C7 Z-Wave Firmware - Why Update?

With the latest (2.3.1.128) platform update there's an optional Z-Wave firmware update (7.17.1).

What are the benefits of this update? Is it general bug fixes and reliability? Or are we gaining a new superpower like Z-wave LR?

Short version is that it fixes several known issues that cause mesh slowdowns and pauses. Should also, IIRC, make removing "ghosts" a wee bit simpler.

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cool Thanks!

Yup - it's a "just do it!!" upgrade. :slight_smile:

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It also fixes some S2 and 700 issues. Ever since the updates, the Z-Wave doesn't crash with all the reporting traffic of my devices.

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I went into the Z-wave details page and clicked update. After completing the update where can I confirm the version?

You can use the Hub Z-Wave Mesh Details app from HPM, or you can create a virtual device using the "Hub Information" driver. That virtual device created will that driver then show your Z-Wave firmware version.

The Hub Z-Wave Mesh Details app is a very helpful app to have around for any monitoring of your Z-Wave devices you'd like to do.

You can also use the endpoint below, but the Hub Mesh Details app is generally a good app to have around.

<hubIP>/hub/zwaveVersion

Returns something like this, below.

VersionReport(zWaveLibraryType:7, zWaveProtocolVersion:7, zWaveProtocolSubVersion:17, firmware0Version:7, firmware0SubVersion:17, hardwareVersion:1, firmwareTargets:1, targetVersions:[[target:1, version:7, subVersion:15]])

The relevant info: Version 7.17

zWaveProtocolVersion:7, zWaveProtocolSubVersion:17, firmware0Version:7, firmware0SubVersion:17

Note; Post has been updated per @672southmain's correction below...

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I had a device that did not show up in the secondary controller but did in the Z-Wave details page. Kind of a reverse ghost - this was likely indicative of Z-Wave DB corruption. Every time I tried to remove using the Z-Wave details page I got an error. Was looking at having to reset the Z-Wave table and re-include all 60+ devices :scream:.

Fortunately BobbyD suggested I try the beta with the updated firmware.. when I did this after the reboot was able to delete the errant device so no resetting!!! :man_dancing: :man_cartwheeling:

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Tony Fleisher’s (@tony.fleisher’s) Z-Wave Mesh Details app is excellent, as is Jean May’s (@thebearmay’s) Hub Information driver, and I use both. But there is no connection between the two, and the Hub Information driver isn’t installed with the Z-Wave Mesh Details app.

Perhaps you are confused.

i have seen much better routing now that the mesh has stabalized after a couple of days

for 96 zwave devices (no antenna mod)

direct - 65
one hop - 28
two hops - 3

previously there were multiple device with more than two hops..

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My wife must have been talking to you about me... :wink:

Yes, too many words before I had absorbed enough caffeine. Apologies to @thebearmay. :slight_smile:

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OMG OMG!
I have been having no end of Z-wave issues since day one of using Hubitat. Done everything from replacing "faulty" devices to getting a USB stick in changing security levels, adding repeaters and removing ghosts to being so desperate I split my z-wave into twin c7 hubs with legacy and z-wave plus on two different meshes. Anyway, none of the aforementioned gave me any stability and had pretty much given up on z-wave ever working well for me with intermittent lock ups, very slow responses or devices simply not responding at all.

Anyway, after updating both hubs, I've never seen my devices responding so quick or reliably as they do now. I can no longer even tell the difference from a performance perspective between z-wave and zigbee devices!

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Since I started this thread, I figured I would chime in and relay my own experience. For me it was a non-event. I didn't really have any issues before the upgrade, and I haven't had any since. The one thing I was hoping to see was a simplification in routing. I have several devices that should be able to talk directly to the hub, but instead are taking several hops to get there.

But everything still works and I've not noticed any change in latency in either direction. When I'm not counting on an upgrade to fix a problem (because I didn't have one), uneventful is how I like my upgrades. :+1:

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I have this, too. I first did the external antenna mod hoping that would help with unnecessary routing (it didn't, but it did greatly increase the LWR RSSI to each device). I did this firmware update hoping it would eliminate some of the routing leading to more direct access, but it didn't. I still hover at 11 direct devices. Some of my Red dimmers still have a route that bounces around the house, when they are only 12 feet from the hub. :person_shrugging:

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@jlv and @chowell ...

If you want to you could always do individual repairs on the devices that aren't routing directly and then wait a few days to see if things adjust at all. They may not, sometimes devices just seem to want to complicate their routing.

The old "if it ain't broke..." adage is relevant here, of course, if the devices are responding promptly and reliably. :slight_smile:

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I actually did that but to no effect. However, that was before I did this firmware update. I guess I'll try again.

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I'm in the same boat with a couple devices - one in particular has a really strange 3-hop route, and I've tried a couple repairs on it since updating, but it always ends up going back to the odd route... That said, it works perfectly fine overall so I'm just gonna roll with it.

Are the 7.17.2 rumors still alive? Maybe that will help :grinning:

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Wow, my Inovelli dimmers have some silly routes. I have 3-hop routes that go through a switch, that itself has a 3-hop route.

It's real, and HE is looking at it internally.

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I have a few like that too. It didnt help that wife accidentally unplugged water valve when unplugging a feeezer.