New Insteon PLM modem integration option via MQTT

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283

I have an existing insteon scene and I would like to modify it so that one of the lights comes on at 50%. I figured out how to do this at one point but now I can’t seem to get it to work. The command I am using is:

{ "cmd" : "db_add_ctrl_of", "local_group" : ctrl_group,
  remote_addr" : aa.bb.cc, "remote_group" : resp_group,
  ["two_way" : true/false], [refresh" : true/false],
  ["local_data" : [D1,D2,D3]], ["remote_data" : [D1, D2,D3]] } }

I think the D1 in remote data is what I need to adjust but I cant seem to get the syntax right. Here is what I am issuing on the modem


{ "cmd" : "db_add_ctrl_of", "local_group" : 33,
  "remote_addr" : "soffit_lights", "remote_group" : 1,
  "two_way" : true, "refresh" : true,
  "remote_data" : "0x7f,0x1f,0x01" }

I’m thinking the 7f should be 50% brightness. When I look at the db in soffit_lights it’s always 0xff,0x1f,0x01 so I think I must have something mis-formatted and it is just ignoring the data fields.

284

Hi!
I am trying to pair a switch insteon device but I get timeouts all the time. I tried with “refresh” and the same happens:

2021-01-02 13:43:05 INFO Mqtt: MQTT message insteon/command/26.fd.40 b'{ "cmd" : "refresh" }'
2021-01-02 13:43:05 UI Mqtt: Commanding Switch device 26.fd.40 (lamp1) cmd=refresh
2021-01-02 13:43:05 INFO Base: Device 26.fd.40 (lamp1) cmd: status refresh
2021-01-02 13:43:05 INFO Protocol: Write message to modem: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:05 DEBUG Protocol: Write bytes to modem: b'\x02b&\xfd@\x0f\x19\x00'
2021-01-02 13:43:05 DEBUG Serial: Wrote 8 bytes to serial socket://192.168.1.56:25105
2021-01-02 13:43:11 WARNING Base: Handler timed out 1 of 3 sent: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:11 DEBUG Base: Increasing max_hops to 3
2021-01-02 13:43:11 INFO Protocol: Write message to modem: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:11 DEBUG Protocol: Write bytes to modem: b'\x02b&\xfd@\x0f\x19\x00'
2021-01-02 13:43:11 DEBUG Serial: Wrote 8 bytes to serial socket://192.168.1.56:25105
2021-01-02 13:43:17 WARNING Base: Handler timed out 2 of 3 sent: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:17 DEBUG Base: Increasing max_hops to 3
2021-01-02 13:43:17 INFO Protocol: Write message to modem: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:17 DEBUG Protocol: Write bytes to modem: b'\x02b&\xfd@\x0f\x19\x00'
2021-01-02 13:43:17 DEBUG Serial: Wrote 8 bytes to serial socket://192.168.1.56:25105
2021-01-02 13:43:23 WARNING Base: Handler timed out 3 of 3 sent: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:23 DEBUG Base: Increasing max_hops to 3
2021-01-02 13:43:23 INFO Protocol: Write message to modem: Std: 26.fd.40, Type.DIRECT, 19 00 
2021-01-02 13:43:23 DEBUG Protocol: Write bytes to modem: b'\x02b&\xfd@\x0f\x19\x00'
2021-01-02 13:43:23 DEBUG Serial: Wrote 8 bytes to serial socket://192.168.1.56:25105
2021-01-02 13:43:29 WARNING Base: Handler timed out - no more retries (3 sent)
2021-01-02 13:43:29 ERROR Mqtt: Command timed out

Any help on this? thanks!!!

285

I’m guessing you are using an Insteon Hub as your PLM…which model is it?

286

Yes, indeed! Is the new Insteon Hub 2 (2245-222)

287

I haven’t kept up with this repository as much as I use to, but looking through it now I still don’t see any support for the 2245. The first gen Insteon Hub 1 supports the “serial” protocol over IP (which is what you have set up for), but the 2245 dropped support of the “serial” protocol. So that’s why you’re getting those errors.

I had a 2245 at one time and modified this code a couple of years ago to work with the 2245 but I kept running into an architectural issue with the Insteon implementation where packets to/from the devices would be dropped from time to time. While my modification worked for the most part, the architectural issue made things a little bit too unreliable for me. I switched over to the serial USB PLM and things have been great ever since.

EDIT1, I think I have found where they added support for the 2245, but still digging …
EDIT 2, OK what I see is that support for the 2245 is now in the “development” branch. It has not yet been put in the main branch (that’s why I didn’t see it earlier). So you can either wait, or give the development branch a try.

288

wow thanks for the information!! I had my doubts about if the hub could be he problem but could not find much info about it. I think I will try with the usb PLM then in the meantime, thanks again!!! :slight_smile:

289

@krkeegan So I am giving this module another shot. I think it is really well put together, but I seem to be having one problem. I got the scene import and sync to work, and my keypadlinc now controls my fanlinc correctly from the switch. Also, I can call scene 1 on and off to turn the fanlinc light on and off from the command line, but not from a light.

