Reliability of "compatible" locks

BTW, Lowe's is clearancing the Kwikset Smartcode 914 & 916 zigbee locks for $76-112 depending on the store. I just bought the 914 for $82 a few days ago and it seems to be working perfectly. I did seal around the back of the part that faces outside with silicone after reading some of the reviews. I'm surprised it doesn't come with a gasket or something.

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What I suggest for any device problems. Go through a determination first if it's a device issue or not. Then add in variables like repeaters and once that's eliminated then there's the chance of it being a HE driver or HE hardware issue.

This requires some hardware and software

  • Problem device (you have it which is why you're here)
  • Spare USB Z-Wave stick
  • Laptop or computer you can move to the device and around
  • Silicon Labs PC Controller Software (free)
    Z-Wave Embedded SDK - Silicon Labs

Install the software and erase the USB z-wave stick. Then exclude the problem device and Include it into the PC Controller. This is as close to RAW z-wave testing as you're going to get without dropping into the SDK level. Verify that the device functions correctly as it should. If all the checkbox are ticked and everything works then great! It's not a device problem.

Now add repeaters and verify things still function and things play nice together. A bad repeater can cause all kinds of havoc and they're hard to pinpoint.

If everything is still working just great and all is good then do the exclude and add things back to HE. If then there's still a problem at the very least you have conclusive knowledge that the device is good, repeaters are good that it's not a device issue and the problem.

Now you can try to resolve the issue whether it be a HE driver issue or something far deeper into the HE hardware. It's unknown.

Realize HE is not a z-wave certified gateway so it does NOT have to work with all z-wave devices. Sad but that's life. So if you don't like this, then replace the device with a Zigbee device and move on. @stephack happy now?

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i think the point is that Schlage locks have issues on lots of platforms, not just HE. And while your locks may be newer, there are plenty of others (like myself) who moved to HE with Schlage locks with questionable firmware (eg. FW 6.8).

My Schlage was very problematic with Wink - at the time I ascribed those issues to the general instability of that platform. It was less problematic with HE, but I still preferred to replace it with another lock.

5 out of 11 are from 1 year or less. Posts that are 2-4 years old lumped together comprise the other 6. Draw your own conclusions on Wink having fixed issues with Schlage locks ......

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:laughing: Lock Logic sir. Can't fight it.

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According to the Vera forum the last time a user reported issue with the actual basic functioning of the Schlage lock (non Zwave Plus version) on their platform is a year ago.

Sure I can... may not win. I don't even have any locks that I use... so why am I even involved???? :slight_smile: I didn't start a discussion about locks but it sure turned into one. damn.

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You are leaving out that both Wink and Vera did particular Schlange only fixes to the z-waze implementations and drivers.

HE hasn't done that yet, and one would argue if they even should v.s. newer model Schlange, or totally different brands that are less of a hassle.

I say this as someone who has struggled with Schlage on both Wink and HE (Wink up until they made fixes for the old model, but don't support the new one) and have gotten HE into a super reliable state finally after a lot of work.

I love the locks, but I'd prefer HE focused on other areas and newer Schlage locks if I were them.

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Is anybody actually certain that all these other platforms actually did do Schlage only fixes? Have we seen something anywhere where one of the Dev's from ST, Wink, Vera or anywhere else has come out and said it, or are we just assuming they did something custom?

If the other platforms have gone public to say they had to do this, it should be as simple as asking "Hey, what did you guys have to do?" or approaching Schlage and saying "What did you tell all these other guys to change so we can do it as well to support our users". If it's been done on so many other platforms, the road map to fix it should be readily available.

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I agree 100%!! I too am curious if HE has taken this approach to see if they can replicate with ST or Wink has done by reaching out to Schlage or communicate with one of the other developers to find out what was done. If the others can do it, why can't Hubitat or anyone else?!

You mean you have 5 Schlage locks operating just fine on SmartThings without a single repeater involved with them?

Odd, I keep hearing "a proper mesh" is needed

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Wink tech support (which was good at the time) indicated that their issues with Schlage locks were fixed in January/February of 2015. That's about 5 years ago.

A cursory search reveals lots of Wink users with Schlage lock issues.

5/11 posts to r/winkhub (on Reddit) complaining about Schlage lock issues date to less than 1 year. The others range from 2-4 years.

Of the 10 FB posts linked to above, 2 are within the last year (2019), 3 are from 2018, 3 are from 2017 and 1 from 2016. All of which date to after Wink fixing their Schlage lock issues.

So, while I do believe that the Schlage/Wink changes dramatically improved Schlage lock behavior under Wink, issues similar to those encountered under HE clearly persist.

I'm not leaving out that Hubitat has not did particular Schlage only fixes, that is obvious and not needed to be stated.

I pray for the day this platform only has 10 posts about this within a 4 year period.

:clap:

I have 5 Schlage locks and 8 ADT contact sensors on that hub. No mesh. In fairness, the panel for the hub sits on the wall right in between the front door and the garage entry door. The furthest lock would be about 80ft in a straight line through a few walls and doors.

@aaiyar I don't think anybody would argue saying there's never an issue on any platform. But there are significantly more issues on this one. You can search the ST boards and find some, but considering the assumed significantly larger user base of ST, there aren't nearly as many reports of issues.

There must be a reason why HE isn't willing to go to the same lengths as all of their competitors to support a product by one of if not the biggest brand in locks in the world. Especially when all the competitors have shown that a fix is available.

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I think it's small sq ft installation, ones which dont have have a mesh per say, ie all devices connected to the hub mabey it swamps the hub without the mesh to buffer it...?

Looking at both my z-wave mesh connections and zigbee 95% of devices link straight to the hub (as well as each other)

My experience is the HE antenna is much less powerful than Wink to and the ST in terms of range. Wink gave me a ton of fits with my Locks, but I also never installed repeaters as they "sometimes worked" and I figured it was a Wink issue not a range thing.

If there's a a fix, it definitely isn't universal.

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I believe Mike has already stated that they reached out to Schlage and they had no interest in partnering with HE. You can read into that what you will but anything you come up with, will be an assumption (and probably one that only serves to soldify whatever POV you already hold).

As Mike as also stated, this has been discussed ad nauseam (love that term btw) and I personally don't believe any magic fix is coming.

The way I see it is, if you have a Schalge lock, you have 2 real options.

  1. spend the time to learn, test and troubleshoot building your mesh to get these working reliably.
  2. get a different lock and move on. Your life and wife will have less strife. (Point is also valid if option 1 yield unsatisfactory results).

If these options don't work, and you REALLY need to keep this annoying device in your life...then maybe Hubitat is not for you.

All the energy spent speculating on why HE hasn't fixed this yet could be better spent on....anything else really.
This is my not so humble opinion. I think the horse was dead before this thread started beating it. :man_shrugging:

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Yup... Time to accept that the XYZ doesn't work with HE. So.. replace XYZ or replace HE but the show is over the horse is now dog food!

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