Not getting battery or light levels from Insteon motion sensor

Add-ons Bindings
1

I’ve got an Insteon 2842-222 motion sensor and a Insteon 2242-222 hub (the 2012 version). The actual motion detection is working just fine, but I can’t seem to get the battery level or the light level out of it. I used the Insteon Android app to add the motion sensor to the system. I understand that the battery level and light level are only reported when a motion event is triggered, but even when triggered I don’t get anything. Here’s are the items for the motion sensor:

Contact motion_sensor "motion sensor [MAP(contact.map):%s]" {insteonplm="2D.47.32:0x00004A#contact"}
Number motion_sensor_battery_level "motion sensor battery level [%.1f]" {insteonplm="2D.47.32:0x00004A#data,field=battery_level"}
Number motion_sensor_light_level "motion sensor light level [%.1f]" {insteonplm="2D.47.32:0x00004A#data,field=light_level"}

Any clues to what I’m going wrong?

2

I just setup my motion sensors last night. Same item setup as you posted so I’m pretty sure that part is correct. Did you look at the logs to see if there was any hit there? I use a newer usb PLM - but maybe the older hub doesn’t provide those data points?

3

All I see in the logs is:

motion_sensor state updated to OPEN
motion_sensor state updated to CLOSED

No errors or anything else otherwise.

4

Did you figure this out? If not, maybe @Bernd_Pfrommer can help?

5

Not yet, but I haven’t really been looking at it much either. Have been working on other parts of my openHAB setup.

6

switch on insteonplm debug logging and post what messages come in and what the binding does when they come in. It should send out a query to find the battery level.
You may have to link two ways for the query to work, i.e. link motion sensor as controller and responder.

7

Did anything come of this, I’m experiencing the same issue, although I’m using the 2844-222 and a usb model Insteon PLM and Openhab 1.8.3 since version 2 was discussed as not working (or beginners’ PEBKAC). Since I’m still struggling with the basics I’m trusting nothing, what should this look like in the log? Where’s the controls to turn on the log (just in case I did it wrong!)? All that jumps out is that after waving at the sensor there’s a “gave up waiting for query reply from device XX:XX:XX” message in the insteonplm.log. Motion detection does work. I think I bi-directionally linked the PLM and motion sensor already (press and hold, followed by press and hold on the modem till they both beep; repeat going the other way).

Ultimately my question is how can I divide and conquer the end result of "nothing but a “-” is shown for battery and light intensity when using the example configuration here https://github.com/openhab/openhab1-addons/wiki/Insteon-PLM-Binding and having no idea what I’m doing (how hard can controlling a light switch be)?

Thanks for the help!

8

Heh, I just got a 2844-222 and found it it is unrecognized with the PLM. I can pair it but it doesn’t know how to handle. Typically I pair in HouseLinc with the latest devices.xml file but Insteon hasn’t updated since Nov 2016 and it’s now Dec 2017. So all I get is an “unknown device” which may be the issue. The PLM doesn’t recognize the the Motion Sensor II is a controller. I tried to add the device ID stuff too Device Category 0x10 and SubCategory 0x16 in my *.items file but it wants the definition added in the xml file. Where is the xml file in 2.x ?

9

Hi,

I used the paper ui to install the latest insteon binding in openhab2. I didn’t need to touch an XML file to obtain the MS status. Other features I haven’t yet had success with (ambient light and battery level)

The file locations vary based on how you installed it. The list is here: http://docs.openhab.org/installation/linux.html

If you can’t find the files I can look it up in my notes at home. I also use the Eclipse Smarthome designer to avoid constant frustrations with where was that file?

Does that get you un-stuck?

10

An update from one who was able to get it all working.

I was able to set up my 2844-222 Motion Sensor with my 2413U USB Modem and see the the Open and Closed state update appropriately in my OpenHAB 2 Basic UI. However, I too was not receiving information on the battery Level and Light Level.

In my initial setup I had only linked the motion sensor as a controller of the Modem because the motion sensor is a passive device. But, after reading this thread, I linked my Modem as a controller of the Motion Sensor, and immediate the battery and light level info started to populate.

my setup is the same as the guide and others here, but for your reference in case it helps:

Item:

Contact dev_motion "motion sensor [MAP(contact.map):%s]" {insteonplm="4F.9C.A7:0x00004A#contact"}
Number dev_motionBatt "motion sensor battery level [%.1f]" {insteonplm="4F.9C.A7:0x00004A#data,field=battery_level"}
Number dev_motionLight "motion sensor light level [%.1f]" {insteonplm="4F.9C.A7:0x00004A#data,field=light_level"}

Sitemap:

	Frame label="Motion Sensor" {
		Text item=dev_motion label="motion detected"
		Text item=dev_motionBatt label="battery level"
		Text item=dev_motionLight label="light level"
	}

I am grateful for the so many active users here who have paved the way for late comers like myself.