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    Troubleshooting Red Flashing Light?

    Hi All,

    I've been using the Insteon system for several years, and currently have about 40 devices running with a Hub v2.

    Recently I noticed red flashing status lights on ALL the wall switches when any switch is operated manually or through the hub via the iOS app.

    Everything seems to operating OK, but I realize the red flashing light means some kind of communication error, either with a device or scene.

    My question is, what is the procedure for troubleshooting the error? How can I narrow down which device is causing the problem out of 40 or more devices and a dozen or more scenes? The system knows there's a problem, but it's not reporting it in a way I can access. No errors are shown in the iOS app.

    Obviously, I could delete all the scenes and devices and start over, but this would take many, many hours. I had a hub die several months ago, and it was a BRUTAL experience recovering from that. There MUST be a logical way to narrow down who the culprit is...

    Any ideas?

    -- R Carlson MD


    #2
    Are the modules Dual Band. Most are these days. Except for a few like the I/OLinc.
    Have you tried the built in Four Tap or Beacon communications to see if it shows anything?

    Comment


      #3
      Thanks for all the thoughts, but I'm pretty sure nothing has changed recently and everything has been working OK since the hub change.

      After a little more investigation, I realize now that the flashing red light only occurs when the switches are operated manually/locally. A hub command never causes the flashing red.

      Question: If a switch is manually linked to another switch, for instance to simulate a 3-way switch, does that cause a problem when the switch is also linked to a hub and part of a scene? It all seems to work OK...

      The previous hub died, like so many have for others, and hopefully the new version will not fail. The replacement hub had a different ID. It was impossible to unlink the old hub since it was dead. I had to set up a new user id and completely start over. I had to reset and re-link everything and rebuild all the scenes. What a pain that was!

      Insteon's lack of an automated hub backup procedure is ridiculous and I would have never invested in the Insteon system if I had known this in advance. But that's another story.

      All devices are the latest dual band switches or dimmers, along with several open/close sensors. All seem to be working, it's just that I'm getting the red flashing light error.

      I tried laboriously removing and re-installing a few of the dimmer switches but they immediately showed the same red flashing light again when operated manually. This happened even before they were added back into scenes.

      I tried moving the hub to a different position, but it didn't make any difference, so I doubt signal interference is a factor.

      Anyway, the commands from the hub don't cause the flashing red, only LOCAL control from any of a couple dozen switches causes a characteristic pattern of a couple of quick red flashes, followed by about 3 long red flashes. There are, however, 2 or 3 switches where this doesn't happen under local control, but the vast majority do this.

      Haven't changed any bulbs for at least a year or two. All the WIFI stuff works perfectly. Nothing is wrong with the access point / router.

      It's very frustrating to see that there's an error without a way to decode it and clearly identify which specific module that's causing the problem. The brute force option of removing everything and starting over installing devices and creating all the scenes again is a massive undertaking and would probably take an entire weekend.

      Thanks very much for your time and suggestions,

      -- R Carlson MD



      Comment


        #4
        If the old HUB's six digit Insteon ID number is still in the Switches. Every time you do a Local Switch change. It is sending an update to the old HUB that will not respond.
        I don't have information on how a HUB works with programming switches. With an ISY994i you would simply do a factory reset on the switch and then restore the switch to what the controller knows should be in the switch. Also manual links not known by the controller can cause issues in many instances.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by BLH View Post
          Are the modules Dual Band. Most are these days. Except for a few like the I/OLinc.
          Have you tried the built in Four Tap or Beacon communications to see if it shows anything?
          The 4 tap broadcast seems to work fine. I have at least 5 devices flashing green, showing that the cross phase path is working reliably.

          I do have an I/OLinc device for the garage door, but it works fine.

          I realize now that the problem only occurs when operating a dimmer or switch LOCALLY. All the dimmers and switches show a series of red flashing lights after the regular white flashing Insteon traffic is finished. Any commands sent from the hub via the iOS app don't do this. This makes me think it's got nothing to do with the hub.

          I guess I can keep systematically deleting each device one by one, but that's quite a pain because they each have to removed from all the scenes first, and then added back in again after testing.

          There must a more systematic way to troubleshoot. The system senses an error and flashes lights but there doesn't seem to be a way to decode the flashes into something useful...

          ???

          -- R Carlson MD

          Comment


            #6
            Thanks so much for your thoughts.

            The switches and dimmers are mostly programmed as responders only and are controlled either by the hub or locally. They aren't linked to anything else, except for a few that are linked to serve as 3-way switches, but it doesn't seem to make any difference as far the flashing red error signals go.

            If they're just responders, they shouldn't be expecting a reply from anything when they're tapped locally, right?

            BTW, it's definitely not a communications / noise problem as I moved things around, and it made no difference at all. Also, there are plenty of cross phase connections working, as shown by the broadcast test.

            When any of the switches or dimmers are tapped, the device operates the load correctly, and the usual Insteon traffic white flashes occur. Then after the normal white flashes, the dimmer that was tapped finishes with a whole bunch of red flashes, even though it isn't linked to a responder. The dimmer IS the responder.

            Most, but not all, of the switches and dimmers do this. Whichever one that gets tapped, finishes flashing with a series of several red flashes. Definitely an error of some sort, but they shouldn't be trying to talk to any other responder, as far as I know.

            I like the idea of the devices still trying to talk to the old hub after they've been tapped. I tried deleting and adding a few of the dimmers back in again with the iOS app, but nothing changed. Do they all need to be factory reset in case they're still trying to talk to the old hub? As I mentioned, no red flashes occur with commands from the hub, only local taps cause the red error flashes to occur.

            I'm going to try deleting and factory resetting a few of the dimmers, just to make sure they're not still trying to talk to the old hub, just to see if it makes a difference.

            Thanks for your patience,

            -- R Carlson MD

            Comment


              #7
              As pointed out earlier, the most likely culprit is what was mentioned earlier and that is the broken hub. To test that theory out, remove 1 switch from the new hub, factory reset it, and then re-add it back to the scene/scenes it was in. If it no longer flashes most likely it's the missing hub.

              The reason it doesn't flash when controlled by the need hub is because the new hub is sending the commands vs the switch sending the commands.
              Last edited by lilyoyo1; 03-28-2019, 09:28 AM.

              Comment


                #8
                SOLVED!

                I was just ahead of you on that. I laboriously removed some devices from scenes, then deleted the devices, did factory reset on the devices and then added them back in again, and voilà, the errors went away.

                Apparently, many of the devices were still trying to communicate with the old hub as discussed. Simply deleting the devices wasn't good enough, I had to actually factory reset them to get them to "forget" about the old hub.

                What a PAIN! I don't see how these issues about the lack of hub backup and the tools for diagnosis of problems could scarcely be any worse and time consuming.

                Thanks to all for your invaluable assistance!

                -- R Carlson MD

                Comment


                  #9
                  Glad I'm seeing this thread. I had my Hub die and got a fresh one. Funny thing is that I have 6 switches and only 1 is doing the red flash after manual activation. I'll try the defaulting and reset.
                  Also FWIW the new hub seemed to configure all the switches much easier than the old one. New firmware I guess.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    If you are reading this before you have replaced a dead hub, call Insteon support instead of buying a new hub. They will replace the hub with one that has the same ID. Once you swap it out it just works and you don’t have to factory reset all your devices.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I had to change out my ISY controller. Would that have the same impact as changing hubs? I have the same red-flashing light syndrome on all dimmers (20+) It occurs after manually activating the dimmer and it has completed its up or down dimming.

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