Ok. . .so I just got my 2413u, Vera appears to recognize it ok when “installing x-10 insteon capability,” but I can’t get it to pair up with an Insteon plug in light dimmer (Smarthome Lamp Dimmer 2856d2b) for the life of me. I’ve tried doing it through add devices, I’ve tried doing it through setup-> insteon → add device, I’ve tried typing in the insteon ID #, and tried pressing the “set” button until it blinks. Each time I do those things I get blinks and sounds from the insteon equipment leading me to believe they are acknowledging each other properly.
I get no activity in the upper “message area” of UI5, nor does it ever think that it successfully adds a device, though half a device (an insteon device in red that it couldn’t talk to, and a couple blank insteon devices) have shown up under devices, like 1 out of 5 attempts.
Am I doing something wrong? Or is this a Vera problem or an Insteon one?
I’ve rebooted the Vera, rebooted the 2413u, tried multiple lamp dimmers, and “reset PLM” under insteon setup.
Insteon support on Vera is very limited and basic. If you are looking for better insteon support with have a look at altsteon. It requires some computer knowledge to setup, but offers better support, 2 way communication, etc.
You might try manually pairing them before adding them to the Vera. Press and hold the button on the PLM until it beeps, then go to the device you want to pair and press and hold that button until you hear two beeps. (If it is something like a light switch, the lights with usually flash too.) While you don’t technically need to have bi-directional links, the Insteon developers guide strongly recommends it. So you should then press and hold the end device until it beeps, then go back to the PLM and press and hold until you hear two beeps.
Once you have done that, you can add the device to the Vera using its address. When I played with it some time ago, you had to wait a while for the device to show up in the UI. Sometimes I could speed it along by using the Reload button a few times.
However, as garrettwp mentioned, the native support in the Vera is minimal. You will probably be able to control the device (depending on what it is), but don’t expect to be able to view the proper state via the Vera UI. The Vera doesn’t listen to the state updates from devices, so the UI state is unreliable.
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