Well this sucks that Insteon just shut down… Unfortunately trying to fix mine, I did a factory reset on my hub… am I completely pooched?
INSTEON HUB2 Details
Hub2-V04-20140904
PLM Version:A5
Firmware:1019 Build Nov 18 2019 13:45:08
Insteon ID:34.24.F1
Thanks for your help!
Rusty
Your Hub is now a brick due the factory reset.
However from what I understand you can use your PLM connected to Home Assistant to control your devices. You’ll just have re-write your scenes and automations in Home Assistant.
I don’t use Insteon devices, so I maybe wrong.
I haven’t reset my hub (but I was about to…). I was thinking of doing it because I want to remove all the automations from the hub and re-implement them in HA. I may be wrong, and am looking for confirmation, but I think that if I factory reset the hub, the automations will be removed but I’ll need to re-link all my Insteon devices with the hub. There are ways that this can be done in HA (I don’t have the link but it involves calling the appropriate service in the developer view to put the hub into linking mode). Once re-linked, the device should be able to be controlled by HA again.
Can anyone confirm this? I sometimes repurpose some plug-in modules seasonally.
Don’t reset your hub. See the warning at the top of the page here:
Yes, thanks, I did see that. I was wondering at the underlying reason for it. If the reason for not doing it is that I’d have to relink devices, I can live with that (eventually). But if I do a reset and I can no longer use HA to put the hub into linking mode, well that’s a horse of a different colour. For me, the hub is the PLM - I don’t have an alternative.
The problem is that from a “factory reset” condition, the initial configuration of the Insteon hub requires a connection to the insteon cloud to set it up. So this is not just a situation of having to just “relink the devices” after a factory reset, its much worse then that. Since this cloud connection no longer exists because Insteon yanked it down, it is then impossible to initially setup the hub from a new/factory reset state, and unless we are missing something, unfortunately you are left with a brick basically.
Once setup through the cloud at any point in the past, the hub can then be in a state where you can connect it to Home Assistant locally through the Insteon integration that uses “local push”.
Bottom line, DO NOT factory reset.
Update- it appears based on posts below a factory reset is not the end. However, you are then stuck using the factory default login which is printed on the hub, and changing login info or network settings on the hub does not appear possible without the cloud. This is good news in case you factory reset, but I still would not recomend the reset if you haven’t done one yet.
Never used Insteon, but from what I understand, the hub is just a Beaglebone black board connected to a serial PLM. Couldn’t you just disconnect the PLM and use it directly to interface HA with your Insteon devices ? Over an FTDI, Pi, ESP, Arduino, whatever to get the serial connection in.
I looked into Insteon awhile back (glad I avoided it now) but never had any insteon devices myself. I should “never say never” though on it being able to be configured without the cloud.
When Wink died, I looked desperately for a way to still use the radios in the hub independent of the cloud, but never found a way. Hopefully someone can find a way to get the Insteon to work without that initial cloud setup. I know if I had one I would be trying everything possible.
There is a python package to communicate with it but I’m not aware if/how it could be used to set it up initially. Insteon is all proprietary, which will make “hacking” it more difficult.
Well, as far as I understand (and I just gathered this randomly reading a few articles about Insteon going belly up), the PLM is basically the hardware interface using the RF and powerline protocol to communicate with the devices. It’s not connected to the cloud itself and doesn’t know about any cloud. That modem basically could either connect to your PC directly (giving full local control) or to Insteons own MCU with all the cloud stuff. Apparently standalone PLMs are not available anymore (duh). But could you just gut the hub and use the PLM inside it as a standalone serial PLM ? Throwing out the entire control board, cloud stuff, network interface, everything. Just use the low level serial modem interface.
Again just a thought, just thinking left and right. This whole situation is (yet again) a sad textbook example why you should always keep everything in your home under local control.
I reset my Insteon Hub2 while troubleshooting when Insteon pulled the plug on us. I installed Home Assistant in Docker on my Synology NAS, and I added the Insteon integration. I was able to connect the hub using the login info on the bottom of the hub. I had to find the IP address of the hub on my router’s management portal. The LED stays red since there’s no cloud connection, but doesn’t matter. After that, I was able to add two Insteon Leak Sensors and an Insteon On/Off Module. I’ve created, and tested automations for each device also. So far, so good.
Ok did you totally factory reset or just network settings reset? You can recover from a network settings reset, which sounds like what you were able to do. Factory reset is a different story from my understanding, but could depend on which insteon device you have.
It’s a Hub2 2245-222. I actually did both the network reset, and factory reset.
Did you use the Home Assistant service call to put the hub into link mode to add the modules?
Yes. That’s how I was able link the devices.
Fantastic!
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I did a factory reset on mine. HA will connect to your devices THROUGH your Hub. You will have to connect to it via port 25105 and use the factory USER and PASS that is on the bottom. It’s a little tedious, have to connect one at a time.
Only down side of HA is that you won’t have voice control (Alexa or Google) unless you subscribe to HA cloud service.
All my devices are working again. Have scenes created and lighting controlled by sunrise/sunset. Not yet willing to pay for another subscription service.
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There are two free alternatives to HA cloud for Alexa control but they are NOT easy to setup and not recommended for anyone starting out. Also to access Home Assistant from outside your home without HA cloud, you need to configure a secure SSL connection and DNS on your own. If that is not done properly you are opening your network to hacking and security risks.
One way is Haaska
Another way is using Node Red and an Alexa control palette
https://docs.cb-net.co.uk/en/development/getting-started.html
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Hmmm. I have a DNS for my home from my Firewalla installation. I’ll have to look into SSL as I definitely want to restore my Google Home light control.
I thought about it for about 10 seconds. Nabu Casa for $65ish a year or $20K of my time to attempt to read 50 pages of documents and try.
Mine was up and running in 20mins and better than ever before.
I have one device that is an Insteon wall switch that I probably won’t get around to switching over for a while.
I probably will factory reset my Insteon Hub and just connect that one switch locally now that Insteon cloud isn’t available anymore. Just deleted my Insteon app from my iPhone (wouldn’t log in anymore) and removed the Alexa skill.