I have used Insteon for some years now and gone through several flavors of hubs and PLMs. I’m now migrating over to Hame Assistant from Home Control Assistant which is yet another company that is winding down. I have reached a point in time where from time to time things happen on their own. There have been many times that all outside lighting comes on in the middle of the day for no apparent reason. Then there was the time the bedroom light came on at 2AM %&!. So since I’m going with Home Assistant and have it set up on a mini computer I think it best to do a reset of all links in the switches, modules, keypads, ECT. So what is the best or easiest way to eliminate existing links?
As it stands now each of the Insteon devices has been pulled into HA with any existing links. Is there a way to eliminate each device one by one and then add it back less all links? I have not made any integrations or scripts within HA at this point in time. All suggestions welcome, I’m learning here.
There are a few options here. How many devices do you have?
The cleanest way is to unlink the device from the modem (PLM or Hub) and then factory reset the device: This is a bit device dependent. Some devices are easy to factory reset others are more difficult but this is the cleanest way to go.
Depending on how many devices and how many links you are thinking of cleaning up, you can also edit each device and remove any stale links. This requires you to edit the All-Link Database and open each link then uncheck the “In Use” box. When you have marked each of the links as not in use write the changes to the database. This will disable any of the links you don’t want. However, make sure you do not remove the link to the modem with Group 0. This is a critical link that allows the modem to control the device. Finally, when all links are removed, hit the “Add Default” links button and add back the links required for the modem to see changes from the device. This process can be time-consuming but is more surgical than a factory reset.
So I’m seeing the modem link showing group 1 as well as group 0. Do I eliminate the link for modem group 1 and retain group 0, or retain both modem groups?
Group 0 and group 1 both make sense in the modem’s ALDB. In the modem, group 0 should be a controller record and group 1 should be a responder record. In the device, group 0 is a responder record and group 1 is controller record. If you have a KeyPadLink or some other devices, they would have multiple groups other than 1 and 0 but the “Add Default Links” button will create the correct links either way.
PSA: Never delete or change the group 0 record in the device because then the device will no longer respond to modem commands. If you do, then you need to relink the device to the modem.