Please reply to this thread if you are currently using the Indigo 4.1 beta and the PowerLinc 2412U. Thanks!

1) Have you had any type of PowerLinc lock-ups or freezes where the 2412U stopped responding to requests to send commands?

If so:

1A) How frequently did it lock up (N times a day or week)?

1B) How did you unfreeze it: A) choosing Interface->Disconnect then Connect, B) physically unplugging the USB cable, C) physically unplugging the PowerLinc from the outlet, D) Indigo Server restart, E) Mac reboot.

2) What Mac OS X version are you running and what type of Mac do you have (G4, G5, Intel, etc.)?

3) Roughly how much faster does the 2412U seem to you: A) about the same as the 2414U, B) a bit faster, C) noticeably faster, D) smoke'in

4) Any other outstanding 2412U related problems or errors?

1. Yes!
2. Max OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Intel Core 2 Duo
3. C - Noticeably faster
4. I've had no problems so far and have been very pleased.

1. No freezes
2. 10.5 on Intel mini
3. noticeably faster
4. it's less reliable than the 2414, it seems more sensitive to line noise

1. No freezes or lockups
2. 10.5.7 on a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini
3. Maybe twice as fast. A lot better.
4. I haven't seen any problems at all. No more errors than before.

1. No freezes
2. 10.5.7 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac
3. Noticeable Faster
3. No problems

hunterford wrote:1. Yes!

Did you mean "No"?
If it has locked up, then how frequnetly does it lockup and how did you unfreeze it? Thanks.

You are correct. I meant no lockups or freezes.

is there a way for me to determine which powerlinc i have? i went to system profiler and under hardware/usb i see the powerlinc, but it just says 'smarthome powerlinc usb e'

1a. One lockup in 6 weeks (since install)
1b. C) physically unplugging the PowerLinc from the outlet (didn't try other methods)
2. 10.5.7 on a 1.83GHz Core Duo Mac Mini 2G RAM - Latest Indigo beta
3. C) noticeably faster
4. on occasion, a device is not changed after timer or motion event. Did not occur with 2414U (40 devices installed)

(First post since joining over a year ago, Sorry!)

kpfriedberg wrote:is there a way for me to determine which powerlinc i have?

Check the Event Log when Indigo first connects to the PowerLinc.

The other day I finally installed another FilterLinc and switched back to the 2412 and while it may still be a bit early the 2412 now seems more reliable. The 2414 worked fine without the extra filter.

(TED tipped me off. It suddenly stopped getting readings when a lamp with a CFL was turned on. I've had that lamp/bulb combo for I don't know how long without any issues.)

Correction, looking at the logs I apparently reverted 2414 to get that reliability (was doing this half asleep before turning). I'm still having reliability issues with 2412 and not with 2414.

I'm now back to suspecting a flakey access point.

I've been running a week now with the 2412U with 4.1 beta 2. Mini on 10.5.8.

I like the improved response times.

Reliability is another story however.

Code: Select all

2009-08-22 09:30:28   Error   "EZRAIN-2 - zone8" off; send failed (no acknowledgment)
2009-08-22 17:00:01   Error   resending previous command (failure response)
2009-08-22 17:00:01   Error   unknown command bytes received 62 0C (ignoring)
2009-08-22 18:00:01   Error   resending previous command (failure response)
2009-08-22 18:00:01   Error   unknown command bytes received 62 0C (ignoring)
2009-08-22 21:00:05   Error   "EZRAIN-2 - BackLawn" off; send failed (no acknowledgment)
2009-08-22 21:00:08   Error   "EZRAIN-2 - zone6" off; send failed (no acknowledgment)


The 'failures' are lights not turning off when they should, etc.
For lights it seems to be the off that fails. i.e. light gets turned on via Dakota and the timer script gets used to turn it off. In my garage I run 2 Insteon in-line modules for the lights and occasionally 1 turns off and the other doesn't, same action.

Currently on the fence regarding going back to the 2414 until things improve but thought I'd check first to see how others are fairing. As mentioned, response time is greatly improved, hence the desire to 'stick with it' if at all possible.

Have had to do an extra Sync for some of my keypads and plan to do a Sync from scratch for the EZRains. Sprinkling season is almost over though, so that's not a biggy.

Open to suggestions, etc. in case there is something I can do to improve on the errors.

TIA

hwitten wrote:Reliability is another story however.

...

Open to suggestions, etc. in case there is something I can do to improve on the errors.

Yeah, that's exactly my experience as well. It seems to me that something about the 2412 is slightly less robust/more susceptible to signal noise. For instance, in my house I have this one KPL which, when using the 2414, would periodically (maybe twice a week) give an error when sending the group to adjust a button state or would miss a button press. I figure there's some signal noise in there that I just haven't found yet.

However, with the 2412, it happens more than twice as often (about 5 times a week) and another KPL which NEVER had a problem now has a problem (very infrequently - maybe once every 2 weeks). I also get periodic failures of my EZRain as well which never failed with the 2414.

The 2412 has some built-in circuitry that's supposed to help protect it from power surges - one theory is that this new circuitry has made it slightly less robust, or perhaps is filtering out fringe signals that the 2414 accepted. We're still looking at it from the Indigo side to see if there's something that we can do to compensate.

In the meantime, if/when it gets annoying enough for me, I think I'll go on another signal noise hunt - I suspect I have something in the house that's causing some slight noise.

It's been a while since I went signal hunting, actually just adding a filter on my UPS's etc. Never really attributed a big change to that but as everything was working I left it alone.

Any new gadgets surface to help find/analyze power line noise that is somewhat reasonably priced?

Or perhaps a piece of software that would monitor anything that hits the interface and display it in a logfile and one should see some changes as appliances etc are turned on/off.

Probably just a dream though