HCA Admin
Sep 01, 2009, 01:22 PM
The Insteon Motion Sensor (2420M) can be used with HCA 9 but only when the 2412 Powerlinc Modem is used. If the 2414 Powerlinc interface is used, then the motion sensor can be used but not to its fullest extent.
First some background...
Insteon messages sent and received on the powerline are in two forms: Standard and Extended. From the start of Insteon, both these messages types were documented but the extended ones were not implemented.
When HCA is using the 2414 Powerlinc, HCA sends and receives standard messages. In all Insteon products there was a standard message to read and write a byte of its memory, up until now. The development team used these commands to implement the read and write of the linking table and to construct the remote I/O used by the Visual Scene Editor. At that time, according to the Insteon specification, these instructions were required to meet the definition of what is and is not an Insteon product.
When the 2420M Motion Sensor was created, SmartHome did not implement the standard message single byte read and write. What they did implement are extended commands for reading and writing bytes.
The problem is that the 2414U Powerlinc can't send and receive these extended commands. The 2412 Powerlinc modem can send and read these messages.
So we have an Insteon device that doesn't work like all the others and a powerline interface that can't send and receive the messages needed to work with the device.
Even more unfortunate is that while the 2420M Motion Sensor can be manually linked to a device so that when motion is seen the device turns on, manually linking for group 2 (dawn / dusk) and group 3 (low battery) appears not to be possible. We consider this a very poor design.
Given all this, what can you do with HCA and the motion sensor right now?
If you are using the 2414U Powerlinc, you can upgrade to the 2412 Powerlinc Modem and all will be well.
If you remain using the 2414 Powerlinc, it is possible to have a HCA program trigger when the motion sensor detects motion. The only complexity is that you must manually link the 2420M to the 2414U Powerlinc as HCA can't do this for you.
To manually link the motion sensor to the 2414U Powerlinc, put the motion sensor into linking mode (follow the 2420M instructions) and then press and hold the 2414U Powerlinc set button for 10 seconds (or more - a long time) and the link is created. You can test that the link is in place by testing the motion sensor and HCA should log receipt of the message.
First some background...
Insteon messages sent and received on the powerline are in two forms: Standard and Extended. From the start of Insteon, both these messages types were documented but the extended ones were not implemented.
When HCA is using the 2414 Powerlinc, HCA sends and receives standard messages. In all Insteon products there was a standard message to read and write a byte of its memory, up until now. The development team used these commands to implement the read and write of the linking table and to construct the remote I/O used by the Visual Scene Editor. At that time, according to the Insteon specification, these instructions were required to meet the definition of what is and is not an Insteon product.
When the 2420M Motion Sensor was created, SmartHome did not implement the standard message single byte read and write. What they did implement are extended commands for reading and writing bytes.
The problem is that the 2414U Powerlinc can't send and receive these extended commands. The 2412 Powerlinc modem can send and read these messages.
So we have an Insteon device that doesn't work like all the others and a powerline interface that can't send and receive the messages needed to work with the device.
Even more unfortunate is that while the 2420M Motion Sensor can be manually linked to a device so that when motion is seen the device turns on, manually linking for group 2 (dawn / dusk) and group 3 (low battery) appears not to be possible. We consider this a very poor design.
Given all this, what can you do with HCA and the motion sensor right now?
If you are using the 2414U Powerlinc, you can upgrade to the 2412 Powerlinc Modem and all will be well.
If you remain using the 2414 Powerlinc, it is possible to have a HCA program trigger when the motion sensor detects motion. The only complexity is that you must manually link the 2420M to the 2414U Powerlinc as HCA can't do this for you.
To manually link the motion sensor to the 2414U Powerlinc, put the motion sensor into linking mode (follow the 2420M instructions) and then press and hold the 2414U Powerlinc set button for 10 seconds (or more - a long time) and the link is created. You can test that the link is in place by testing the motion sensor and HCA should log receipt of the message.