Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

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Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby ahwman » Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:35 pm

I've noticed that when I send commands directly from the 2412N controller web page there is almost no delay, however from within MobileLinc there aresporadic delays, sometimes several seconds. This behavior happens on both my iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. I've went through the troubleshooting steps and everything appears to be ok. Any help is appreciated... :)
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby AdminWes » Thu Dec 22, 2011 9:32 am

Hi ahwman,

What is most likely happening is that MobiLinc is polling for status for your devices, scenes, and thermostats and if you issue a command while MobiLinc is busy communicating to the SmartLinc, MobiLinc will queue up that command until the communication path to the SmartLinc is free again.

Do you have any thermostats? These take longer than all other devices to gather status. If you issue a command right after startup or when MobiLinc happens to be getting status on your thermostat, it can take a few extra seconds.

Do you get any communication errors indicating that MobiLinc couldn't talk to a device? If you get any like this, then I would suggest removing that device from MobiLinc or finding the root of the communication issue (INSTEON reliability).

I hope some of this info helps,
Wes
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby ahwman » Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:57 pm

Hello Wes,

I don't have a thermostat in the loop. That said, I have gotten some random device communication errors when I was first setting this up but haven't seen those errors lately. It just seems that the latency ranges from less than a second to several seconds which is unacceptable. However, when I control my devices right from the Insteon web page it is almost instant and I never get errors or timeouts which would rule out hardware issues... Why is the behavior so different from the web page vs the app? I like this app but must admit I'm disappointed with the performance especially after spending fifty dollars. This issue is even worse on the iPhone app. I'm hoping this problem can be solved as I really want to love this application...
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby AdminWes » Fri Dec 23, 2011 2:53 pm

Let me see if some of this info will help understand why MobiLinc appears to be acting differently than the SmartLinc Web Page.

The Web Page only controls scenes and can only ask for status of one device in that scene. So if you have multiple devices in a scene, the SmartLinc doesn't know what the real scene status is. Only the device you told it about, which isn't really scene status at all. It's just the state of one device. Also, the SmartLinc web page only does scenes it won't control individual devices like the IOLinc or Irrigation controller or multiple thermostats let alone get and display their status.

With MobiLinc you get the added benefit of individual device control and scene control along with the option to add an IO Linc, Irrigation controller and multiple thermostats to your SmartLinc.

The SmartLinc doesn't ask for status until you are on the page looking at your scenes. Then it asks for status which causes a delay of several seconds before you know if a scene is on or off. When MobiLinc starts up it immediately begins polling for device and scene and thermostat status so that when you navigate to your device or scene MobiLinc has already started that process of finding your status. A drawback is if you issue a command to a scene or a device it can be delayed by a few seconds and SmartLinc can only handle one request at a time.

To get better performance out of MobiLinc, here's what I would suggest. Most people use the scenes to control just their one device per scene. If this describes your situation, I would suggest removing all devices from My Devices by performing a left to right finger swipe over the device name and tap Delete for every device in My Devices. Now MobiLinc won't ask for device status and instead jump right into getting just the scene status for you. If you go with this approach, how is the responsiveness? Does it improve for you?

Wes
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby Scottyb159 » Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:48 pm

Similar problem but a little worse. App worked fine for a month, now on iPad and iPhone it works sporadically. Many times it says cannot communicate with device after about 20 secs, however, than it turns lights on? Seems like it is always looking for something.
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby AdminWes » Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:56 am

Hi Scottyb159,

Is MobiLinc showing you the device communication error for the same device each time? There are a number of reasons that may cause this including:

- Has the device moved locations?
- Is the device near equipment that may be putting noise on your electrical line such as anything with a motor or a computer power supply?
- If you move the device (if able) to another location does the comunication to that device get any better?
- Do you have Access points or Dual-Band devices in your home to bridge the electrical phases?

If the commad eventually goes through then it sounds like a new noise source was introduced recently to your home causing just enough noise to prevent good status from being returned to your SmartLinc/MobiLinc.

Wes
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby Scottyb159 » Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:58 pm

All of the devices are dual band light switches. It seems to be happening with all of them. My house is fairly sophisticated with all sorts of electronics but I don't recall changing anything. Also the website generally works fine so the problem only really is evident with the app. No question it is improved since I deleted the my devices but still not as good as it was a month ago.
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby AdminWes » Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:20 pm

Can you think of anything changing in your setup from a month ago that might be introducing noise on your line? Dual-Band is good to help avoid noise issues, but the SmartLinc isn't a dual-band device. If the SmartLinc is located in the computer room consider moving it away from all computers as the computer power supply dumps quite a bit of noise on the line.

Since the SmartLinc web interface only works with scenes, try deleting all your devices from MobiLinc, restart MobiLinc and try using only the scenes for control. This should give similar performance as the web interface. From your last post, you may have already done this.

With all devices removed and only using scenes can you control and status your scenes as reliable as the SmartLinc web interface?

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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby Scottyb159 » Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:51 pm

I no longer have the non communication issue but I still have a delay of about 20 secs now that I deleted all the devices. My smartlinc is by itself no where near any computers or other electronics and has not moved since initial install.
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Re: Delay activating devices from within MobileLinc

Postby AdminWes » Fri Jan 06, 2012 6:25 am

Thanks. Ok, one last thing to try. Please force quit MobiLinc and restart it. Double tap the home button to show the task tray. Press and hold the MobiLinc icon till it shakes. Tap the "-" button to force close MobiLinc. Please wait 10 seconds before launching MobiLinc again.

When you launch MobiLinc again, go to My Devices and verify that no devices appear.
Go to My Scenes and pick a room and a scene to dive into. Attempt to turn a scene on or off. Do you still get a 20 second delay?

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