Does anyone know why, seems to be since 2 updates back, Z-Wave devices communication to hub drops, this seems to be 1 device randomly, and I have to reboot hub to get it to work again, last night ever Z-Wave device stopped communicating, all my Zigbee lights work fine. I have no installed apps, and just a switchbot driver and Node Red running on a RPi4, which I've had for years with no problems.
Troubleshooting this will need more details. Which hub? C-4/C-5/C-7? If it is a C-7, has the z-wave radio firmware been updated? If it is a C-7, can you post a screenshot of your z-wave table (Settings -> Z-Wave Settings)?
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There have been no changes to the Z-Wave protocol in the past few updates, so likely the fact that your Z-Wave mesh has become unstable, following an update is just a coincidence.
Most common reason for an unstable Z-Wave mesh, is when one or more devices within the network start misbehaving. As @aaiyar suggested, troubleshooting Z-Wave problems must start with the current state of Z-Wave protocol, which includes at minimum the hub model, current Z-Wave firmware, network composition (make and models of your devices).
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The hub is the C-5, the sensors are aeotec gen5 multisensor, and a sensitive strip light sensor, the sensitive strip contact sensors x2 seem to work fine, aeotec are mains powered, the firmware on these sensors have never been updated, but I wouldn't know where to start doing that, I have tried to repair Z-Wave mesh network, but don't know if it didn't anything as it takes so long.
There haven’t been any zwave changes for the C-5 for over two years.
Any recent changes you’ve seen are coincidental and probably arise out of a repeating device misbehaving, or a power reporting device misbehaving.
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@mark21 Are you seeing anything odd in your logs when these issues happen? Do the aeotec mains powered sensors repeat? Looking on the specs it shows that they are not normally mains powered so I assume an adapter of some sort? If that's the case, everything you have is battery powered and not repeating which makes for a very weak mesh... This would cause devices to be sensitive to local conditions and cause dropoffs. Just something to think about.
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No, the aeotec multisensors can be main or battery, they come with a micro usb for connecting to a phone charger, which is what i have done in this case
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When you first included the Aeotec multisensors, were they on USB or on battery? If they're included while on USB, they function as repeaters. They can also be quite chatty/noisy on a network when they are powered by USB.
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couple were on battery, when included, have moved a couple around as I added some smarthings zigbee sensors because aeotec go through battery, and also makes them quite heavy for sticking to a walk as they take 2 AA. but did re-include them after excluding them, which is what aeotec manual said to do. to be honest all the sensors seem to have a big events log, which is annoying, as half the values i don't need but have no way of turning off.
Well, I think what @aaiyar is saying is if they were paired on battery then then even if you switch them to mains power they won't repeat. You would have to exclude them then factory reset then repair while they were plugged into mains power to have them be used as repeaters (I have a couple of z-wave devices like this)
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Would be nice if we could tell what is repeating, I'm just not fond of keep excluding and re-including, as I like to keep everything neat and tidy, by hubitat ID number for instance my last installed device is 1632, because I like to play, and i only have about 40 device, and i would like to keep say Multisensors in range 200 - 300 etc, and see ID numbers on Z-Wave details table etc, but maybe that may happen 1 day
A lot of that is on the C7
Z-wave stick paired as a secondary controller using the silabs software
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I was thinking of updating to the C7, but I'm not sure whether to stay with Hubitat, I like everything in 1 place, if I could get calendar events notifications sorted, using my Caldav Calendar, and be able to talk to and send to google home, i would definitely stay with hubitat and upgrade, but at the moment I have to use RPi4 with node red, so do I use my RPi4 and install Home Assistance or upgrade to the C7. How would you do the Z-Wave secondary controller.
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