Insteon KeypadLink 8-button Questions

[contra (Peter)]

I am using OpenHAB 3.0.1 under Windows and have two Insteon questions:

1. I have an Insteon 2334-222 8-button KeypadLink (which appears to be mislabeled as an Insteon 2334-223 in the Insteon Binding documentation) and I can’t do some basic things with it. Specifically, if I try to change the state of the “Fast On/Off Button D” channel, it toggles the Button A channel (which turns on the load). In fact all Fast On/Off Button X channels do the same thing. Similarly, if I want to monitor the Button D state, I can’t seem to get to make it work. It’s like the buttons are all mapped from Button A.

2. The Insteon KeypadLink modules are powerful. You have 8 buttons which should each be able to launch events. There are 8 LEDs underneath those buttons which can be set independently. This is what I did in Homeseer. I cannot see any interface to control those LEDs separately in the bridge. For example, in Homeseer, here is an action I can create.

Is the Insteon bridge code in a state where this would be possible. If not, is this something someone is thinking about?

Thank you!

[ranielsen (Rob Nielsen)]

@contra

which appears to be mislabeled as an Insteon 2334-223 in the Insteon Binding documentation

There are multiple Insteon keypad version, 2234-223 is correct. Your 2334-222 should work with the 2234-223 product key.

@contra

Specifically, if I try to change the state of the “Fast On/Off Button D” channel, it toggles the Button A channel (which turns on the load). In fact all Fast On/Off Button X channels do the same thing. Similarly, if I want to monitor the Button D state, I can’t seem to get to make it work. It’s like the buttons are all mapped from Button A.

Do you have the groups configured correctly for the device as documented? You can see what groups are configured with the insteon display_local_database console command.

@contra

You have 8 buttons which should each be able to launch events.

Yes, when you receive an event from the device, you can create rules to handle the event.

[contra (Peter)]

Thank you, Rob. I appreciate the work you did on the Insteon module.

You’re right about the model numbers. Upon further examination, the numbers at the end seem to indicate color. Perhaps the documentation should just say, “2334-22x” for clarity.

I wasn’t aware that I needed to write some code to get the buttons to work. Thanks for pointing that out. I don’t have access to any Linux boxes, so in order to make this work, it looks like I need to:

1. Install a Linux Subsystem on Windows
2. Learn how to use git in Linux and install the Insteon Terminal Software
3. Learn how to use the Insteon Terminal Software commands.
4. Configure the Insteon modem as a responder to groups from the keypad using Insteon Terminal
5. Figure out how to add handwritten code for Items, Things, and (possibly) Sitemaps in OpenHab 3.0, which is probably simple, but something I’ve not done.
6. Paste in your sample code and modify it to adapt it to the 8-button keypad.
7. Connect the buttons up to rules in the OpenHab UI.

Do I roughly have these steps correct?

Since I’m completely new to OpenHAB, it seems like a good deal of time I’ll need to invest to make the buttons work. Until now, I have focused entirely on the PaperUI (do I have that term correct?) for set up because the documentation encourages that and it’s relatively easy to use. As OpenHAB evolves, it would be helpful to have a straightforward UI to do this stuff. I’m discovering that the version 3.0 user interface is very young and will probably need some time to “bake in” some of these extended convenience features (like version 4). Nevertheless, when I have a full day to play with this, I’ll attempt to dig in again.

Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction!

[ranielsen (Rob Nielsen)]

If the buttons were working with homeseer, you just need to figure out the groups are that configured for the buttons. You can use the the insteon display_local_database command to find the groups. I have 3 keypads and here is what shows up:

openhab> insteon display_local_database
local database contains 60 entries
22.F6.88: plm controls groups (3,4,5,6,254) and responds to groups (1,3,4,5,6)
22.F8.74: plm controls groups (3,4,5,6,254) and responds to groups (1,3,4,5,6)
22.F8.B8: plm controls groups (3,4,5,6,254) and responds to groups (1,3,4,5,6)

And for the first one my is configured as a thing with:

Thing device 22F8B8             "Master Bedroom Keypad 2"      [address="22.F8.B8", productKey="F00.00.15"] {
  Channels:
    Type keypadButtonA : keypadButtonA                         [group=3]
    Type keypadButtonB : keypadButtonB                         [group=4]
    Type keypadButtonC : keypadButtonC                         [group=5]
    Type keypadButtonD : keypadButtonD                         [group=6]
    Type loadDimmer    : loadDimmer                            [related="23.9F.AF"]
 }

[contra (Peter)]

Thanks, Rob. This helped a lot. This is, in fact, a new Insteon KeyPadLinc, as my older 8-button device fried itself (which is what caused me to move to OpenHAB - my HomeSeer didn’t support the new model)

I have succeeded in getting the PLM to respond to the KeypadLinc’s groups (by pairing each button), but have not succeeded in getting the PLM control those groups:

58.06.08: plm controls groups (1) and responds to groups (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

And indeed, I now get the button presses from the KeypadLinc. I simply can’t set the button states yet.

Here’s what I did to get here. I first paired each button on the KeypadLinc to the PLM by pressing each KeypadLinc button (B-H) followed by the KeyPadLinc set button, followed by the PLM set button until they beeped. Then, I went the other way, pressing the PLM set button followed by the KeypadLinc button (B-H) and the KeyPadLinc set button until they both beeped. But unfortunately, it’s only showing one direction communication in the list above.

Although it’s fried, the old KeypadLinc lives on in the PLMs memory (may it rest in peace) and shows the correct thing:

07.DA.EB: plm controls groups (2,3,4,5,6,7,8) and responds to groups (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

I’m sure I’m doing something boneheaded here, but I’m just not sure what it is. Any suggestions to make the groups correct in the PLM through a magic combo platter of button presses?

Thank you!

[ranielsen (Rob Nielsen)]

@contra

Any suggestions to make the groups correct in the PLM through a magic combo platter of button presses?

Sorry, I’ve never paired the devices manually. When I paired my devices, I used something called QW Home Automation. Unfortunately, I can’t find it anywhere.

Your best option might be to install Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and use insteon terminal. If you go this route, make sure you install WSL1 since WSL2 does not support serial ports.

When I have time, I plan on trying to migrate some of the features from insteon terminal to the console. But, I don’t expect to get to it anytime soon.