Schlage lock problems

Yep, another eBay deal and I didn't even know what I had ....LOL $25.00 + $9.83 shipping and it was a big box full of stuff.

Others have suggested the same. Unfortunately, at ~$200 per lock and four locks that's not a realistic option for me especially since my locks are on average under two years old.

I've been using a V3 Danalock (ZigBee version) for months. No problems.
Uses the built in Generic ZigBee Lock driver.

The one inescapable fact which everybody seems to breeze right by on the topic of Schlage Lock's reliability is that SO MANY other platforms seem to have found a way to deal with it such that they are rock solid on those platforms. I ran my locks on Smartthings for two years without a single issue. When I migrated to Hubitat, two of them are consistently inconsistent. I have tried every suggestion on the site, and still, they have problems.

The proof of some sort of issue with Hubitat is that Smartthings and others have no such problems. The devices in my Smart Home haven't changed after moving to Hubitat, but the problems exist.

Just my thoughts. Hubitat has made it clear it will not consider it their issue, so this is moot at this point, but I agree with the original poster about the black mark on a Great product's reputation.

LJ

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You are spot on. I have a very similar experience having moved from Wink and had zero issues with my locks. It's frustrating that these locks worked flawlessly with at least two other hub solutions yet Hubitat refuses to admit the problem may be on their end.

It seems that it would be worth their while to fix this issue and make a lot of existing (and new) Hubitat customers very happy. Unfortunately it's not looking like it will happen that way and I suspect that many will eventually move onto another solution, including myself.

Hubitat does a lot of things really well but it's a deal breaker when there are critical functionality flaws such as the issues with the Schlage locks.

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Worth a read on how SmartThings "solved" that problem:

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I have a BE469 and got it to work for about a week, then all events decided to stop reporting. Rules triggered by code unlocks no longer work. Physical thumb turn events show up 0% of the time, digital maybe 5%. (Maybe that's because pressing the Schlage button 'wakes' the radio?)

I have 4 (four) Aeotec Range Extender 6's (which have made no difference) in addition to 2 Leviton Decora z-wave foyer light switches about 36 inches from the door. I've tried all the solutions on this forum and others. LCM seems to work fine, no job delays.

I migrated from the Wink hub, and never had a single issue. In a few of the many threads out there, @aaiyar mentioned that Wink and Schlage "worked together" to make it work correctly and made us perceive that it was flawless. I would love to understand the specifics of Wink/Schlage unicorn dust that was used. On Wink, when I unlocked the door by thumb turn, it reported unlocked. When I locked the door with thumb turn, it reported locked. 99% of the time. I'm not sure what enhancement that Wink/Schlage could have been made that made this work. I've sold my Wink hub 2, although I did consider keeping it just for the lock.

What I keep hearing:

  1. "It's the zwave radio on the HE, it's weaker than other hubs"
  2. "It worked on Wink because Schlage worked with Wink to create a secret unicorn zwave radio"
  3. "You have to make sure it's paired securely."
  4. "You have to make sure you delete all the codes from the lock manually first, then pair it"
  5. "Bring the hub closer to the lock for initial pairing"
  6. "Spend $60 on 2 Aeotec Range Extender 6s and place one near the HE and one near the door, then run a zwave repair, and wait 24-48 hours so the zwave mesh 'heals'"
  7. "Reboot your HE to make the zwave radio really active and strong, THEN bring the hub 6 inches from the door."
  8. "Reboot your HE every day."
  9. "If the door is the only zwave device in the home, you'll need to create a solid mesh first. You need repeaters AND beamers."
  10. "Make sure you have a solid z-wave mesh"
  11. "Make sure you don't have any lead walls or microwaves nearby that can disturb the signal."
  12. "The lock should be in 'high power mode'"
  13. "Send a note to support."

