloob last night and he has agreed to do whatever he can to make the transition to HA easier for Insteon users. This includes getting the Insteon Panel PR pushed through when it is ready. It is really close and with the recent news, it has a higher priority for me given the number of people this is affecting.
There are a TON of new posts and issues over the past 3 days about people trying to connect Insteon and Home Assistant. Please try to help others out. This SUCKS for a lot of people.
HELP NEEDED:
The code for the built-in Insteon Panel is almost complete. I need a few beta testers because this is a pretty big change. Before Insteon shut down, I was going to push this as a series of changes but given the urgency, I am going to push it as one bigger change. I am going to post tomorrow or Friday with an update to the Insteon component. I would like some people to test it for a week or so. This is less about testing the new panel and more about testing basic functionality. I screwed up in January and broke stuff for a bunch of users and I really donāt want to do that now with all the newbies coming onboard.
The stuff I am most conconcerned about:
- KeypadLinc and other more complex devices (only if they work today)
- Hub users in general
- X10 users
I want to make sure the new release works at least as well as the current release before putting it into core.
Thanks again and I appreciate the support from you all.
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I am willing to test. Here are my Insteon devices, nothing fancy just basic on/off/dimā¦
Count me in to test. Insteon refugee here. I have a bunch of devices including keypadlincs, fanlincs, motion sensors, dimmers, togglinc on/off, leak sensors, smoke bridgeā¦ I only have the hub 2245-222. Got most of my stuff working. Had to unlink a lot of stuff and setup from scratch in HA but all is well now. Willing to tinker for ya.
Iām willing to test if needed. My Insteon network consist of 62 devices and that includes at least a dozen keypadlincs.
Iām willing to test. I have over 60 devices and all my original links and scenes are unchanged in the HUB and devices.
I think I was actually anticipating Insteonās eventual demise. When my hub failed, and finding a replacement was difficult at best, I realized the end was near. In the meantime, I use my PLM with HA to operate my remaining Insteon devices - understanding that when the PLM dies, Iām finished with Insteon. The integration with HA requires a PLM or a hub. Itās unfortunate as I still feel that Insteon was a simple, robust, and secure system. All good things come to an end.
The control panel is a good start, As I understand it with all the possible solutions, one requires the Hub, a PLM or the USB. In other words, all of those solutions send/receive data from one of those devices and that device communicates through RF/Powerline to the actual device.
So this means we are all (eventually) screwed because we all know components fail. It happens. I was a very early adopter and went through two PLMs which failed. What I would like to see is for Smartlabs to open source the proprietary communication code so that users could build their own or another Smart Hub vendor flashes it into their solution.
Only then will we have the comfort needed. As for some saying toss it and get {put your favorite here}, that may be a solution for some. See this for my house:
Imagine the cost in replacing 50+ switches/dimmers/outlets/thermostats/fan controllers. That is probably $2000-$3000 without even considering uninstall/rewire/etc. There is probably 10-15 more in my closet I never got around to install.
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From what Iāve been reading all the upper management (CEO,COO,CIO,etc) have indicated that they are no longer associated with Smartlabs so something like this would be welcome but Iād be very surprised if it did happen. They no longer have a customer service department. Emails go unanswered. The phones are disconnected. Orders through the website are accepted but never processed. I couldnāt find an official announcement from Smartlabs but it really looks like they are completely shutdown.
Do not trash old hubs that have seemingly failed! Typically thereās a single capacitor that you can replace and that will often bring it back to life. I bought a bag of 500 of them for $4 with slightly higher voltages than the original. That single replacement has been going for 3 years now.
Another common issue is the hub PLM still works, but the Ethernet port dies. Thereās some evidence that suggests and/or confirms that a 2242-222 hub and even the 2245-222 hub can work with an RS232 to USB adapter, or a TTL to USB adapter (respective to the hub type). Iāve got an ISY on order to do some experimenting with TTL to Serial with a 2245-222 hub I have that has a bad Ethernet controller, but I will also test TTL to USB based on the results confirmed from the 2242 hub adaptation.
Iāve lost the link, but I have the photos someone posted of a 2242 conversion where they simply removed the Ethernet controller and connected to the built-in RS232 tx/rx and gnd. If someone has that post link, please share. I donāt think the 2245 has the same RS232 connections, but the link above said it was possible to go from TTL to RS232, so it should also be possible to from TTL to USB with the appropriate adapter.
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Has anyone ever put on some RF sniffer to see if anything could be understood? Or is that just out of the question? I am certainly no board/chip person, my experience is all in software. I guess maybe the RF signal is not simple commands? Like it is some proprietary, encrypted thing. I do not know.
Like I could take this and build something ā¦ yes I am stupid when it comes to such things, I wish I had more experience.
I could also help test.
I have 42 Insteon Devices in my house on one hub and about another 30 devices in two different building on two other hubs.
Would be nice to be able to connect to my three different hubs and control all the devices.
I am still learning HA and getting everything set up.
I do not look forward to replacing all my Insteon devices!
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@Sandust, that is great. My biggest worry right now is that everything is a single point of failure ā Hub fails or PLM fails or USB fails. Canāt find any right now, but I would like to grab a few of these and just have them. Through software/pyinsteon/other methods we can add devices and such, but the master controller is a single point of failure and that makes me nervous.
Would love to have a few extra in the closet in case.
I can confirm the above! I successfully resurrected my 2413S PLM that way.
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Got a few more? I only have one hub here now and that does not make me comfortable but I still might have an old PLM somewhere, in some box ā¦
