I upgraded to Indigo5 today and one of the things I don't like is that now (after i resync/updated) the venstar Insteon adapter keep broadcast its status every few seconds... very busy.
Is this an error?

Can you copy/paste a couple of dozen lines showing us what you see?

Is it just the humidity sensor values, and if so does your thermostat have a humidity sensor? If it doesn't the, uncheck the humidity sensor option in the Device dialog and Indigo will not log the lines anymore. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to keep it from broadcasting the bogus humidity values (it is a limitation of the hardware).

I recently added a "2491T7 Venstar INSTEON Remote Control 7-Day Programmable Thermostat" to my setup and it is giving me a little trouble. Most of the time, it's working perfectly and I've integrated it into some actions. However, it occasionally seems to drop off the network such that Indigo 5 cannot communicate with it. Pulling the Insteon module off the bottom of the thermostat and then plugging it back in restores communications. I have to do this every week or so. What might be causing this and how should I fix it?

Thanks!

There are some of those thermostat adaptors that have bad firmware which causes the problem you're describing - contact the merchant you purchased it from and ask for a replacement.

Thanks, Jay. I contacted the vendor and, assuming the firmware version matches their known-bad one, will replace it tomorrow.

I've had a Venstar thermostat working in my vacation home for quite a while now and it's worked with Indigo flawlessly. This is one of the older units, one-day programmable with the RJ-11 insteon adapter plugged into the bottom of it.

I've just purchased a new integrated (Part # 2491T1E without the plugin adapter) Venstar thermostat for my primary home, wired it all in and paired it with Indigo. Everything seems normal except that that Indigo can't seem to request or set the temperature set points like the older unit can. See query results:

Code: Select all

  PowerLinc                       Linking - exited linking mode
  Sent INSTEON                    "Thermostat" mode request (received: all off)
  Sent INSTEON                    "Thermostat" temperature request (received: 76.0)
  Sent INSTEON                    "Thermostat" setpoint request (skipped)

Why is it skipping the set point request with this new kit, but works fine with the old one?

I've also tried to remotely set the set point with the following result:

Code: Select all

Error                           current setpoint temperature unknown (ignoring adjust command)

I'm using Indigo 5 on both sites. The old Tstat is firmware 28 and the new is firmware 93.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Brett

The thermostat mode is OFF, so it won't return a useful/good setpoint value. Change the mode to COOL/HEAT/AUTO, and it should work.

Wow, that did the trick. Strange that it would need to be in a certain mode to poll the set points. I've turned the system back to "all off" and now it will still let me adjust the set points just fine for both heat and cold.

Thanks for the tip!

bluenoise wrote:I recently added a "2491T7 Venstar INSTEON Remote Control 7-Day Programmable Thermostat" to my setup and it is giving me a little trouble. Most of the time, it's working perfectly and I've integrated it into some actions. However, it occasionally seems to drop off the network such that Indigo 5 cannot communicate with it. Pulling the Insteon module off the bottom of the thermostat and then plugging it back in restores communications. I have to do this every week or so. What might be causing this and how should I fix it?

Thanks!

Follow-up:

Smarthome confirmed my firmware was not up-to-date and have shipped a new unit. I thank them for their outstanding service.

support wrote:Can you copy/paste a couple of dozen lines showing us what you see?

Is it just the humidity sensor values, and if so does your thermostat have a humidity sensor? If it doesn't the, uncheck the humidity sensor option in the Device dialog and Indigo will not log the lines anymore. Unfortunately, there is no easy way to keep it from broadcasting the bogus humidity values (it is a limitation of the hardware).

Here is what happens... I got Smarthome to send me the latest version 2.2 of the adapter yesterday and it still does the same thing...
I have found out that it have something to do with the "Fan" button/option. this crazynes starts if i push "Fan ON" or Fan Auto" either on the thermostat itself or in Indigo...

Any idea why?

2011-08-22 12:00:05 Received INSTEON "Termostat" on (button 3)
2011-08-22 12:00:07 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:11 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:16 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:20 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:24 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:29 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:33 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:37 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:41 Received INSTEON "Termostat" humidity changed to 39.0
2011-08-22 12:00:46 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:50 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:54 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:00:58 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:03 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:07 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:11 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:16 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:20 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on
2011-08-22 12:01:24 Received INSTEON "Termostat" mode changed to cool on; fan always on

I've never seen that one before. Anyone else?

If it isn't the adapter, then maybe it is the Venstar itself. I'm not really sure. I would have guessed the adapter for sure, but if the 2nd one does the exact same thing...

bluenoise wrote:

bluenoise wrote:I recently added a "2491T7 Venstar INSTEON Remote Control 7-Day Programmable Thermostat" to my setup and it is giving me a little trouble. Most of the time, it's working perfectly and I've integrated it into some actions. However, it occasionally seems to drop off the network such that Indigo 5 cannot communicate with it. Pulling the Insteon module off the bottom of the thermostat and then plugging it back in restores communications. I have to do this every week or so. What might be causing this and how should I fix it?

Thanks!

Follow-up:

Smarthome confirmed my firmware was not up-to-date and have shipped a new unit. I thank them for their outstanding service.

I've been running the replacement Insteon module for the past few days and am having a new communications problem. I have an action that I trigger manually that runs the fan for 30 minutes. The trouble is that it does not turn off the fan after the 30 minutes now that I've replaced the module. The log shows there was no acknowledgment from the thermostat to Indigo's request to switch the mode to Fan Auto. When I switch the fan to auto using the buttons on the thermostat, Indigo records this action in the log and I am once again able to communicate with the thermostat via Indigo. I am three-for-three when it comes to having this new problem.

Any suggestions?

Are you doing other things in the same action that turns the fan off? It could be a collision of multiple INSTEON singnals at the same time. If so, put a slight delay (.02 mins) after one of them so it spaces the signals out a bit.

No, that Insteon request is the only traffic in that instance. It's a very simple action:

1. Set fan to On
2. (Delay 30 minutes) Set fan to Auto

Nothing else was sent in any of the cases, according to the log. It's very strange.

OK - that implies that you have sporadic signal issues - since the thermostat adaptors are RF only, you might want to move your Access Points around to see if you can get a more reliable signal. Either the signal from the adaptor to the nearest dual-mesh device isn't very reliable, or the signal from that dual-mesh device to the PowerLinc isn't very reliable. Moving your Access Points around will change the signal path and hopefully improve the reliability.