I understand the frustration, lots and lots of users have had similar issues, the threads get longer and longer; it's obviously a problem. Some of us have already invested in Schlage and there's really not an option to buy a new lock just because it doesnt work with HE. To those defending Hubitat - Don't worry, I'm a believer too, and I'm not getting rid of HE. We are all still early adopters in the HA space and made personal choices to be tinkerers. I do believe that Hubitat should have a disclaimer in the documentation on Schlage BE468/469 with Firmware versions X.X, XX.X, etc etc"

It would be cool if someone (doesnt have to be HE support) performed a technical 'deep dive' on this specific issue. I'm willing to donate $10 to this effort....what's another $10 at this point anyway? :slight_smile:

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Literally laughed out loud on this. You mean companies don't team up with companies to ensure their products ONLY work great with those that they team up with, but the other companies who has the same protocol are left to fend for themselves?

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Wow this sounds almost exactly like my experience. Your list is spot on. I would definitely donate $10 for an effort to resolve this issue. That's nothing compared to the time and money I've already spent trying to get to the bottom of this!

@joeplayspiano You nailed it right on the head with your list.

I've never personally tried moving my Schlage locks over to HE because of all the issues I kept seeing. I don't have the time or patience to go through that. Instead I left them on Smartthings where they've been bulletproof for years and used HubConnect to bring them into HE.

I personally feel it's because the HE radio is weaker than other hubs, and even though I've done some extremely rudimentary testing to prove it to myself and there's been countless posts about people saying the same, I'm always told by the true believers I'm crazy. It's far more likely that ST worked out a deal with Wink and all the other hubs to use some of that secret unicorn dust. LOL

In all seriousness, I'm hoping the new c-7 hub has a 700 series chip which I'm also hoping fixes a lot of these issues.

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I wonder why more people don't do this If Smartthings does something better. Seems to me that distributed work load would be ideal. (Unless you think one hub should do everything perfectly.)
I plan on adding a Smartthings hub exclusively for apps that currently are not available on Hubitat. At this point a Smartthings hub (v3) is about the same cost as two beamers.
I've always tried to use the best tool available for the job. Can't build a house with only a hammer.

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It's not ideal for everyone. If you switch everything over to HE and leave the locks on ST then the locks are communicating on a weaker mesh. If your ST hub is central enough it's not a huge issue. In my case it works out because I have the ST ADT panel which is mounted between 2 of the doors, the 3rd is right outside them in the garage, and #4 and 5 are within line of sight of the hub.

Hello bobbyD,
I am a wink2 Hub user. I use it only for my 9 Schlage Z-Wave locks. All my other IoT devices are on Wifi and use other solutions. As everyone knows the future of Wink is questionable so I am seeking a replacement before it goes "dark". My locks vary in age from 12-18 months old. I noticed you mentioned "Firmware 8" is this your hub or the lock? Does your hub support OTA updates of the lock? Do you know if the Schalge API even has OTA update?

Separate question about your hub, Does it support a configuration where I can access it remotely? (assuming I have fixed IP and my networking equipment setup appropriately)
Thanks.

Schlage no longer supports OTA firmware updates of their locks (with any hub, including Nexia - the one they used to support).

Schlage locks are also not on the Hubitat list of compatible devices. So, if that is your major or sole use, Hubitat is unlikely to be an ideal zwave controller for that purpose.

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@matthew1 The Schlage locks have been removed from the compatibility list since that post by @bobbyD Many users are very satisfied with the reliability of their Schlage locks but some have issues. Since the Hubitat team has been unable to find a way to determine where the issue might be, they have been removed from the list of supported devices until they have a solution.

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Well, I don't know what the issues are exactly, but reading through the site here its seems to be a layer 1 issue with the z-wave communications. When I troll LinkedIn and look at who is at this company I don't see a lot of wireless experience or strong electrical engineering education. The chairman is a bit a famous person but I doubt he is working tech issues. I love a tough problem and if I didn't think the days of Z-wave were numbered I likely dig into myself. Has anyone in this group gotten hold of one of those Z-wave network analyzers and tried to identify the issue?

If you do a search through the communities here you will see lots of back and forth. Some people have had great success with the lock while others have not. The Hubitat engineering team have looked at the problem many times.

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What gives you that impression?

Sure, have at it.

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Because, you know - Thread has taken over everything. No, wait ....

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