Regular Frustrating Issues

I’ve been in the HE platform for about two months (coming from ST). I have about 75 devices which I added properly by building out the mesh slowly. I have 4 or 5 repeaters.

All of my devices are easily controlled through the dashboard and, for the most part, Amazon Alexa.

However, daily, I have lights that don’t activate on routines or motion sensors. Not always the same ones but there’s always at least one every day.

Tonight 4 or 5 of my outside lights went off for no apparent reason. They’re not a group or scene but are part of groups or scenes, There was no trigger set for this and it was not related to a mode change.

Is this a stability issue as it is becoming very frustrating as I came to HE to get stability and proper control.

I’m starting to second guess my decision.

We are going to need a few more details. You say mesh with 75 devices, but don't share which wireless protocol; Z-wave or Zigbee?

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Also I would also check to see if you have Alexa hunches enabled. I have seen reference to this new(?) functionality turning things on/off unexpectedly for people.

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Also of note since you said you have bulbs: are these Zigbee bulbs paired directly to Hubitat, and if so, what kind? (Hue Bridge bulbs don't count; they're just LAN devices by the time Hubitat sees them.) Many are known to be "bad" repeaters, and one possibility is that the motion events you're expecting simply aren't making it to the hub. Checking the "Events" tab on the device page for motion event history would be a good first troubleshooting step regardless.

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Here's some answers:

  • Z-wave protocol (I do have one Zigbee motion sensor which is not involved in the issues)
  • No bulbs, only switches and plug-in modules.
  • Checked the Events tab on the motion sensor and it is sensing motion.
  • I have not heard of Alexa Hunches so I assume it's not enabled.

The issues are sporadic, some devices simply don't trigger on an event when others do. It's not always the same device

You might want to check the hunches bit again.. It was enabled for me but was not doing anything I was aware of. Run the alexa app / more / settings / hunches to see. I'm guessing this is not your issue but it is worth eliminating as a possibility. Another thing to try is temporarily disabling the Alexa skill app for a little while to see what happens.

Between myself and my clients I have a ton of z-wave switches mostly Zooz toggles (various versions) running and have not seen anything like this yet. Will def keep an eye out though as there seems to be others reporting similar issues as well. Some devices have timers built in and do not appear to be disabling when set to do so.

Took a look at my Alexa App and I don't even see Hunches listed!

If Hunches is available (I think it is only available in certain countries/regions), it should be in the Settings, near the bottom of the preferences section.

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One way to confirm the root could be to replicate one or more of the failing Alexa routines in Simple Automations or Motion Lighting, etc., and disable the corresponding Alexa routine. Then monitor to see if the same issues persist. If things work, it's an Alexa issue, if problems persist, there is something in your mesh that is not playing nicely.

When you look at your Z-Wave Details screen (in Settings) do all your devices have values in the Clusters column?

The problem is these issues don't just happen when using Alexa. They happen with motion triggered events, time of day events and even when I use a scene in the app. And the devices that don't go on and off in these scenarios are seemingly random.

Further, the dashboard is often out of sync with the state of some of the devices (i.e. dashboard says the light is on but it's not).

All of my devices work properly when controlling them individually from the dashboard.

All of my devices have values in the clusters column but I do show 10 nodes that have no devices associated with them and hence no values in Clusters.
Are there supposed to be both In and Out values?

Post a screen shot of the Z-Wave Details page w/those devices.

Like this:

The devices with no Out values?

Thanks for clarifying, from the OP it seemed like you were saying you only controlled things via Dashboard or Alexa. :slight_smile:

Yes...just want to make sure I understand what you're saying. If you mean some devices look like the two I posted w/Clusters column only showing "In:" valuses, and no "out" values, yes, that's OK.

image

Are your devices Z-Wave, or Z-Wave Plus? Z-Wave devices on HE do not report status as Z-Wave Plus devices do. ST had some additional activity going on to keep Z-Wave device status up to date, but HE does not do that by default. There is a Polling app that you can use if your Z-Wave devices status aren't getting updated, which might be related to your issues.

image

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This:

Or any other device that looks like this is most likely your problem. It's a Ghost device. You will need to remove it for your hub to function properly.

Do you have any more that look like this in the Clusters column? No "In" or "Out" values?

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I have a number of older Z-Wave devices as they are in the wall switches that are costly to replace at $60 a pop. I’ll try the Polling app and see what happens

Yes. There’s 10 of them in total.

I don’t see a way to remove them.