I had high hopes for my HE transition from ST. The backup/restore feature is what sold me after losing all my ST devices last year during Samsung's botched ST app transition from Classic.
And after considerable pain in re-including all my Zwave devices to HE we get to the most important and last device - my heavily used front door lock being a Kwikset 914. Figured no sweat because a few weeks ago I had no problems adding my back door lock - a Kwikset 910 - secure paired and all. Except the 914 was stuck in the perpetual "Add: Initializing" discovery state no matter if the hub was on its 50 ft cable a few inches from the lock ... or several feet away because I read here about nearby beamforming devices. Of course, I can exclude and add this very 914 to my ST hub within secs and confirm secure lock/unlock so pretty sure we have an HE problem here.
Then it occurred to me to exclude and add the back door's 910 again. What do you know! Now also stuck at "Initializing ...". About the only difference I can think is that I agreed to the v2.0.9 upgrade last week. OK, so let's downgrade to v2.0.8 via Settings ... and wait, and wait, and wait. 20 mins later with still no web GUI response I pull the power. Yay! Perpetual blue light BRICK.
Hmmm, we are at 29 days since Amazon order so guess what is getting sent back for replacement ASAP and who gets to play yet a 3rd round of the exclude/include dance. This after my first HE order came DoA with enet problems.
Man, I wanted to believe in Hubitat. But the faith is very shaky on HE quality for sure. One last chance at redemption but have to lose a review star or two for sure ...
Sorry to hear your troubles.
Have you submitted a support ticket?
I have not had to deal with the firmware management system, so I don't know the risks, but that being said I've never had a problem adding devices as a result of firmware.
I think inclusion and exclusion are the thorn in Hubitat's side, most of the new users that post here with issues are complaining about this process. I know mine was painful as well but honestly it's been the devices in my experience, not the hub. They all have different ways to go into include and exclude which can be hard to figure out or discover.
If you get back up and running, one tip I found is that SmartThings is really good at excluding devices, if you need to re-exclude a device maybe let your old SmartThings hub handle it.
Also keep in mind that there's a clear vision here at Hubitat, SmartThings is just whatever they feel like doing to their users this fiscal quarter...
I'm sorry to hear about your troubles!
I have a Kwikset 910, on my laundry room door, and have never had any issues with it.
I think that a key point is that:
exclusion/inclusion is done with the hub being close (within 3 feet)
not too far away is a "beam forming" capable device (I have a Leviton switch within 3 feet).
If you don't have a switch nearby, can you put in a "plug in"?
Yeah most of my issues with the locks were solved by adding a monoprice beam forming z-wave plus power plug next to all 3 locks. Since then, not only do they lock and unlock reliably, but the batter life has been extended by a significant amount.
Replacement HE came in yesterday and has the same "initializing" problem no matter if the HE is within inches of the new Kwikset 914 And once again, the old ST hub could securely pair within secs.
I heeded the "exclude from previous hub" (ST) and interestingly was finally able to securely include the older Kwikset 910 just within HE's 60 sec pairing timeout. Then I realized that you can pull the Z-wave module daughtercard right out of the top by the battery case and swapped them so at least my busy front door lock works now.
I took a look at the two modules. While they are both "Model 450191" the one in the 914 lock has a F/W Rev 3.37 while the older 910 that pairs better has F/W Rev 3.33. Internet search couldn't find any differences so no idea.
I also noticed Kwikset starting to advertise Z-wave Plus for 910/912/914. Sure enough somebody on eBay is selling just the Plus module for $40. Figured IF it works then it should improve the lock's battery life anyway. Anyone tried a new Kwikset with the Plus module to an HE yet??
That won't come in for another week or two so I just also ordered some Aeotec Plus extenders tomorrow to see if the beamforming idea might help with this problematic module. I'll follow up here if either/both works. All else fails, I'll see if Hubitat wants the problematic v3.37 module since it does me no good anymore. It is barely a year old and there has to be others out there trying to pair HEs with it.
Same issue here. Just recently changing the batteries on my 914 sent it into a I'm not playing nice with HE. I had to physically remove the lock and exclude. Pairing took almost the whole 60 seconds with HE right next to it. When I installed the lock back in, it worked hit or miss. I ended up purchasing a couple Aeotec repeaters. Why? No clue. Before the battery change, the lock didn't skip a beat. I will see short and long term if the repeaters eliminate the any issues. The lock is maybe 30-35 feet from the hub.
I swear by them myself, after I add my last one next week, I'm going to experiment (as much as I'm scared to) see if I can remove the locks and try re-pairing in place the locks.
After the issue I did order 3 Aeotec repeaters. I have two installed. One by the HE and one in the kitchen . It has been a couple days and so far so good. They must have a weak zwave transmitter/receiver. There were a couple zwave plus cards for sale on ebay.
Compatible with Kwikset Smartcode 909, 910, 911, 912, 913, & 914 series
I have been using a Kwikset Smartcode 888 which is a zwave plus lock. I have a Leviton switch right beside it. No issues at all.
Paired easily and quickly as a Generic Zwave Lock with no issues.
The Aoetec Zwave Plus repeater near the problematic lock module did not help pairing at all
The Kwikset Z-wave Plus module (#450411) came in from eBay and paired flawlessly and even works with my 3-yr-old KS 910 lock controller (the older design with the slide off cover)
So if anyone is having problems with pairing their Kwikset (or maybe battery drainage like I was also having when still paired to the ST hub) then I'd recommend looking for new #450411 module. That in combination with a Z-wave Plus repeater close by should theoretically give you longer standby battery life as well.
mike.maxwell - I have zero use now for this problematic #450191 with the newer 3.37 firmware. If you still want to dig into it I'm happy to just mail it to you at my cost (easiest that way) to help the community PM me a USPS mailing address or whatever means needed to get it to you.
And once again, the old ST hub could securely pair within secs.
PM me a USPS mailing address or whatever means needed to get it to you.
