Thanks. I have about 20 shades, definitely see red light on few of them.
OK. I moved the HE within 15 -20 feet of direct line of sight of the blinds, repaired the network. It worked as intended once and then back to erratic behavior. 
Really frustrated. I have been trying to follow a couple of other threads, and tried to use another driver but that driver is throwing errors. Not really sure what else I can do!! In addition to getting HE, have sunk in quite some money in getting Lutron hub, repeaters, new z-wave switches. I might have to go back to using Wink (which I really don't want to) but proper working of blind automation is a must.
I haven't reached out to Hubitat support yet though, should that be the next step?
Thanks
What is the software version of your hub?
2.2.1.115
Upgraded to 2.2.1.116. It took a few tries over a week or so to get it to upgrade it from 2.2.1.115, finally it completed successfully yesterday.
I have been mucking around quite a bit and starting to dabble into groovy. Coding has never been my forte, but I was able to do some tinkering that has somewhat made the situation better but not fully resolved. I guess something is better than nothing.
(I wrote to Hubitat support, who after a few days of no response, closed my ticket with a message that my case has been handed over to engineering..... radio silence thereafter!!! Well, I will vent over support some other day.... Unfortunately, I am beyond my return date for both Hubitat & Lutron Hubs, otherwise, I might have taken that step because I was getting tired. Anyhow, I am still here, so onwards & upwards).
I am primarily now using a modified version of a driver from Eric Vitale
- I essentially removed some of the Dimmer specific code.
- To use devices running this driver in the Rule Machine in Hubitat, one needs an ability to set 'Position'. In contrast, the original code was referencing 'Levels,' so I changed 'Level' references/routines to 'Position' so I could now set the shade level/position using HE Rule Machine. Also updated custom scenes to 'Custom Set position' Commands.
- I got the original driver idea from driver posted by @DeveloperDavidB's and extended @jdntx's Parse routine on this thread Bali Autowave Shades - Erratic Behavior - #13 by jdntx
This driver seems to be doing a much better job than Generic Z Wave Shade driver. Some shades still don't close from a partial open position to fully close but definitely better than the original driver. I just hope that @hubitat support sees this and helps incorporate this in the stock driver and make it stable. I think there are enough of us with these shades that, this needs some official love.
Here is Link to the updated driver:
This is a partial solution (partial because pop-corn effect still occurs on some shades randomly) to my first two use cases:
Use Case 1: Open Shades 50% in the morning (Implemented using Rule engine)
Use Case 2: Close Shades entirely at night time (Implemented using Rule engine)
For the next two use cases, I created two virtual devices. I then created rules (for UC 3 & 4 respectively), for which the trigger is 'ON' state for the respective virtual device. Now I can ask Alexa to turn on this virtual device, which in turn triggers the rule. Here is the screenshot:
I see that you discussed firmware. Had you gotten anywhere with that?
I called Spring Fashion support (Parent company for Bali/Gerber). There is no firmware update for the blinds.
have you reached out to the developer of the community driver for assistance with the drivers you are trying? Maybe they'd want to know about the errors and offer some help?
Reach out to zebrablinds.com
Maybe load up the z-wave updater driver and see what firmware version you have for the blind.
Thanks. I’ll try that. I thing to consider though is that I never had any issue with blinds with Wink. Like ever! So given that, I don’t yet think firmware is culprit here. I feel there is some command that Wink sends to blinds that Hubitat is not being able to send.
Try conveying your wink hub to a repeater and see if that helps the issue
Ok, added Wink in as a repeater. No change. I don't think it is a signal issue because Hub is only 15 feet away from blind. Also, I have tried adding repeaters as well, which didn't help and neither did adding Wink to the hub. I think it is a driver/command issue.
I think I have tracked down the actual product on Z-wave alliance site. Bali & Graber, both are from the same company 'Spring Fashions'. This is the product link and here is its Z-Wave Network Management Instructions. I wonder if the following recommendation is not baked into the driver code?
The Wakeup command class should be configured by a hub when the remote is joined to a Z-Wave network. A WAKE_UP_INTERVAL_SET command should configure the NodeID at a minimum. The Wakeup interval can be configured to any value from 6 minutes to 25 hours. Recommendation is to leave the interval at the default of 12 hours to maximize battery life. The remote will wake up every WakeUpInterval and send a WakeUp Notification command as well as a battery report to the NodeID assigned with the Interval Set command. The WakeUp Notification will be sent within a few minutes of power being applied to the remote and then once every Wake Up Interval. A Wakeup Interval Capabilities command will inform the hub of the default, minimum, maximum and step size of the Wake Up interval.
@april.brandt Any additional recommendations? I tried emailing Hubitat support but didn't really get a response. How do I get some attention from one of their support engineers?
HE is probably not going to reply to your request, but will look at the driver to see if improvements could be made.
You could try some of the suggestions in this post? Or reached out to the link posted above?
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I spoke with Spring Fashion support (Bali/Graber) one more time. This time it was a nicer support personnel. Still couldn't get any resolution but sharing some information on here for anyone reading this future. He basically said Shades have two way communication, so hub/driver plays a big role. Wink is also no longer their supported hub ; he recommended to get their Graber Virtual Cord Hub (that being the only supported hub for Bali/graber). I am not sure if I want to drop another 200 on another hub and just wish I could get some help updating/fixing the driver for HE.
I looked into the 'dimmer post' but couldn't glean much. @ZebraBlinds are you able to provide some assistance please?
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I wonder if @bcopeland would be willing to look at it. He seems to work magic with lots of these Zwave devices.
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@yashvind Thanks for the Tag
The issue with the shades stopping at random positions is firmware related and you need to check the version you are on. If it's below 11.03 what essentially happens on most hubs and sometimes on wink as well (you were just lucky) when a command is sent and the shade is in motion or just about to start motion from a command it already received or it decides to repeat another z-wave command in the z-wave network a bug in the firmware caused the motors to think they are overloaded with power and forced them to stop (with a red light on the motor) to prevent damage to the motor. When this happens it can be any where from mins to an hour for them to respond again directly to the hub or if you move the shade the opposite direction using the remote and try again it will work.
I find that SmartThings and Hubitat tends to repeat commands in the z-wave network which is when this happens.
Pm me if you need further help. Just double check the firmware version on the shade first.
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I sent you a PM with some details but posting it here as well for benefits of others who might have the same problem. My firmware is 11.2. So that would explain the issue. The shades act exactly the same way you described.
Called up Spring Fashion again to see if I can get access to new firmware file and they claimed that the motors have not changed or the firmware on them in last 4 years. I don’t think the person knew what she was talking about. She initially didn’t even know what firmware is!!
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replied to the PM
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