Hello Hubitat Support,
I migrated from a C7 hub to a C8 Pro in January. Since then, I’ve experienced increasing stability issues that now require a hub reboot approximately every other day. Early on, the issue was infrequent, but the frequency has steadily increased.
My primary use case involves ZEN32 devices triggering WebCoRE automations. These devices are typically how I first notice the issue.
When the problem occurs:
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ZEN32 button presses stop reliably triggering automations
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The Hubitat mobile app remains accessible and responsive
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However, control of physical devices from the app fails (on/off commands do not execute)
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Device state does not update in the UI
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Virtual devices continue to function normally and update state correctly
This suggests the issue is isolated to physical device control/communication rather than the hub or UI itself.
Troubleshooting steps already performed:
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Soft reboot of hub
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Hard reboot with full power removal
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Confirmed use of official power supply
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Attempted migration to Z-Wave JS, then reverted back to native stack
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Checked for and confirmed no Z-Wave ghosts
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Observed that all devices operate normally until the issue begins
At this point, the behavior strongly suggests a potential issue within the Z-Wave stack or radio layer, as the system becomes unresponsive to physical device commands while remaining partially functional.
Any guidance or diagnostic steps you can recommend would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Some additional information.
I have 47 Z-Wave devices, but my network appears to have effectively collapsed into a star topology. Even after rebuilding routes on multiple devices (including distant nodes), almost all devices still show a direct 1-hop route to the hub. Only one device in the entire network shows a multi-hop route.
This persists after rebuilds and suggests the mesh is not properly forming or utilizing repeaters.
Symptoms:
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Hub becomes unresponsive to physical Z-Wave device control every 1–2 days (UI still works)
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Virtual devices continue to function normally
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ZEN32 devices intermittently stop triggering WebCoRE automations
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Z-Wave logs show weak RSSI and frequent 40 kbps traffic
Can you advise what would prevent a 47-device network from forming multi-hop routes on a C8 Pro?
Thanks,
Tom
Assuming we’re not talking a huge footprint here, it’s not terribly uncommon to end up with a star topology (or darn close to it) with ZW mesh devices on an 8-Pro.
If a device needs a hop, it’ll figure that out on its own. I have a smaller house, and all of my mesh ZW devices are in a star topology. Once in a while, one or two will flit briefly flirt with a single hop, but for the most part, they are all consistently star.
Any device paired LR will always be star - by design, LR devices do not (and cannot) participate in the ZW mesh.
Thanks Hydro….didn’t know about the LR devices. Just getting a bit tired rebooting every couple of days. Drawing at straws here.
Any help is appreciated.
Tom
I feel your pain… I’m no longer in a place to help much as I recently moved all of my ZW devices off of Hubitat due to ongoing ZW flakiness I was having over the past year (after many years of no big ZW issues on Hubitat).
That said, most users here seem to have no big problems with ZW on JS or ZIP, so whatever these gremlins are, they seem difficult to nail down... Hopefully it all can eventually get resolved, but my patience finally ran out.
Hang in there though - hopefully some fellow community members will have some ideas to try!
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That really seems like a device causing a mesh issue, not that it is, but it is behaving like one.
When you are having issues, is Zwave still online in the Zwave settings page? Have you noticed any device that stops responding before others? That can provide a clue if there is a bad devices starting the a cascading network issue.
I found that my trouble device that was killing my mesh were seen the the Zwave logs from the settings page, as having no transmission data. It appears that the bad device would stop acting as a repeater, and other devices were still trying to repeat though it.
You can look at Zwave mesh troubleshooting guides in this forum. The search on here is not very helpful, so I just have Gemini find posts for me. Here is what it came back with:
Top community discussions and troubleshooting topics for Z-Wave mesh include:
- Removing "Ghost" Nodes: The community emphasizes clearing ghost devices (unreachable or deleted devices still clinging to the mesh) as a priority. Users find success by hitting the Refresh button on the Z-Wave Details page until the Remove button appears. For detailed steps, check the Z-Wave Ghost Issues Discussion. [1, 2]
- General Mesh Deterioration: If your mesh is losing stability, users suggest checking for dead nodes, updating your hub's Z-Wave firmware, and avoiding full network repairs. You can review user suggestions in the Z-Wave Mesh Deterioration Thread. [1, 2, 3]
- Unresponsive Radios: When the entire Z-Wave network stops responding, the community recommends full power cycles and investigating rogue devices that might be flooding the radio. Read more in the Z-Wave Unresponsive Network Discussion or the Z-Wave Devices Unresponsive After Update Topic. [1, 2, 3]
- Mesh Analysis Tools: For advanced visualization and statistics, users recommend the community-made Z-Wave Mesh Details app, frequently referenced in the Help Debugging Unreliable Mesh Thread.
Thanks. Btw I had C7 running for many years never any big issues. Figured it was time to upgrade to C8pro…now I am regretting it. Also, 90days warranty from Hubitat seems funny. Most companies give a year and stand by their product. I didn’t even take it out of the box for a month. Btw, I am and Electrical Engineer, so I am very familiar with how things work. Hopefully I can figure it out. Btw, you mentioned you moved on from Hubitat…are you willing to say which product you are using?
All the best
Tom
Thanks Chris,
I will look into the links you have provided. Much appreciated!
Oe thing I didn’t mention…when monitoring the zwave logs I notice that frequently a device with no association keeps coming back. For example see the following log…devices listed as “dev” have no assocation.
When I click on info I get the following
It almost seems like a Ghost node…but in the zwave details page all looks good. no blanks.
any thought on this?
Thanks
Tom
I already had a foot in the door with Home Assistant as I was using it to bring a couple devices into Hubitat that Hubitat didn’t / couldn’t otherwise support, so I just leaned in there with my ZW move.
The Home Assistant Device Bridge (community) integration works awesome to bring HA devices into Hubitat, so that’s what I’m doing now.
