Getting Started with openHAB 2 and Insteon

Setup, Configuration and Use Installation
1

Good afternoon,

I am brand new to openHAB and am just getting started. I have a significant investment in Insteon products and naturally am starting there first trying to get openHAB to interact with my environment.

I have installed the InsteonPLM binding and have confirmed the installation was successful via the logs; however, there is no entry showing up under Configuration > Bindings. I have temporarily installed both the Plex and Nest bindings and they both show an entry; however, Insteon does not.

Is this behavior by design or could there be a problem with my setup which is preventing the installation from completing successfully.

As I am just getting my toe in the water, any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Erik

Platform information:

Hardware: Intel Core i3-3120M CPU @ 2.5 GHz - 16 GB RAM - Intel HD Graphics 4000
OS: Windows 10
Java Runtime Environment: Oracle Java 1.8_161
openHAB version: 2.1.0

2

InsteonPLM is a legacy binding. It doesn’t show up in Configuration->Bindings after it’s been installed in Add-ons->Bindings. The best bet is to look at userdata/logs/openhab.log in the openhab installation directory.

3

Thank you. So, for any and all configuration work has to be done manually entering data into the insteonplm.cfg file?

4

Yes, I have the following in my conf/services/insteonplm.cfg file for linux

port_0=/dev/ttyUSB0

Afterwards, you should see something like this in your openhab.log file if you got it configured correctly:

2018-02-25 20:03:49.550 [INFO ] [nding.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActivator] - Insteon PLM binding has been started.
2018-02-25 20:03:49.718 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - dead device timeout set to 3000s
2018-02-25 20:03:49.788 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: port_0 -> /dev/ttyUSB0
2018-02-25 20:03:49.869 [INFO ] [b.core.service.AbstractActiveService] - InsteonPLM has been started
2018-02-25 20:03:49.910 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - devices:   0 configured,   0 polling, msgs received:     0
2018-02-25 20:03:50.010 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: service.pid -> org.openhab.insteonplm
2018-02-25 20:03:58.823 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - modem database has 62 entries!
2018-02-25 20:03:58.845 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - device 23.9F.C9 found in the modem database and the modem controls groups [0xFE] and responds to groups [0x01].
5

Hello Rob,

While my system is Windows-based, it would appear that I now have fundamental communication between my Insteon Hub and opeHAB as shown by my log below:

Mar 03, 2018 4:02:05 PM org.apache.karaf.main.lock.SimpleFileLock lock
INFO: Trying to lock C:\openHAB2\userdata\tmp\lock
Mar 03, 2018 4:02:05 PM org.apache.karaf.main.lock.SimpleFileLock lock
INFO: Lock acquired
Mar 03, 2018 4:02:05 PM org.apache.karaf.main.Main$KarafLockCallback lockAquired
INFO: Lock acquired. Setting startlevel to 100
2018-03-03 16:02:20.598 [INFO ] [.internal.GenericScriptEngineFactory] - Activated scripting support for ECMAScript
2018-03-03 16:02:21.113 [INFO ] [thome.core.internal.I18nProviderImpl] - Locale set to en_US, Location set to 26.0002,-80.3235
2018-03-03 16:02:26.723 [INFO ] [.dashboard.internal.DashboardService] - Started dashboard at http://192.168.1.28:8080
2018-03-03 16:02:26.848 [INFO ] [.dashboard.internal.DashboardService] - Started dashboard at https://192.168.1.28:8443
2018-03-03 16:02:26.942 [INFO ] [basic.internal.servlet.WebAppServlet] - Started Basic UI at /basicui/app
2018-03-03 16:02:26.957 [INFO ] [arthome.ui.paper.internal.PaperUIApp] - Started Paper UI at /paperui
2018-03-03 16:02:26.988 [INFO ] [panel.internal.HABPanelDashboardTile] - Started HABPanel at /habpanel
2018-03-03 16:02:27.004 [INFO ] [nding.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActivator] - Insteon PLM binding has been started.
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - refresh interval set to 600s
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - poll interval set to 300000 per config file
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - dead device timeout set to 3000s
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: poll_interval -> 300000
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: port_0 -> /hub2/Username:Password@192.168.1.52:25105,poll_time=1000
2018-03-03 16:02:27.051 [INFO ] [b.core.service.AbstractActiveService] - InsteonPLM has been started
2018-03-03 16:02:27.067 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - devices: 0 configured, 0 polling, msgs received: 0
2018-03-03 16:02:27.082 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: refresh -> 600000
2018-03-03 16:02:27.082 [INFO ] [g.insteonplm.InsteonPLMActiveBinding] - config: service.pid -> org.openhab.insteonplm

I suppose my next question is for me to continue forward, since the Insteon PLM binding is old, will I not be able to use the GUI for anything? In other words, will all of my setup be limited to editing configuration files, et al?

My intention moving forward is to rebuild my modem database by systematically re-linking all of my Insteon devices to it (33). My OCD insisted I clean house to start over (to also rule out any flaky Insteon devices–replacing as I go). My hopes are to get all of my Insteon environment back up and communicating properly with openHAB. I just need to know how to properly build it out.

I am watching all of these cool YouTube videos about openHAB’s features, simplicity using the GUI, and the Rules Engine; however, I fear that none of this will be available to me as it pertains to Insteon. I welcome clarification or correction where needed. Also, if you have any “next steps” suggestions that I can use, that would be great.

Thank you,
Erik

6

Hi Erik,

You’ll need to manually edit the items file and add the Insteon devices as described at https://docs.openhab.org/configuration/items.html. Here’s an example of my family room devices

Dimmer mFamilyLights        "Family Room Lights"                    (mFamily, lights)      ["Lighting"]   {insteonplm="23.9E.17:F00.00.11#dimmer"}
Switch mFamilyCeilingFan    "Family Room Ceiling Fan" <fan_ceiling> (mFamily, ceilingFans) ["Switchable"] {insteonplm="24.F2.7E:F00.00.11#dimmer"}
7

Thank you… coincidentally, I have already found that page and started building my .items file. I have a single switch entered (which already existed in my modem database due to earlier linking). For grins, I tried to use the rules engine to turn the light on at 7:00 PM (a couple of minutes ago) but it didn’t work. Anyhow, going to fully populate my .items file and baby step it forward.

I appreciate your continued help. BTW, do you know if there are any plans to develop an Insteon PLM v2 binding?

8

I’m glad you are making progress. @Bernd_Pfrommer created the current binding, and I helped a bit on the current one. At one point, I think Bernd was thinking about creating an OH2 binding if he ever gets some free time.