LUX KonoZ Thermostat Tweaks or Better Option?

[jacobgraf]

I have a 3-Zone HVAC system in my house. Each floor has a thermostat. Currently I use LUX KonoZ Zigbee Thermostats, but I am really getting sick of babysitting them. All of my other Zigbee stuff seems to be working great, but I have 50/50 confidence in the status in Hubitat for these 3 devices and what they are actually showing.

I am using the native driver but wondering if there are any other drivers that might help, or if there are some settings I should be tweaking to make them work better?

If not, what is the current recommendation for thermostats in Hubitat these days? I'd rather not go with a cloud-based solution, but if that's what everybody recommends, I will be open to the recommendation.

Any advice you can give would be helpful. I want to have confidence, especially when I am out of the house, that the stats I am seeing in Hubitat and also the commands I send, are going to work without fail.

Thanks!

[mike.maxwell]

@jacobgraf

I am really getting sick of babysitting them.

i don't know what that means specifically...

[jacobgraf]

Like I mentioned. There is a 50/50 chance that the information shown in Hubitat is the same as the info on the device itself. I am constantly having to pull them off the faceplate and reseat it, essentially power cycling it to get it back synced up with Zigbee/Hubitat.

[mike.maxwell]

to be honest that doesn't sound like an issue with the driver or the thermostat...

[jacobgraf]

Can you elaborate? What do you think it's related too? All I care about is fixing the reliability of my thermostats so I can have confidence in them. Everything else is reliable at this point except the thermostats.

Also, if there is a better thermostat (Zigbee, Z-Wave, or other), I'm all ears to that too. I just want it to be reliable.

[aaiyar]

@jacobgraf

Can you elaborate?

How many, and what type of, zigbee repeaters are in your mesh?

[jacobgraf]

Well I have about 70 Zigbee devices. Most are Sengled bulbs but I have a handful of Aqara buttons/sensors/etc. I used to use the Innr outlet/repeaters but after having issues with those and my Aqara devices, I replaced all the Innr outlet/repeaters with Tradfri outlet/repeaters. Since then everything has been working great other than the thermostats. I have always had issues with these LUX thermostats though. They have never been reliable. I've constantly had to power cycle them.

Here is my Zigbee routing info...

---

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=15, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data
child:[Kitchen Light 3, 1320, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Upper Hallway Light 3, 0320, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Upper Hallway Light 2, CE0F, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Hutch Light Right, 6789, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Table Light 4, 3DA2, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Table Light 2, 4C79, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Table Light 1, 0ADF, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Upper Hallway Light 1, 9C7C, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Table Light 3, 4513, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Living Room TV Light Left, A544, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Upper Hallway Light 4, C408, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Dining Room Hallway Light 2, 0B4C, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]
child:[Upper Hallway Thermostat, F090, type:EMBER_SLEEPY_END_DEVICE]
No information for Child 13
No information for Child 14

Neighbor Table Entry
[Basement Hallway Routing Outlet, 3613], LQI:246, age:3, inCost:5, outCost:1
[Garage Side Carbon Monoxide Detector, 6A0C], LQI:235, age:3, inCost:5, outCost:7
[Brennan’s Room White Noise, 6E86], LQI:55, age:7, inCost:7, outCost:0
[Ella’s Room Routing Outlet, 7BA6], LQI:232, age:5, inCost:5, outCost:5
[Master Bedroom Heated Lotion, 866C], LQI:254, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:5
[Living Room Routing Outlet, 87B8], LQI:253, age:3, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Connor’s Room Christmas Lights, 87BD], LQI:254, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Kitchen Routing Outlet, 9261], LQI:253, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Basement Unfinished Workbench Light, 9B59], LQI:254, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:3
[Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB], LQI:255, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:1

Route Table Entry
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Master Bedroom Closet Motion Sensor, 03DF] via [Basement Hallway Routing Outlet, 3613]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Motion Sensor, 07DB] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Laundry Room Motion Sensor, 3A44] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Garage Refrigerator Contact Sensor, E2DD] via [Kitchen Routing Outlet, 9261]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Basement Stairs Motion Sensor, 2DE0] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Living Room Thermostat, 1E9C] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Basement Unfinished Motion Sensor, 88B2] via [Kitchen Routing Outlet, 9261]
status:In Discovery, age:0, routeRecordState:2, concentratorType:High Ram, [null, 0000] via [Connor’s Room Christmas Lights, 87BD]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Basement Unfinished Workbench Light, 9B59] via [Living Room Routing Outlet, 87B8]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Upper Hallway Motion Sensor, C79C] via [Basement Hallway Routing Outlet, 3613]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused

[mike.maxwell]

@jacobgraf

Upper Hallway Thermostat

This thermostat is currently directly connected to the hub, how is the state reporting currently working for this device?

[jacobgraf]

Ironically this was the one I had to go power cycle when I finally made the decision to make this post. lol

[mike.maxwell]

Right, so how's it performing right now?

