I'll just give one example here, but I have dozens of devices that do this. I have an Aeotec Smart Switch 6 that is used to detect when my TV is running. It seems at least once a day, I have to go into the device and hit 'configure,' because it has frozen. This seems to happen to many of my Z-Wave devices.
Separately, I AM noticing startling rates of battery drain on all my Z-Wave sensors. Sometimes they only last 2-3 weeks now. CR123x2 should last months, if not a year. Not sure what's going on, but it's pretty frustrating. After dealing with support to stop flat-out crashes, I removed most network-based integrations, and I still had the same issues listed above. It's like my hub is spamming the various wireless networks and draining them like crazy. Yes, it happens to Zigbee devices as well. Several times a week I find a door sensor that stopped responding, and I have to pop the button cell out and back in...then presto, Back to work.
Hi,
This sounds like your sensors might be ‘out of range’ and are trying hard to stay connected and are using up all their battery power.
Do you have a sensor you can place near your Hub to see if they stay connected ? (Say within 5 metres )
Do you have any mains powered devices that act as repeaters ??
The tiny little HE Hub radios are not very powerful.
My house isn't super large. A 2200 sq ft ranch. I have a mix of hard wired zigbee and zwave, so my coverage is pretty even, I don't have any battery drain. About once a week I check to make sure things are still checking in and it's been pretty flawless for almost a year. I have zwave light switches in most rooms. I agree with Njanda on range. Perhaps you should create an automation project or two with some repeater type automations to help out with that? Even my garage sensors and lock don't struggle and I live in IOWA. Land of the extreme temperatures.
I actually have mains repeaters in every room for both radio technologies. I finally remembered to start resetting the battery runtime on each as I replace so it's a bit more scientific.
Though I do agree that it sure FEELS like mesh isn't quite working right for either radio, despite repairs and reboots.
Yeah, in my bedroom where I keep the hub, I have an aeon switch v5 (one of those impacted by the configure issue above,) two Wink Zigbee fan controllers, and the latest ST wall plug switch. I have powered Zigbee and Z-Wave devices all over the house. Range does not appear to be an issue, as my Zigbee bulbs on my driveway function just fine.
I'm not counting my Cree bulbs as repeaters, since I've heard they are bad at it.
Then again, the issue also occurs on the Z-Wave side, so I don't think it's specific to one radio or the other. Perhaps more of a software thing. Do sensors have a 'sleep' mode when the hub doesn't talk to them in a while?
Man, another day gone by and several sensors falling off randomly. I just don't know what to do at this point. It's hard to rely on this for even package delivery notifications, let alone any sort of security purpose.
What do you mean by this statement? Are the Cree bulbs part of your Hubitat Zigbee mesh or not? Do you have any other Zigbee bulbs attached to your hub directly? Cree, GE Link, and Osaram/Lightify bulbs will all bring a Zigbee mesh down to its knees, regardless of how many other Zigbee repeaters you have. What other mains-powered Zigbee devices do you have other than the ST Wall Outlet? Are you using any Xiaomi/Aqara Zigbee devices? These are also known to be very finicky devices.
First off, Cree bulbs do not "bring a Zigbee mesh down to its knees," on other hubs, so I don't think that's a reasonable response. If that's the case, then I guess other ecosystems just have a better resiliency to the negative impacts of the Cree bulbs.
Yes, I have many Cree bulbs running on the hub. I have 3 ST outlets, wink fan controllers, and a few other non-bulb Cree repeaters I'm forgetting about. I also have 4 zwave sirens, doorbell, HEM, and some 10 aeon wall outlets that should keep both sides of the house happy.
If Cree bulbs really cripple the hub, I think they should be disallowed, no? It's just frustrating to be required to pull batteries out of both Zigbee and Z-Wave sensors almost daily and watching them chew threw batteries in a mere week or two.
Just seems like something is horribly wrong with the radio communication stack, or something. When this stuff works, I really appreciate the speed of it, but I really need to figure out these kinks.
If it was me I’d scale everything down to just a 1/2 dozen, preferred type sensors and let it settle.
Gotta simplify your system and build it up again, success by success.
I really don’t think there is a single magic “tool” that’ll catch what’s going on.
Is it repeaters, is it Apps, is it a Driver, is it interference etc.
You might have to endure 2 weeks of manual switching around your house but in the long run it’ll be for the better.
While you don’t want to hear it, these are most likely the source of your Zigbee mesh instability. I replaced my Cree bulbs with Sengled bulbs (non repeaters by design) and my Zigbee mesh became stable and very responsive.
