Problem automating Insteon 2441TH Thermostats

Configuration
1

I am transitioning from managing my Insteon devices using HouseLinc (on an XP VM) to HA in a Linux container. Everything works as expected except for my 2 2441TH thermostats. I can set the thermostat operation modes, fan mode, and target temperatures without issues if I do it manually using the Lovelace dashboard.

The problem comes when I try to do automation/scripts. The only action available to take on the thermostat device is to change the hvac_mode (off, heat, cool, heat_cool). So… I created scenes that contained all the settings for the thermostat (mode, temp, etc.). When I try to activate a thermostat scene, I get the following error:

Failed to call service scene/turn_on. expected float for dictionary value @ data[‘temperature’]

I only see the error when I try to activate the scene manually, but I assume it is the same reason my automation fails.

Any suggestions?

More details:

INSTEON Hub Details (connected as v1)
Alert 2.6 YF
PLM:9C
Firmware:4.8A Build Feb 08 2013
ID:2A.E3.18

System Health

version: core-2021.7.4
installation_type: Home Assistant Container
dev: false
hassio: false
docker: true
virtualenv: false
python_version: 3.9.5
os_name: Linux
os_version: 5.10.43-0-lts
arch: x86_64
timezone: America/New_York

logged_in: false
can_reach_cert_server: ok
can_reach_cloud_auth: ok
can_reach_cloud: ok

dashboards: 1
resources: 0
views: 1
mode: storage

2

I just upgraded to core-2021.8.0 and the problem has been solved - mostly.

Actually, using scenes in automation to configuration the thermostats is working. That’s great!

The issue is that the status of the thermostat (current and target temperatures) does not update in the UI consistently. Sometimes, changing the target temp on the thermostat or in the UI will updated the UI within seconds, sometimes it takes minutes, sometimes it doesn’t update.

The current temperature seems to take hours to update. If I check the details on the card, it will say something like “12 minutes ago” or “1 hour ago”. Is that the last time the thermostat was polled? How can I force an update or configure how frequently it updates?

The current status problems are new with 2021.8.0. When I was using version 2021.7.4, there was some lag but it was 10-20 seconds at most.

3

I’ve created a work-around for the issue of the thermostat cards not updating in a timely manner. I won’t call it a “solution”, but it works.

As I have become more familiar with HA, I have discovered the ability to call services in the developer tools. In particular, the homeassistant.update_entity service. I created an automation that calls the service to update the two thermostats every 15 seconds.

Here’s the YAML:

service: homeassistant.update_entity
target:
  entity_id:
    - climate.thermostat_3d_64_a5_group_1
    - climate.thermostat_3d_65_ad_group_1

Like I wrote, maybe there’s a better “solution”, but this works for now.