Advice transitioning existing Elk/Insteon network to Elk/ISY99i/Insteon

[PlanoMike]

Greetings. I would appreciate advice on how to transition my existing Insteon network to an ISY.

A bit of background:

I have about 60 Insteon devices which I currently control via an Insteon Powerlink attached directly to my Elk M1. I had been using PowerHome to configure my Insteon network and re-program the Elk's Insteon tables. I have perhps 50 lighting related rules in my Elk.

Since I set up my system several years ago the ISY-99i has come out and I have read enough about it that I went ahead and got one. I am now trying to have an orderly transition from the Elk talking directly to its attached PowerLink to having the Elk talk to the ISY and/or having all of the rules on the ISY. Once fully transitioned and debugged, I plan to remove the directly attached PowerLink from the Elk.

Any advice on how to proceed? I'm coming to the conclusion, based on posts here and on Universal Devices, that I am going to have to build everything from scratch in the ISY, and in doing so the links in all of my devices to the existing Insteon controller on the Elk will get erased. Not only will this be pretty labor intensive, but I will leave me without functionality during the transition.

I have had the ISY "crawl" my esxisting setup using the "add devices found and keep existing links" option, but it is not capturing all of the scenes correctly. I think the problem is that the ISY won't recognize the existing PowerLink on the Elk and hence any time it finds that address in one of my existing devices it stops querying that device. I am hesitant to use the "Add devices found in links and remove existing links" option for fear it will prevent the Elk attached Powerlink from controlling the devices any longer.

If anyone can suggest an easier way than starting from scratch I would be much obliged.

Mike

 

[BLH]

Have you purchased the Optional ISY Elk Firmware Plug In?

 

[wuench]

Honestly I would start from scratch, you really don't want orphaned links in your switches. I would cut-over to the ISY, then migrate your lighting rules to the ISY Elk Module. The differing logic of the rule languages is the hardest part, the ISY is kinda screwy the way it deals with events.

 

[PlanoMike]

I have not purchased the Elk module for the ISY yet but am open to doing so.

Wuench, I guess you have hit the heart of my question wich is, is there any way to deal with orphaned links other than starting from scratch?

(I think I know the answer but I'm hoping that if I ask the question enough, the answer will change!)

 

[apostolakisl]

I have not purchased the Elk module for the ISY yet but am open to doing so.

Wuench, I guess you have hit the heart of my question wich is, is there any way to deal with orphaned links other than starting from scratch?

(I think I know the answer but I'm hoping that if I ask the question enough, the answer will change!)

Yes, getting rid of orphaned links (links that exist in the device but not in ISY links table) is a simple matter of factory resetting the device and then using ISY "restore device" function. It will then write the links exactly as they are in ISY.

ISY will also let you test the links in the device and compare them to the links in ISY database. This is under the "tools" "diagnostics" menu.

You probably do not need to start from scratch with all of your scenes. The "crawl" function may not work if it comes to dead ends, but you can certainly manually add the devices one at a time to ISY using the Insteon address.

However, I know absolutely nothing about the Powerlink device and how ISY would deal with it.

And, I would not waste anymore time not owning the Elk/ISY module. Get it now, it is absolutely worth it. Not only does the module link your Insteon setup to the Elk beautifully, but ISY can take over many of the functions you once used rules for. ISY programming is far more capable than Elk rules and even offers some functions that can't be done with Elk rules at all (and I'm not even talking about Insteon stuff).

 

[wuench]

The ISY will prompt you if you want to keep existing links or not (including the PLC's links), I would select delete. Or do the factory reset like Lou suggeted.

It's a PITA, I know, I just had to do it recently after I switched to a dual-band PLM on my ISY. I thought I could use the ISY replace PLM function and cut corners, but in the end I had to delete everything and redo it all from scratch. Before I did that I had a lot of inconsistent behavior, like the ISY not getting status updates,etc. Besides a discovery crawl on a decent sized network may take hours anyway.

I guess it can't hurt to try, but if you have issues, wipe/reset/rebuild.

 

[apostolakisl]

Wuench may be right to say that it would be easier to just wipe your system and start over from scratch. At the very least you will have to go through and figure out what each device is and give it a name in ISY.

But, you might try keeping things as they are first. I would start with a clean ISY and clean PLM (factory resets).

1) Take your switch plate covers off and record the insteon address of each device and then give it a name. Create a naming scheme and be consistent with it.
2) Hopefully you have the pro version. Turn off the automatic write to the devices.
3) Add each Insteon address one at a time and name it. Let ISY keep the current configuration of each device.
4) Then click the button to let ISY execute the addition of all the devices.
5) Go out to dinner or something for a few hours.

When you return, all of the devices should be added, named and include all the current links.

The big question mark for me is the Powerlink. I have no idea how that is managed. I do not own one and don't even know what it's purpose is. Perhaps the UD forum would be a place to ask that. If it has an address and gets linked to each device as the PLM does, then I guess you would have to get rid of all those links. I just don't know.

 

[wuench]

Lou, I think Powerlink = PLC vs. PLM. M1 only supports PLC.

 

[apostolakisl]

Lou, I think Powerlink = PLC vs. PLM. M1 only supports PLC.

Ahhh, I should have just looked at SH website. I have never called it a powerlinc, always used "PL" and totally forgot what it stood for (thought it stood for powerline). I just looked and powerlinc generically refers to both plm and plc. You have to finish the phrase by saying "controller" or "modem".

Anyway, back to the OP

What powerlinc device do you have currently connected to Elk and what device are you hooking to your ISY? I would recommend the 2413s dual band for the ISY.

 

[gatchel]

Honestly I would start from scratch, you really don't want orphaned links in your switches. I would cut-over to the ISY, then migrate your lighting rules to the ISY Elk Module. The differing logic of the rule languages is the hardest part, the ISY is kinda screwy the way it deals with events.

I agree 100%.

 

[PlanoMike]

Thanks to all of you for your input.

The controller on the Elk is a Powelink 2414S.

The ISY is paired with a 2413S.