The only device in your z-wave list that has been known to sometimes cause issues is the HEM. Two possible issues with these. First, if it is securely paired, it can cause some issues due to the increased traffic load. Make sure it is paired insecurely. Second, if this device is configured to report power/energy readings too quickly, it can overwhelm the z-wave network. I have an Aeon HEM v1 Device that reports every 30 seconds and this has not caused any problems for my z-wave network.
Hope this helps.
EDIT: One more thing...what Zigbee channel is your hub using? Many of us have had very good success with Zigbee channel 20. It minimizes WiFi conflicts and seems to be more compatible with older SmartThings Zigbee devices.
I'm using the default of channel 16, and honestly these issues seem to more greatly impact the zwave side. My HEM v1 sometimes goes hours without reporting in, and is not securely joined (so far as I can tell?)
Instead of buying new bulbs, I'll probably just add those Cree bulbs to the Hue bridge instead. Then no one can make an excuse. I can say I've been using these things for many, many years on ST and not one hint of an issue. Actually, still no issues to report.
I think what frustrates me the most is there's no good way to troubleshoot any issue with the platform. I would surmise that's across the board with competition as well. I did follow support's recommendation to remove all (well most,) my network based apps and I never had an improvement on the radio network issues.
My morning slow-down and crashes seem to have stopped, and I'm slowing adding back my apps one by one. Pretty sure it was Echo Speaks that was crippling things. Again, not connected in any way to the radio/sensor stuff.
That being said, I do apparently have a ghost sensor/device that is impossible to troubleshoot. I was told not to worry about it, but I wonder if that could somehow be an issue, at least for the Zigbee side. No reason or excuse for the zwave side yet though.
I have to say that I’d NOT be adding anything back in (disabled Apps or Drivers) until you sort out your mesh issues. As you know a smaller system, we’ll it just has fewer pieces to isolate and test.
Chuck one of your Aeon outlets in a power point across the room from your HE hub and another something like 7-8m away. Shut down and then repower the HE Hub and do a Zwave repair. Then give it 24hrs to settle BEFORE moving, testing the operation/ functions.
Slow and methodical !
I mean I get that I could tear down the entire setup and add things back 24-hours-at-a-time, taking weeks and months to rebuild, but why is it that other ecosystems don't have the same problem? I never had an inkling of a similar problem on ST, with the same exact sensors. Even a few months back, my HE was running fine.
Surely there's a way to troubleshoot the mesh, or CPU issues without starting from scratch and taking months to build back up. If not, that's just insane.
You don't have to REMOVE devices, just temporarily deactivate them (and maybe apps too at some point).
If you use list view instead of grid view (upper right corner) in devices tab, you can deactivate individual devices without removing them.
To me it sounds like some Z-wave device (specifically a powered one) is dropping off the network and breaking the battery powered device connections.
You don't have anything silly like a Z-wave dimmer after a normal light switch or something? A user a week or two ago wanted to do this and it would be a horrible idea because it would break things exactly like this.
You can see individual device activity in the devices tab, choose your device, then to to "events" in the upper left corner. See if something stands out in the events.
I dont mean to jump on the bandwagon with this one, But im having similar issues with zigbee devices. I have 4 zigbee repeaters and 8 motion sensors, 4 contact sensors. I did have 1 ikea zigbee bulb directly connected and 4 wemo bulbs. I removed the ikea bulb and got lots better performance. But this morning woke up and 4 of the motion sensors are sensing (green motion light triggers) but they arent firing the motion lighting rules to turn the lights on. They arent reporting motion to HE but they are showing as bouncing off the repeaters on the table.
Last night I walked around and every sensor was working and reporting, but wake up this morning and - issues.
Iris V2 motion sensors
ST contact sensors 2018
I need to remove the wemos from direct connection, but from the table none of my sensors are repeating off that.
yep - thats what im using. 4 of them in a 200sqm home. No brick/steel - all timber construction.
only have 2 orbi APs, only 1 other SSD shows up in my house thats not mine (not overcrowded).
I have 2 wemo bulbs to cut out of the system tonight, other than that - I have nfi why its unstable.
Yeah that's roughly the experience I'm having. Recommendation from support again is to basically remove all network based integrations, third party apps, and third party drivers.
If I lose hubconnect then I no longer have control of my Arlos via ST. That would sure be a headache. That's the only reason I have it installed. If that doesn't work, and hubconnect destroys these hubs, what's the recommended solution for that?
I'm also told the Chromecast integration is really flaky and takes down the hub, but it seems like that wouldn't impact sensors going stale like we are seeing. Also, if that official integration doesn't work, what's the alternative?
