Setup for Insteon+2413U on a Raspberry Pi (Canakit)

Setup, Configuration and Use Installation
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1

Hardware:

PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 9 (stretch)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="9"
VERSION="9 (stretch)"
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian

I don’t really know what version of OpenHab I’m running here. None of the tricks to reveal that worked here. However I followed the installation video here:

The sources were downloaded via apt-get install from a bintray.com Debian repository.

I installed the following add-ons (under /usr/share/openhab/addons)

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  14000 May 22  2016 org.openhab.binding.gpio-1.8.3.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  19566 May 22  2016 org.openhab.binding.http-1.8.3.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 244547 May 22  2016 org.openhab.binding.insteonplm-1.8.3.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 143446 May 22  2016 org.openhab.io.gpio-1.8.3.jar
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 498173 May 22  2016 org.openhab.io.transport.serial-1.8.3.jar`

Here are my items. It’s just one Insteon device for now (/etc/openhab/configurations/items/home.items):

Switch mUpstairsHallSconce "Upstairs Hall Sconce" { insteonplm="05.7C.86:F00:00.14#switch" }

Here’s my sitemap (/etc/openhab/configurations/sitemaps/home.sitemap):

sitemap home label="Home"
{
        Frame label="Upstairs Hall Sconce"
        {
                Switch mUpstairsHallSconce
        }
}

I did a sudo service openhab restart. Then I hit the Pi’s IP on a browser with this URL:

http://192.168.1.13:8080/openhab.app?sitemap=home

I don’t know how to upload an image here but there’s not much there:

I get a banner that says “Home” and a device title, “Upstairs Hall Sconce”. The footer says “©2010-2015 openHAB.org” That’s it.

What’s missing? There’s no switch there. There’s just a title.

I’ve got an Insteon USB PowerLinc Modem Model #2413U plugged into the wall and into the USB connection on the Pi. The Pi appears to recognize it as /dev/ttyUSB0. I added that to openhab.cfg:

insteonplm:port_0=/dev/ttyUSB0

I thought it might be permissions on the device so I set /dev/ttyUSB0 to 0666 but that didn’t change anything.

What am I missing? It doesn’t appear to know about the 2413U, or even Insteon for that matter.

2

From the sound of it you seem to be running OpenHAB 1.x (possibly 1.8), since you talk about the openhab.cfg file.
The first thing is, that you created a submenu with your “Frame label…” definition in your sitemap.
You’ll have to select that, which will open another menu that then should show your switch.
That switch should allow you to control the Insteon device.

If that is not the case, then you most probably have not registered this device in your Insteon PLM Modem. To do that you need to use the Insteon PC utility “HouseLinc” to add the device to your 2413U Modem database. You can download “HouseLinc” it from the Insteon site. It shows that this utility is not supported anymore, but it still works. If your “HouseLinc” software does not recognize the 2413U (which happened for me) follow this article to update the device definitions: http://www.insteon.com/support-knowledgebase/2015/5/8/fixing-unrecognized-devices-in-houselinc

Good luck…

3

2413U PLM? My favorite! You have a few more steps to take. Is your user in the dialout group? Did you pair the switch with the PLM before starting OH? PLM can’t link while OH is using it. Once you get that far you can start creating your *.sitemap file and *.items file.

4

So if I understand this, OpenHAB can’t actually create new devices in the 2413U PLM? They have to be precreated using the HouseLinc software? Rats, that’s a problem because Houselinc is Windows-only and I have a Microsoft-free office here – just Mac and Linux. Any alternatives?

5

You could try using Insteon Terminal (https://github.com/pfrommerd/insteon-terminal).

6

I’m Linux-only, and insteon-terminal did the trick for me.