BTW, the Hub is not a very good device in general. PLMs tend to be a better option.
I have replaced the hub with a PLM. has been working without dropping from HA. Thanks for the update.
@richt how did you make the transition from hub to plm.
I have the Hub working on the main system and I am testing a USB PLM on a test setup.
Did you have to do something to “authorize” the plm to control your devices. I have been looking looking at the add_all_link but i have been unsuccessful so far
Not sure what you’ve done so far, but first make sure you have the PLM correctly set up with HA. After you have activated the Integration, it should show up as a device in HA.
I paired the Insteon devices to the PLM using the Insteon instructions and then rebooted Home Assistant so it would more readily pick up the new devices. At that point they were all available as entities in HA. The devices were still showing as paired with the Insteon Controller, but I eventually decommissioned that. If you are decommissioning the controller, and want to make a clean transition, it may be best to reset the Insteon devices to factory settings and then pair to the PLM.
Once HA is connected to the PLM, I found that if you continue to use the controller, the status changes of the devices may not show up in HA.
Can you share exactly how you “pair to the PLM”, i paired one device using a trial of Indigo and verified device control worked there but could ever get that device to show up in HA.
I’m really curious about this too. I was playing with Insteon with HA a few months ago and didn’t really understand what the expected process was. Can someone explain it in the most basic of terms?
Still not sure where you are at, but I’m going to assume that when you look at Devices in Home Assistant you can see “PowerLinc USB Modem xx.xx.xx”. If not you need to install the Insteon Integration in Home Assistant or troubleshoot why you are not seeing it.
How to pair an Insteon device with the PLM varies with the type of device and type of relationship it has with the PLM. Insteon - Understanding Linking
You need to follow the instructions for the specific device, but to simplify things it goes something like this
To have the PLM act as a controller for the remote device such as a Plug In Dimmer Module
1.) Press the “set” button on the PLM until it beeps and the LED flashes green.
2.) Press the “set” button on the Dimmer Module until it beeps. You will observe that the PLM LED stops flashing.
The PLM is now a controller for the Dimmer Module. The trick is that I have not been able to see any of the devices added to the PLM until I restart HA, so restart HA.
One other item to note is to make sure that the Integration is configured to automatically add new devices. To check that setting go to the Integrations page in HA and under the Insteon Integration click on the 3 vertical dots, and select “System Options”.
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After two PLMs failed in a year I replaced with a Hub which has worked problem free for a year now.
That said, I’m slowly migrating to Lutron.
Yes I have device “PowerLinc USB Modem 22.3E.53” in HA. I was trying to use Indigo to avoid all the manual linking but I will try that as well as the HA reboot option as well.
manual linking worked
press set button on modem, press set button on device, not excited to manually do this with 30+ insteon devices some of which are mini switches embedded inside wall and ceiling boxes but at least it worked.
While I haven’t added any modules this way, there is a service provided by the Insteon integration that should put the PLM in linking mode - insteon.add_all_link. You should be able to use that from a tablet or phone so you don’t have to run back and forth from the PLM to each device.
Linking Insteon device to Insteon Modem
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Can I suggest looking at Insteon-mqtt. I’ve been using it for the past 3 years. I have my PLM connected to a Raspberry Pi, and am running Insteon-mqtt in a docker container.
This package gives you the ability to link all your devices via the command line or MQTT messages. No more messing around with pressing buttons etc. It takes a little time to fully grasp it, but the documentation is decent.
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Thanks Rich, what is the service data that must be sent to do the equivalent of press the button?
service: insteon.add_all_link
data: {}
found it on a github issue https://github.com/home-assistant/core/issues/16342
service: insteon.add_all_link
data:
mode: controller
group: 0
For Insteon-mqtt, it looks like the devices don’t auto discover. Anyone have a set of mqtt templates for autodiscovery?
Take a look through the included example file. It provides all the samples you need:
@Juggler there’s nothing in there that announces the devices to the homeassistant mqtt autodiscovery topic (e.g. homeassistant/<component_type>/<unique_id>/config). Do you have an example showing the config topic and message for each device?
fan.yaml
- platform: mqtt
name: "livingroom fanlinc fan"
command_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/fan/set'
state_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/fan/state'
percentage_command_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/fan/speed/set'
percentage_command_template: >
{% if value == 1 %}
low
{% elif value == 2 %}
medium
{% elif value == 3 %}
high
{% endif %}
percentage_state_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/fan/speed/state'
percentage_value_template: >
{% if value == 'low' %}
33
{% elif value == 'medium' %}
67
{% elif value == 'high' %}
100
{% else %}
0
{% endif %}
speed_range_min: 1
speed_range_max: 3
light.yaml
- platform: mqtt
schema: json
name: "bar pendant lights"
state_topic: "insteon/aa.bb.cc/state"
command_topic: "insteon/aa.bb.cc/level"
brightness: true
switch.yaml
- platform: mqtt
name: "basement bathroom pots"
state_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/state'
command_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/set'
value_template: "{{ value_json.state }}"
- platform: mqtt
name: "closet outlet top"
state_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/state/1'
command_topic: 'insteon/aa.bb.cc/set/1'
Looks like autodiscovery is coming soon! MQTT discovery automatic configuration · Issue #128 · TD22057/insteon-mqtt · GitHub
Is this MQTT better than integrated Insteon support?