I can not for the life of me figure out the other 4 buttons and the fan speed. It works perfectly from the physical switch, but if I call that scene on from the command line, it doesn’t work.

I am also struggling with how to set up switch’s in HA to call the scene for the keypadlinc. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

When I call scene 1 using:

 - platform: mqtt
    schema: json
    name: "Bedroom Fan Light"
    state_topic: "insteon/xX.xX.xX/state/1"
    command_topic: "insteon/xX.Xx.Xx/scene/1"
    brightness: true

This is what I get in the log:

2021-01-04 16:14:48.168 DEBUG KeypadLinc: KeypadLinc scene 1 message insteon/xX.xX.Xx/scene/1 b'{"state": "OFF"}'
2021-01-04 16:14:48.170 DEBUG MsgTemplate: Input template render: '{ "cmd" : "{"state": "off"}" }'
2021-01-04 16:14:48.170 ERROR MsgTemplate: Invalid JSON message { "cmd" : "{"state": "off"}" } from template { "cmd" : "{{value.lower()}}" }
290

I’ve been trying to get Insteon-MQTT working under hass.io. Is this not possible? I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that I need Python 3.9 installed for it to work, but that this is not possible under hass.io (I’m running HA OS as a VM in VirtualBox on a Mac).
Am I missing something, or do I need to install HA Core in Debian in VBox in order to utilize the Insteon-MQTT integration?
Thanks much

291

Although I don’t use hassio for my production insteon-mqtt, I do have a hassio instance I use to play around with…so thought I’d give it a shot to help you out.

I got insteon-mqtt to run in my hassio using the Add-On installation method. After installing, you “start” it at the Supervisor’s insteon-addon GUI. My first “start” didn’t seem to work (no Docker Container), but my second “start” did work.

Hope this helps.

What the AddOn method is doing is setting up a insteon-mqtt Docker Container (like any other AddOn) and mapping a directory in your HA config directory called “insteon-mqtt” where the insteon-mqtt configuration yaml file is. The AddOn GUI has a “Open Web page” that allows you access to the insteon-mqtt cli.

292

Thanks! I think I’ve gotten that far - it starts OK, but with this message in the Insteon MQTT log: “WebSocket transport not available. Install simple-websocket for improved performance”

Then, when I use the web interface to join a device/module, I get this:
“The WebSocket transport is not available, you must install a WebSocket server that is compatible with your async mode to enable it.”

I’m not sure how to install a WebSocket server, or if it is even possible (I had assumed it was part of the hass.io installation).

293

Hmmm, I don’t know really. Just digging around, I think your error is coming from a Python module called Flask and from what I can tell this is used by insteon-mqtt for its Web GUI. Usually a websocket is used between the Web GUI running on a web browser and the web server, in this case the web server is running on some part of hassio. If I had to guess…and its just a guess, there is a version incompatibility perhaps between insteon-mqtt ( the version of Flask it uses) and your hassio. What versions are you running?

294

Interesting. I’m running latest versions of Hass.io & insteon-mqtt (2021.7.3 & 1.0.1), but looking at github for insteon-mqtt, the flask8 component seems to be from 2 years ago (can’t tell version).
I’ll contact the developer.

295

Yeah, I was just guessing…I too am using HA 2021.7.3 and insteon-mqtt 1.0.1, and my supervisor version is 2021.06.8 hassos version is 6.1.
The versions of flask that get installed inside the insteon-mqtt docker container should be the latest ones as the requirements.txt file limit the minimum version and so that generally means the latest ones on PyPi; I did a quick check, in my case the ones that got install are the latest ones (2.0.1 for flask, and 5.1.0 for flask_socketio), which I suspect you have as well. Anyway, yea I’d ask the developer for some direction as I don’t know how hassio uses the websocket for the AddON’s GUI.

296

Can I ask which instructions you followed, or what was keeping it from working? I’ve been struggling with this for 2 weeks now, and seem to be at about the same place as you are describing. Everything seems to be working, but I can’t get a device to show up.

298

Which daemon are you referring to? I have both mosquitto & Insteon-mqtt running, but same result; cmd times out. Can’t find what I’m missing.

299

another noob Q. Hopefully this is an easy one.
I can now publish a packet, turn on a light, and see the response, using “MQTT Settings”:
topic: insteon/3e.ab.a7/set
payload: on
I am trying to get fancy and make sure I understand the commands, by simply trying to set the dim level. I’ve tried:
topic: insteon/3e.ab.a7
payload: {“state”: “ON”,“brightness”: 50}
It will work if I use the device slider on HA, so I know they are corrected, but I can’t seem to get the formatting of the topic/payload correct.
Any suggestions most appreciated!

300

topic: insteon/3e.ab.a7
payload: {“state”: “ON”,“brightness”: 50}

I think your topic should be: insteon/3e.ab.a7/level for Dimmers and the such. Try that and see if it works like you expect.