C-7 Z-Wave Repair

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 12:55am

I am having an issue with Z-Wave Repair on the C-7.

I have some devices that are a ways away from the hub. I had no problem adding these devices, but when I do a Z-Wave repair, the repair fails when it gets to one of these devices. Once it fails on one device, it fails for all subsequent devices. I've included an example log file below.

I've removed 3 devices so far (0x32,33,34) to get the repair to go a little farther, but the device it's failing on at the moment (0x36) is a critical device, so I don't want to remove it from the network.

The very interesting thing is that while the log says that the hub it is "updating neighbors" and "requesting device routeList", there are actually no packets being sent by the hub to the device. In the example, the hub actually sent no packets at all between 17:12 and 17:32.

Once the issue occurs, all the hub makes no actual attempt to contact any of the devices that follow in the node list.

If I perform a refresh on each of these devices, they will change from "UNKNOWN" to "OK". And the devices also function as expected (report status, controllable, etc.)

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:45:50.230 errorZ-Wave Node 38: Repair failed, the maximum retries have been exceeded
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:44:20.187 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:42:50.151 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:41:20.115 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:39:50.078 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:38:20.042 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:36:50.006 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:35:19.970 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:33:49.933 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:32:19.899 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:32:19.888 traceZ-Wave Node 38: Repair starting
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:30:49.840 errorZ-Wave Node 37: Repair failed, the maximum retries have been exceeded
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:29:19.799 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:27:49.755 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:26:19.738 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:24:49.704 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:23:19.674 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:21:49.645 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:20:19.614 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:18:49.576 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:17:19.557 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:17:19.552 traceZ-Wave Node 37: Repair starting
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:15:49.518 errorZ-Wave Node 36: Repair failed, the maximum retries have been exceeded
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:14:19.466 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:12:49.429 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:11:19.399 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:09:49.377 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:09:41.164 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:09:31.151 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:08:19.334 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:06:49.320 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:06:49.302 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:05:19.296 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:05:19.283 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:03:49.265 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:03:49.248 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:19.228 warnZ-Wave Network responded with Busy message.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:19.220 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:19.214 traceZ-Wave Node 36: Repair starting
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:13.286 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair is done.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:13.273 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair is adding return routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:12.549 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair is deleting routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:11.284 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:04.192 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:02:04.188 traceZ-Wave Node 35: Repair starting
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:58.836 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair is done.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:58.823 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair is adding return routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:57.958 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair is deleting routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:57.542 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:49.175 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:49.162 traceZ-Wave Node 31: Repair starting
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:44.913 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair is done.
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:44.909 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair is adding return routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:43.782 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair is deleting routes
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:43.365 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair is requesting device routeList
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:34.149 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair is updating neighbors
[sys:1](http://hubitat.cococafe.com/logs#sys1)2020-07-30 17:01:34.143 traceZ-Wave Node 30: Repair starting

JasonJoel · July 31, 2020, 1:29am

I still only have 30 zwave devices on my C-7 so far. But I have done a repair each day for the last 3 days, and it completed correctly each time.

I'm going to migrate the other 40 devices this weekend, so we'll see I guess.

Tail of today's repair:

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 3:02am

Mine was fine too until I hit around 60 devices or so, having done a repair every 10-15 devices. I'm thinking it is more an issue of distance than number, but I could be completely wrong.

lewis.heidrick · July 31, 2020, 4:40am

How many hops are you at when you start seeing the failures?

JasonJoel · July 31, 2020, 12:41pm

I'll get above 60 devices tomorrow, so I guess I'll see what happens.

In the past I never had a device > 3 hops (per sniffer monitoring), so I'll watch the nifty new zwave logs and see.

djw1191 · July 31, 2020, 2:19pm

For what it’s worth I’m having similar issues with the zwave repair failing on devices that are online and active and which didn’t have an issue on my previous C-5 hub. I also don’t see any activity within the zwave log on the hub during that time.

I have much fewer zwave devices, so not a huge sample size, but went through and migrated all the zigbee and zwave devices last night and experienced some of the other issues that have been reported recently, including this one.

JasonJoel · July 31, 2020, 2:33pm

My zwave repairs continue to work. I will say that today I saw a new message though:

But after 90s or so the repair continued on its merry way to completion.

djw1191 · July 31, 2020, 2:42pm

Yeah I saw that one a couple time as well.

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 4:35pm

The first device to fail is at 3 hops if I do a device refresh. However I have a device that is approximately at the same distance that is 4 hops and succeeds in the repair.

jtmpush18 · July 31, 2020, 4:41pm

On the new c7, has anyone noticed that their Hub has many more "direct reports"? (due to the increased range of the zwave chip)
This was my major assumption in buying the C7, and I'd like to know if I was right or wrong.

JasonJoel · July 31, 2020, 4:44pm

I notice that. Many devices that were repeating before on my C-4 are now direct connected.

Some questionably so, given the really low rssi numbers. That said, they work (low rssi or not), so whatever. Lol.

I still have devices that are hopping though, as expected.

I still have a lot more devices to cut over, so we'll see where it shakes out.

jtmpush18 · July 31, 2020, 4:46pm

Well, I'm not sure if it will make that much of a difference to you (since I'm sure that you had a very strong zwave mesh before), but for everyone who had (possible) mesh issues, this should be a tremendous advantage.

P.S> My C7 is still at customs....

JasonJoel · July 31, 2020, 4:48pm

Argh! Although on the other hand maybe they will have the next update/pairing fixes out by the time you start pairing devices.

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 5:00pm

What's really frustrating about the fact that it never attempts to talk with any devices after the first one fails is that I put a repeater in to help address those far nodes.

Tony · July 31, 2020, 5:24pm

In comparing the C-7 to my C-3, I was able to join the Z-Wave Plus repeater of an Iris V2 plug directly to the hub from about 35 feet away (free air distance). With the C-3, I was never able to join this device through an existing mesh (even with supposedly NWI capable repeaters) and had to do the join very close to the hub; never would join successfully at any distance.

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 7:19pm

Progress. I excluded everything thing beyond where the repair failed. Then I included the repeater (Aeotec Range Extender 7 without security) and did another repair. Then I re-included the critical devices (GoControl garage door). I had to bring the hub to the furthest in order for it to finish the S2 negotiation, but afterward I was able to return the hub to its normal location. I can now complete a repair.

jtmpush18 · July 31, 2020, 7:59pm

So, it sounds like "when it does a S2 pairing, the hub has a lot of data to exchange with the device".
Is that your deduction?

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 8:10pm

In addition to the normal Z-Wave negotiation, S2 goes though a complete Diffie-Hellman key exchange. Yes, that is a lot of data back and forth. Dozens of packets before it's all done.

jtmpush18 · July 31, 2020, 8:14pm

Is it your opinion, that when there is an S2 pairing, then the time for inclusion should be lengthened, from 60 seconds to perhaps 90 seconds? (Perhaps a feature request?)

dennypage · July 31, 2020, 8:37pm

That's a question for the Hubitat folk. I can only see the top level UI and the low level packet exchanges. However, if I had to offer a guess it would be that the problem is not associated with the upper level timeout.