Trouble Using Zooz Outlet to Detect Power Failure

Trying to use a Zooz Z-Wave+ power outlet to detect power failures.

Of course, if the power goes out, the Zooz can't report its status to the hub, so I created a rule that periodically refreshes the outlet and evaluates the voltage reported. Trouble is, during a power outage, the outlet doesn't respond, and the OLD voltage value (prior to the power failure) continues to be returned to Rule Manger. Does anyone know a method for detecting if one of these outlets quits responding to a refresh or drops off the network?

If you are working or already using custom drivers for devices you have some flexibility to add an attribute with the last update received (from a refresh or any other action) and use that to check.

If you don't I've heard you can use something like the community watchdog app to monitor last activity date. I assume your hub and all network infrastructure is on a battery backup?

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i have a Rule which is upadated when power value is sent, and then just resets every time a report is received
trigger device power
actions
cancel delayed actions
send notification --> delay 45 minuites (no power repor)

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@mark.cockcroft Thanks, your method is great for building a watchdog and it works well as long as the power failure isn't shorter than the delay period.

The Zooz outlet has a nice feature that lets you set the state (on/off) that the outlet returns to after a power failure. I thought I would be able to use this feature to "capture" a power failure so Hubitat could learn of the event once the power came back on. Unfortunately, the fact that the outlet is now ON is never communicated to Hubitat, even after a manual refresh. Hubitat shows the outlet as still OFF even though it is actually ON, a potentially dangerous situation.

I have an Ecosmart light bulb that does a fine job of reporting a recovery from a power failure by simply coming on after one has occurred. Hubitat immediately sees the Ecosmart bulb is ON and triggers a rule that notifies me that power has returned. Too bad the Zooz doesn't do the same.

Which plug and what's the firmware version?

It's a Monoprice Part Number 27481 that paired automatically as a "Zooz Power Switch" type in Hubitat. It has two USB charging ports on the front and a led light ring surrounding the outlet.

I do not know how to determine or update the firmware, do you?

It may have the same command class list which would make Hubitat assign it that handler, but Zooz always customizes their firmware and sometimes even the hardware before releasing the product.

They also release new firmware to fix problems and add additional functionality so those are completely different devices.

When posting a problem you're having with a device it's best to post it about the device you actually have and not the handler it gets assigned, but still mention the handler it was assigned within the post in case it's a driver issue.

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Do you think there may be a more appropriate Hubitat handler for this power outlet?

Try the Generic Zwave Smart Switch built-in driver.

If the device doesn't send a message to the hub when power is restored then the issue has nothing to do with the driver.

You should check your device's manual to make sure that it supports that power recovery setting.

If it does then using a rule to execute the refresh command every 5 minutes might be a workaround for what you're trying to do, but these devices are somewhat chatty so I don't recommend polling it more often than that.

I agree. I do not think it is a driver issue. It's a quirk in the firmware of the outlet.

The outlet continues to periodically report all parameters normally, even after a power failure. Most likely, whatever internal table the outlet reads from wasn't updated after the power outage to show that the outlet power is now ON. So, of course, it continues to tell Hubitat the outlet power is OFF.

I'm pretty sure that's an issue Zooz found and fixed either before the product launched or shortly after.

A night light or something plugged into it should report 0 when the switch is plugged in and turned off, but when power reporting is set to it's most sensitive setting it might report a few power readings when turned on after a power outage.

That's just a theory, but it might be worth plugging something into it that used power and setup a rule with power > 0 as the trigger to see if that works...