This may be a coincidence but since I updated my C7 Hub to 2.2.7.126 I've been having Z Wave stability issues. Essentially, the ZWave devices no longer respond to commands from the hub but I can set them manually (turn on light switch) and I see a record of what I did. The only way to recover seems to be a hard reset of the hub (pull power and re-apply). I've then run a Z-Wave repair but none of the routes populate. Maybe it's too soon to run the repair but all of the powered nodes get discovered. If I try to run the repair when the failure case is showing all of the nodes fail repair but only recycling the C7 seems to fix it. Is there a way for me to downgrade from 2.2.7.126 to see if it changes anything or logs that I can look at to determine what is going wrong as I don't know if it is a hardware problem or software? I haven't changed anything in my network since this started happening.
There is some debate as to whether running a full repair is a good idea or not on the C-7. In general I think it's probably safer to hold off if you can. You might be making any problems worse - spot repairs are better. Try the pulling power/wait thing again but not running a repair. Let the mesh settle for a day or so - sometimes takes a while.
Do you have any Z-Wave devices or are they all Z-Wave+? Some trouble spots include devices paired with S0 security which can be overly chatty. Poor mesh strength usually solvable by some additional repeaters - even though powered devices should do the trick (I know).
You can downgrade if you go to [your hub ip]:8081 and do a "Restore Previous Version" from the diagnostic tool menu. You could also try a soft reset but I'm not sure that's your issue.
Thanks. I had tried a soft reset but that didn't help at all. I have an SO device that I removed months ago or at least excluded the device but it still shows up in the Z Wave details (and I cannot remove it). However, I wasn't having issues until a few days ago and the only thing I can think of is that I upgraded the firmware. I have several powered Z Wave devices and repeaters and the network had been very stable. I'll give it a day and then downgrade to see if the issue resolves itself. Right now I'm hard resetting my C7 hub once or twice a day so it's not sustainable. I just want my lights etc to work and didn't want to spend a lot of time debugging a setup where I hadn't made any topology changes.
Well you for sure have a ghost if you weren't able to exclude and it still shows up. That might be gumming up the works if other devices are trying to route through it - can you power the device off and then try and remove from the Z-Wave details page by doing something like this:
Then click on "remove" if it pops up...
Also you mentioned "Z-Wave" devices not "Z-Wave+" ? There is a difference..
Yes. I have Zwave and Zwave plus devices on my network but again everything has been working perfectly for 6+ months with no changes to the topology so while I understand both what you are saying as well as the protocols and devices, I don't understand how to troubleshoot this on the Hubitat ecosystem. My network went from working to not working and the only thing that I think happened was a firmware update.
I'm trying to either rule that out to understand what is happening. Thanks!
Okay cool - but keep in mind I have no idea how your system is set up, what kinds of devices, how they are paired (S0,S2,None), the layout what other issues might be impacting etc etc. It could be a firmware update or maybe a faulty device.. or a bunch of other stuff. Something that is obvious to you in your environment might not be to me..
My understanding is the newer firmware tries to be more active in looking for better routes so maybe thats part of it. You can restore to a previous version via the diagnostic tools.
To kind of answer your troubleshooting question - you start with the logs, looks at the app/device stats, look at the Z-Wave details / Check out the Zigbee child reports etc. Submit a ticket to support as well if things are not progressing.
A bunch of us in this community also have UZB-7 sticks (or older Z-Sticks and others) which we pair to the HE as a secondary controller - it allows us to do things like remove ghosts, update firmware if unable to in HE, view certain details not accessible from HE. Very useful.
Another thing that can be done is Zniffing - monitoring the Z-Wave traffic to see whats going on.
I will admit as well that I have had some strange Zwave issues on the latest firmware. An off command to say 5 devices only fires on 3. It’s hit or miss too.
Thank you for all of the info. Much appreciated. I think that HE is a great platform and I go in spurts upgrading and adding but right now I just need it to be reliable at turning lights off and on etc so apologies if my answers came off as terse. At this time, I don't have a lot of time to spend on figuring out what is going wrong. I'm a practicing engineer for the last 30 years so I appreciate your comment that it could be a lot of things. My experience generally leads me to suspect the last thing that changed, so I'm focused on the firmware but again that could be wrong.
No worries!! Most of us have been there so understand your pain. Try reverting back to a prior version (described above) and see if that helps. I am not so sure though - I suspect it's something else like a flaky device or maybe weak-ish mesh.
In my experience including the latest firmware, the system does work well. I have an HE setup at 3 different locations and they all are working or at least my clients aren't screaming at me so that's good. Having said that each setup has had different issues at various times and I chalk that up to the differences in hardware (and the interactions with the hub) and environment/local conditions. I do try and keep things as consistent as possible using a standard set of devices which helps.
Do you have any power metering devices or sensors that might send frequent messages back to the hub (for monitoring things like motion, temp, humidity, lux, etc...)?
Interesting you say that and good thought. I have a Zooz Zen15 Power Switch. The Zen15 has been powered on for months but only recently have I connected it to a dehumidifier. I did notice quite a few log entries at various times as I was troubleshooting so after performing a hard reset of the C7 I also unplugged the Zen15. For the last 24 hours my C7 is working as expected. I'll give it a few more days before I plug the Zen15 back in and see what happens. I'll start with all logging turned off and gradually add the essential info back in to see if it works. I'm starting to think that was the issue too but will give it a few days. Thanks!
Check the parameter options for the ZEN15 after connecting it. Some of the default reporting intervals for Zooz are very quick and for some reason it seems like that makes the C7 Zwave grind to a halt. Especially worse if it gets paired with S0 security. Anyway, set the reporting time to as long as you can for what you need it for, or disabled.
This was their recommended settings for the ZEN25 which differs from the stock driver defaults (screenshot is using a custom driver they all say default on that one). I have had this devices connected for a while like this with no isues.
I'll give similar values a try when I put it back in the system. Everything is still working today so I'm starting to think that it may be it. Plugging the dehumidifier in must have caused enough power changes with the Zen15 to set this condition up. Thanks!
I too have been seeing some strange issues with zwave. I have a switch that wouldn't turn on with the paddle. Strangely hitting configure from the device page fixed it. My zwave relay for my fireplace stopped working as well. I hear the relay clicks when actuating it but fireplace won't turn on. Then my GE smart switch for my kitchen lights stopped working last night. It would constantly send update to the hub that it's being turned on physically but no lights.
All these could be coincidence? Nothing change recently except the hub firmware. This is on my C4 hub.
Same for me, though my zwave devices are on a C7. I had a Qubino Flush 2 relay that wouldn't work yesterday morning. Automation to turn on one of the relays nor hitting On in the UI would turn it on. Then later last night it suddenly worked.
This morning my daughters light switch wouldn't turn on via UI. Ran a Zwave repair to make sure it wasn't unreachable and no errors.
Only thing that has changed on my C7 hub is firmware. No new devices. The other day I did shutdown and turn off for an hour or so that I was away from the house. That didn't fix these strange issues of devices not responding.
@bcopeland FYI in case you haven't seen this thread.
.. but will definitely keep an eye out.
