Intermittent Z-Wave issues

Hi All,

I've tried emailing support@hubitat.com to no avail and cannot find a similar issue on the forum, so here goes:

I’m having issues where devices will intermittently not respond when switching on/off from the devices page, example below of what I see on the z-wave logs:

This issue has only just recently started, and I have come to the end of what I can do to resolve

See below a list of my z-wave devices

And Z-Wave topology

Hub Information
Platform Version:
hub-2.3.0.124
Hardware Version:
Rev C-7

Happy to post any other logs if that would be useful to anyone that could point me in the right direction as to what I could try next.

Thanks in advance

The first thing I can already hear someone telling you is to re-consider those S0 devices, most of which look like motion and contact sensors and probably don't need security on them. If the paired that way without giving you the option, they are likely S0-only, but check the manual to see if there are separate secure vs non-secure inclusion methods. If so, that may help; if not, you can pair them non-securely with a secondary controller, but that requires extra hardware that you may not have. The biggest reason this can help is because S0 requires more traffic that non-secure devices or S2 security, and less traffic is always better on a Z-Wave network. Unfortunately, you can only choose security at pairing, so the devices would have to be re-paired (remember to remove them from any apps, etc. before excluding).

The other thing that might help is a Z-Wave firmware update that staff have announced is currently being tested. If/when this is released, some users on other platforms have reported that it to help with a particular issue related to "lockups" (non-responsiveness) on large/heavy-traffic Z-Wave networks. With so much S0, yours might be one. I'd still probably avoid that much S0 if I could, but it's possible this would help you too. Also unfortunately, this is is not released yet.

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Good stuff from @bertabcd1234! One other thing to check out is "Siren - Upstairs" - it has no routing info, so I suspect that one's a ghost... Ghosts will also wreak a lot of havoc with your mesh.

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I found the only Fibaro device I have (ZW5), the "eyeball" motion sensor, would only join with the C-7 using S0. I removed it from the C-7 and put it on the C-4 that is my "timeout" hub for misbehaving devices.

There are some nodes that appear to have weak signal, like 0X33 and maybe even 0x5F if you go by this chart. (see below) Devices that have very poor RSSI (signal strength) also are very likely just not getting a good enough signal to operate consistently. That Lights-Extension is barely at a whisper at 2db, and there are others in the negative numbers.

To quote the source:

In my opinion there are a couple things you may want to consider.

  • The new Zwave firmware mentioned above may help routing decisions, and help these devices find a better or stronger route. Hard to say when this will be available for users, it is in beta test with Hubitat. So maybe within a couple weeks?

  • You quite likely have a basic mesh problem like not enough repeaters, poor hub location, or signal strength issues due to home construction materials, duct work, mirrors, or other items that are reflecting signals or attenuating signal strength. Hard telling without being there and seeing the layout of the house, but this appears to be what is happening in your case. I would try moving the hub, flipping it on edge, or adding a repeater between the hub and some of these weak devices to see if strength or reliability improves.

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Thank you all for your replies and apologies for the delay in responding.

As suggested by @bertabcd1234 I have removed all the S0 devices barring one. I removed this and re-added it using a Aeotec Z-wave stick using Simplicity Studio with S0 disabled, however it still came back with S0. All the others were removed and re-added using this method and are no longer S0.

As suggested by @hydro311 I have removed "Siren - Upstairs", as it was indeed un-plugged.

I then replaced the Siren with a repeater, a TKB TZ88E.

Lastly I removed the PIR - Wardrobe & PIR - Bedroom with Aqara Zigbee devices (I'm toying with moving everything to Zigbee over time as it appears to "just work"...I have a coulple of Ikea repeaters).

This is what it all looks like now.
Devices:

Logs:

Topology:

So in summary, everything is much better now, so thanks all for your advice.

One remaining question...In the Devices page you can see "Lights - Front" where I have highlighted has "Repeaters - None" and no RSSI etc., but later looks like a good response....is the Z-wave equivalent of a "dropped packet" as you would get in networking?

Again, thanks all for your help

Cheers