Issue with New Device Discovery/Pairing

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1

I seem to be having an issue with the new Device Discovery screen.

  1. Zwave device (Everspring flood sensor), approximately 4 feet away from hub.
  2. Zwave device exclusion, and received message "unknown zwave device excluded. "
    (THANK YOU Support, for putting this message on this screen!!!)
  3. Entered Zwave Pairing mode, and got the following screen. Hub seemed to be stuck on this screen forever:
    Screenshot_20190409-093500
    Screenshot_20190409-093500.png1080×2270 209 KB

It doesn't seem to get beyond this "initializing" stage.
Any ideas?

2

I had multiple devices do that when I was migrating from ST a few weeks ago but the Utilitech Water Leak sensors were the worst. I ended up having to remove exclude it again and pair it again over and over before it joined fully. The first few times I tried waiting over 5 minutes with no change. Once I got them paired I got the contacts wet on one to make sure it would trigger and it did, problem is it has never reset. I dried the contacts and thought I'd let it sit a while to see if it would go back to dry but after over a week it's still showing wet. I will probably try removing it and pairing it again at some point to see if it will reset although it was such a pain to get it on the system the first time I may just retire it and buy a Samsung zigbee leak detector as I had a few of those and didn't have any issue with them.

3

Anybody else using Utilitech or Everspring water sensors?

4

I have two of the Everspring water sensors. I have not had a problem with them.

5

I have one Utilitech Z-Wave water sensor. I had a very hard time getting it to pair. And even now, I don't trust that it will work when I need it to. I have about 5 of the Iris/Centralite zigbee water sensors which all work great. I plan on removing the Utilitech very soon.

6

Any difficulty in getting them to pair?

7

Quite honestly, I consider this type of function to be absolutely critical for any Home Automation setup. So, if my sensors won't work reliably, I'll just swap them out with ones that are reliable.
(Although I have a good Zigbee mesh, I'd prefer to stick with Zwave).

Is anybody out there using the DMWS1 from Dome:

Dome Wireless Z-Wave Plus Leak Sensor with Remote Probe, Low Profile, Water Resistant (DMWS1)

8

No, both paired immediately.

9

I have to ask - did you try rebooting your hub and then attempt the pairing? This has worked in many scenarios - don't ask me why.

10

Yes, I did.
(I shutdown my Hub, and moved it close to the device, when I saw that it wasn't working.)

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11

What browser are you using?

12

I tried it using Brave (browser of choice), and when that didn't work, I tied using Chrome.

13

SOLVED: Issue with New Device Discovery/Pairing

I finally solved this issue,
I had been using the original AA alkaline batteries (which tested as good, in my battery tester).
I replaced the batteries with Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries (the best battery, IMHO).
No problem - paired first time!

In conclusion, for the Everspring Water Sensor - use the best possible "AA" batteries!
(It doesn't matter if the original ones test as good...)

14

That hurt my head.... You know Energizer Lithium are NOT alkaline, right? Them being lithium is the whole point of why they last longer than their alkaline counterparts. :smile:

Also note that the decay curve of voltage vs current is very different on lithium batteries, so any battery % reported from the end device will likely be wrong or stay ~100% until the battery just dies with no % in between 100% and dead.

I use lithium batteries in a lot of devices, since they often last longer. But the battery % reporting difference isn't something a lot of people understand.

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15

My apologies for hurting your head!
(Of course, you're right... I know that the're lithium, but they look like alkaline...)
I got introduced to these batteries, with my previous Kwikset Zwave Door lock. Regular AA's, lasted only 1-2 months! (freezing cold climate, and lack of proper insulation.) I changed to these batteries, and they lasted for 6-9 months! A winner!
(Of course, I then changed to a Zwave Plus Kwikset Door Lock, and the batteries have never needed replacement, so far...)

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16

No worries, I was just being sarcastic.

Back to the topic - fresh batteries = good. :smile: :smile:

17

I'm in a situation like @Terk. We have the Everspring version here, and I can't get it to reset from the wet state without trying to unpair/re-pair it. Given that the pairing process is so onerous, what can we do? I tried switching the driver from Generic to the Utilitech one I found online -- a ST driver "Ported to Hubitat by cuboy29". It didn't make a difference in resetting from the wet state. Not sure whether to try resetting & re-pairing the device using the custom driver. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks for any & all feedback!

18

Lots of great tips below - and i had the same problem as you! Frustrating.
I over and over again tried the tips below - and after the 10th time of trying what i thought was the same thing - here is my recipe -

  1. unplug hubitat to reset it (just for insurance)
  2. in hubitat web app - go to add devices and do what you did above - that got us stuck on initializing... and it shows the ID # as in your example above 4a.. .
  3. click the exclude z wave devices in the web...
  4. on the utilitech - press that little button 5 times in 5 seconds then press it again once more. it will beep funny.. i think that when it is being removed /excluded the light in front goes out...
  5. then in the web app i got a message "unknown device excluded".
  6. then i click search for zwave device...
  7. i push that stupid button another 5 times.. wait a second then push it again... and the front red led comes on....
  8. interestingly i then get the found zwave device with a different ID# than when it was stuck.. in less than 2 minutes - it sync'd up and all was good.
    Hope this helps someone, and i dont claim any original thought here - just repeating what people smarter than me said below with a few more details..
    Thanks to all for the help!
19

Had a similar issue to everyone else. I tried a bunch of resets, and came up with what worked every time:

  1. Reboot the hub (guaranteed if you're reading this post, you likely have a bunch of renegade devices stuck on "Initializing", and this will clear them).
  2. (If your Utilitech/Everspring sensor is already blinking orange, and beeping once in a while, skip this step). Press the button on the back once, and tell Hubitat to exclude the device; you should get an "unknown device excluded", and now the led should be blinking orange and beeping once in a while.
  3. (this is my step that fixed everything) Take out a battery, wait a few seconds, put it back in; nothing will look like it changed, but if I skip this step, re-pairing NEVER works.
  4. Put Hubitat into pairing mode, and press the button on the back of the leak sensor (I only pressed it once); 3 beeps with a red led (which sounds to me like it failed), but it works now.

I see many people are frustrated with this thing, but it's the only cheap-ish sensor that I can use for my sump-well. Works great as a "water is higher than the sump-pump should allow, check it out" sensor.

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20

DO NOT JUST "unplug Hubitat".
IF YOU DO, YOU RISK DATABASE CORRUPTION, AND YOU SHOULD GO THROUGH THE SOFT RESET PROCEDURE!
(please forgive the SHOUTING!)

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