HOW TO: Using the INSTEON 2412Ux (and 2413Ux) PLM

[Ted Singh]

The INSTEON 2412U PLM adapter is a USB flavor of the INSTEON PowerLinc Modem (PLM) family. When sold with HouseLinc2 software, the part number is 2414UH, with the H likely representing the HouseLinc2 software.

Though this is a USB device, it uses a Windows driver to make it available as a "virtual" serial port.

*** UPDATE as of June 23, 2010 ***
We have also proved this method to work with the INSTEON 2413U (Dual-Band) PLM.

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To use this adapter with mControl:

1. Install the drivers associated with this adapter:


*** UPDATE as of June 23, 2010 ***
Using the HouseLinc software may not be a feasible method because (a) You may not have access to the HouseLinc software (b) Using the HouseLinc installer/disk for other platforms (for example: Windows Home Server) may not be possible. Fortunately, Windows appears to automatically download and install the driver. Once you plug in the USB cable to your PC, most versions of Windows appear to automatically search the web then download and install the drivers. For Windows Home Server, this does not appear to happen automatically, but right-click on Computer and access the Properties, then select Hardware. You will see the unusable USB connection, right-click to initiate the "Update Driver ..." dialog.


2. Use "My Computer" properties (Properties - Hardware - Device Manager) to determine the serial port that this adpater resolves to:


3. Adjust the INSTEON adapter settings in the mControl Service Manager, using the serial port assigned by the driver:


4. Restart mControl and use the log files to confirm operation: