Home Assistant

Insteon PLM

This component adds “local push” support for INSTEON PowerLinc Modems allowing linked INSTEON devices to be used within Home Assistant as lights, switches, and binary sensors. Device support is provided by the underlying insteonplm package. It is known to work with the 2413U USB and 2412S RS242 flavors of PLM and the 2448A7 USB stick. This component does not work with the IP-based hub products. For that, you’ll want the “Insteon (Local)” component instead.

# insteon_plm supported configuration variables
insteon_plm:
  port: SERIAL_PORT
  device_override:
     - address: ADDRESS
       cat: CATEGORY
       subcat: SUBCATEGORY
       firmware: FIRMWARE
       product_key: PRODUCT_KEY

Configuration variables:

  • port (Required): The port for your device, e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0
  • device_override (Optional): Override the default device definition
    • ADDRESS is found on the device itself in the form 1A.2B.3C or 1a2b3c
    • CATEGORY is found in the back of the device’s User Guide in the form of 0x00 - 0xff
    • SUBCATEGORY is found in the back of the device’s User Guide in the form of 0x00 - 0xff
    • FIRMWARE and PRODUCT_KEY are more advanced options and will typically not be used.

Autodiscovery

The first time autodiscovery runs, the duration may require up to 20 seconds per device. Subsequent startups will occur much quicker using cached device information. If a device is not recognized during autodiscovery, you can add the device to the device_override configuration.

In order for a device to be discovered it must be linked to the PLM as either a responder or a controller.

Linking Devices to the PLM

In order for any two Insteon devices to talk with one another, they must be linked. For an overview of device linking please read the Insteon page on understanding linking. Currently Insteon PLM does not support software linking of devices. If you need software that can link your devices (if you are using a USB Stick PLM for example), you can download HouseLinc which runs on any Windows PC, or you can use Insteon Terminal which is open source and runs on most platforms. HouseLinc is no longer supported by SmartHome but it still works. Insteon Terminal is a very useful tool but please read the disclaimers carefully, they are important.

Customization

The only configuration item that is absolutely necessary is the port so that Home Assistant can connect to the PLM. This will expose all the supported INSTEON devices which exist in the modem’s ALL-Link database. However, devices will only be shown by their INSTEON hex address (e.g. “1A.2B.3C”) which can be a bit unwieldy. As you link and unlink devices using the ‘Set’ buttons, they’ll be added and removed from Home Assistant automatically.

You can use the normal Home Assistant device customization section of your configuration to assign friendly names and special icons to your devices. This is especially useful for setting device_class on your binary_sensor INSTEON devices.

Device Overrides

INSTEON devices are added to Home Assistant using the platform(s) that make the most sense given the model and features of the hardware. The features of the INSTEON device are built into the Home Assistant platform. Changing the platform is not recommended. There are two primary uses for the device_override feature.

  • Devices that do not respond during autodiscovery. This is common for battery operated devices.
  • Devices that have not been fully developed. This allows an unknown device to be mapped to a device that operates similarly to another device.

Example Configuration with Options

# Full example of insteon_plm configuration with customizations and overrides

homeassistant:
  customize:
    light.a1b2c3:
      friendly_name: Bedside Lamp
    binary_sensor.a2b3c4:
      friendly_name: Garage Door
      device_class: opening

insteon_plm:
  port: /dev/ttyUSB0
  device_override:
    - address: a1b2c3  # Hidden Door Sensor [2845-222]
      cat: 0x10
      subcat: 0x11

What NOT to do

Insteon PLM is a top level component and device discovery will identify the Home Assistant platform the device belongs in. As such, do not declare Insteon devices in other platforms. For example, this configuration will NOT work:

light:
  - platform: insteon_plm
    address: 1a2b3c