Just discovered that some of my switches and dimmers aren't registering their on/off status on their device pages when I turn them on or off at the switch.
One is a Honeywell Z-Wave+ switch I just installed. The other is a Ge Z-Wave switch installed a few years ago. Other switches in the same box (similar Honeywell Z-Wave+ and GE) report normally. Both GE switches (reporting and not reporting) are using the Generic Z-Wave Switch driver, and the Honeywell's are both using the GE Enbighten driver.
I changed the GE switch that was using the generic switch driver to the GE Enbrighten driver, saved and hit config, and it still did not report on/off on its driver page.
I've only checked four switches (hot day over 100 degres so I'm lazy), but am assuming others in my home may also be having this issue.
Anyone seen this before and figured it out? @bcopeland - this something you've heard about?
Are they old enough that they are possibly subject to the problem mentioned in this thread (and many older ones; this is just one I found the most easily):
To summarize, many "classic" switches don't send everything back to the hub when physically controlled due to patent issues. A refresh or polling may help, but I wouldn't recommend that if you don't need to. If digital controls also fail to report this, that is a different problem.
I was thinking at first it might be a switch age issue, but the Honeywell that isn't reporting status is a new Z-Wave+ switch that I bought/installed just weeks ago as I was moving over to HE. The odd thing is that one of each type of switch (one new Honeywell Z-Wave+ and one old GE Z-Wave) is affected, and one of each type also reports fine.
I'm going to go look at that thread, thanks for pointing it out, for some reason didn't hit it in my searching before I posted.
Were your devices using the "Generic Z-Wave Switch" driver or the "Generic Z-Wave Smart Driver"?
If they were not using the "Smart" driver, they probably don't have the previously patented feature (Jasco didn't pay for the patent rights) needed to send manual switch actions to the hub. That requires enabling polling.
Look at the "inClusters" information on the Device page. If that starts off with 0x5E, it should support sending the notifications back.
And, yes, I'm having consistent issues with a few of my new switches as well. Not all--just a few. They are missing the "Lifeline Association" configuration for some unknown reason. @bcopeland is looking into it.
Thanks, @rob9. It's using the "Generic Z-Wave Switch" rather than the "Generic Z-Wave Smart Switch" driver.
I think you nailed it, and I mis-reported previously. The inClusters info on the device page...looks like the reporting is not supported on that switch. Victory is yours. Changing to the "Smart" generic switch driver did not affect reporting, as expected.
Also, I f'd up my notes, and it's the two GE switches that aren't reporting, and the two new Honeywell are reporting. Looks like mystery solved!
Oh, and meant to ask, I assume no benefit to changing to the Generic Z-Wave Smart Switch/Dimmer driver? As I noted above, it doesn't help w/the reporting issue, but wondering if there are any potential benefits using this instead of the "non-smart" version.
The main issue w/this is that using a Dashboard to report status for these switches is pretty pointless. I may replace a few of these switches, but man, one is in a switch box that is so tight that I honestly fear going back into it... [eek!]
Changing to the "wrong" driver isn't likely to help--and is likely to create other issues, since it expects things that aren't there.
Although not the best for overall performance, if you need to have the current status of those old devices, you have a couple options:
Use the built-in "Z-Wave Poller" app
Create a "rule" in the Rule Manager that polls the devices you want to keep up to date at the timeframe you desire.
#1 will poll like crazy, so it's not an ideal thing--but I it works if you need to poll everything frequently.
#2 lets you control how often you do the polling--but isn't quite as automated. This lets you greatly reduce the traffic on your network if you don't need the constant polling generated by #1 (at the expense of having the status being delayed).
Evil man, encouraging profligate spending on smart switches!
I will probably weaken and do the upgrades at some point, but think I need a little break after all the stuff w/the new C7 hub. Plus I'm sure my wife would like a break from the endless packages arriving over the past few weeks (switches, new mini-UPS, Ecowitt weather stuff, POE splitters, wireless wi-fi bridge, many Picos, etc., etc.).
My wife busted me shuffling past her with two smartthings motion sensors last night. Her: "What are those" Me: "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" Her: "Bullshit... what'd you buy now?" Me: "Some motion sensors so the closet light doesn't turn off on you when you are around the corner and so the bathroom lights stay on while you're taking a bath." Her: "Then why didn't you just say that in the first place."
My parents, my grandparents, all the way back to my ancestral protoplasm are all in agreement that polling is the work of the devil, and (even worse) corrupt programmers.
I am glad to see the info, to help w/my Node Red apprentenship.
There is no elegant solution, it's a HW/FW issue, the older Z-Wave devices don't report as nicely as newer versions. @erktrek posted a Node Red approach above...
Changing to the "Smart" generic switch driver did not affect reporting, as expected.