[jacobgraf]

After power cycling it an hour or so ago it has been working fine. They usually do, for a while, and then they don't, but I don't really know that they aren't working. I just have to notice that what I'm seeing in Hubitat isn't actually what it's currently set to on the thermostat itself.

[mike.maxwell]

Power cycling usually causes the device to find a new parent.
If you have 70 devices then a minimum of 10 to 15 of those should be routers.
What you describe sounds like an insufficient number of routers

[aaiyar]

@mike.maxwell

insufficient number of routers

@jacobgraf

In addition to what @mike.maxwell indicated, the high outCost on several of the routers in your mesh (5-7) is not a good prognosticator for their being used as routers.

[bjcowles]

And Brennan's Room White Noise has aged out. It's basically not even there.

[aaiyar]

My zigbee network is about the same size as yours (~70 total), with 16 routers. Here's what my zigbee table looks like:

No Sleepy end devices are directly paired to the Hubitat - everything goes through a router. And among the routers, only one looks bad (Outlet - Bed). My network is pretty responsive. I don't have a zigbee thermostat any more, but when I did, it stayed in sync with the Hub. FWIW, I have a Honeywell T6 z-wave thermostat now because I prefer its looks to the Centralite Pearl.

[jacobgraf]

Ok hmm. I guess I'd better add a few more routers. Wondering if I should add a couple of my Innr's back to the mix or buy more Tradfris and try to keep them all the same?

[jacobgraf]

Where do I find more information about what these different things mean, like outCost? Just wanna figure out how I make things better and I'd like to understand it a bit more so I can make better decisions going forward. Thanks!

[aaiyar]

@jacobgraf

Where do I find more information about what these different things mean, like outCost?

Here's a good explanation from @Tony

Zigbee instability

If your home is very large or has lots of RF obstructions, it's possible you may have one or two routers that are critical for accessing the repeaters in the rest of your network. If their link quality is poor and you lose connectivity to them, the rest of your network also becomes inaccessible. Try looking at this page {Hub IP}/hub/zigbee/getChildAndRouteInfo. It will show information about the link quality to the routers that are nominally within a one hop radius from the hub (the neighbo…

[aaiyar]

@jacobgraf

add a couple of my Innr's back to the mix

I’ve had no issue with these.

[jacobgraf]

Ok I basically adde like 10 Innr routing outlets. We'll see if that helps stabilize some of the Zigbee issues by strengthening the mesh. Below is a fresh copy of my routing table. Does everything look good? One thing that stood out to me was "concentratorType:High Ram". Is that bad? Any other advice?

Thanks!

---

Parent child parameters
EzspGetParentChildParametersResponse [childCount=1, parentEui64=0000000000000000, parentNodeId=65535]

Child Data
child:[Dining Room Hutch Light Right, 6789, type:EMBER_END_DEVICE]

Neighbor Table Entry
[Dining Room Routing Outlet, 1261], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Basement Hallway Routing Outlet, 3613], LQI:252, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:1
[Basement Bathroom Routing Outlet, 60A3], LQI:254, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:3
[Laundry Room Routing Outlet, 60E8], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Garage (Front) Routing Outlet, 61E6], LQI:255, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:0
[Master Bedroom Routing Outlet (Lisa), 6208], LQI:252, age:7, inCost:3, outCost:0
[Ella’s Room Routing Outlet, 7BA6], LQI:246, age:4, inCost:5, outCost:1
[Guest Room Routing Outlet, 82C9], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Master Bedroom Heated Lotion, 866C], LQI:255, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:0
[Connor’s Room Christmas Lights, 87BD], LQI:255, age:5, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Basement Unfinished Workbench Light, 9B59], LQI:252, age:4, inCost:3, outCost:3
[Living Room Front Door Routing Outlet, B93C], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Addison’s Room Routing Outlet, C720], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB], LQI:255, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1
[Back Hallway Routing Outlet, F9C4], LQI:255, age:3, inCost:1, outCost:0
[Kitchen Routing Outlet, FD97], LQI:254, age:4, inCost:1, outCost:1

Route Table Entry
status:In Discovery, age:0, routeRecordState:2, concentratorType:High Ram, [null, 0000] via [Basement Hallway Routing Outlet, 3613]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Garage Refrigerator Contact Sensor, E2DD] via [Dining Room Routing Outlet, 1261]
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Unused
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Dining Room Table Light 1, 0ADF] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Kitchen Light 2, 6FB8] via [Basement Unfinished Workbench Light, 9B59]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Dining Room Table Light 2, 4C79] via [Living Room Front Door Routing Outlet, B93C]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Kitchen Light 3, 1320] via [Upper Hallway Computer Desk Routing Outlet, E3CB]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Dining Room Table Light 3, 4513] via [Kitchen Routing Outlet, FD97]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Dining Room Table Light 5, 8639] via [Ella’s Room Routing Outlet, 7BA6]
status:Active, age:64, routeRecordState:0, concentratorType:None, [Kitchen Light 4, DB4D] via [Basement Unfinished Workbench Light, 9B59]