When it works, it works well. I can turn it on and off from the Hubitat Devices page, status updates, all is good.
It's also controlled from Alexa and an Alexa group. Again, when it's working, it's reliable.
But, often it is totally non-responsive, either from the Hubitat GUI or Alexa. Just now, I tried another driver. It was obviously an inappropriate one after the device page showed two independently controlled outlets.
So, I changed it back to the "Generic ZWave Outlet" driver and now it's working again.
Is there a better driver to use?
Can the wrong driver cause issues like this (works consistently, then doesn't work at all)
I've read that somehow, the z-wave network gets optimized over time. Could this be causing the issue?
I should have read the info on the Z-wave device table. Looking at the hops and route changes, it seems pretty obvious the RF is having issues getting to that outlet. It is in an outdoor, metal box (ugh).
I just ordered a C-8. Maybe the external antenna will increase the radiated power enough to eliminate the issue. I'll wait and try that before doing anything else.
If not, maybe I can keep my C-7 hub and locate it on the same floor as the problematic outlet. I think I saw an option for "enable hub mesh" that I think is for that.
Why would this happen? I'd think if device 11 was used as the intermediate hop for several devices, a hop through another device to access it would not be needed.
Probably devices were routing through node 11 and also node 11 was direct originally. For some reason the direct route for node 11 did not work fast enough at some point so it re-routed with a hop. This change does not impact other routes, only the route for that one device. If that new route never fails it will keep using it happily until you do a repair or it fails.
Z-Wave pretty does what it wants and do not worry too much about the routes unless you are having problems with a device. Then the routes can clue you in, but its is not easy to tell a device to take other routes.
Swapping out the box would be a hassle. It's in brick siding with mortar all around it.
Not worth it. It's just for Christmas outdoor lighting anyway. I have a separate two outlet "dongle" that I'd use instead and repurpose the outlet some where else.
Logs > Device Stats shows the hub uptime at the top.
You basically have a weak mesh. Looks like the devices may be spread out a bit and not dense enough. Or if you have all metal boxes that would make it look that way as well.
The C-8 will for sure help, the antennas work magic.
The ones that required hops make sense--they are a floor above where the hub is located. Still, I'm surprised the radiated RF is that weak. My RPIs have no problem as a wifi hotspot even when located on our top floor--two floors above stuff that wifi connects to them from our basement.
Hopefully signal strength will be sufficiently improved with the new hub.
Just wanted to note that this is an older model that isn’t Zwave Plus and that is also contributing to the issue. The C8 antennas may help but I personally swapped out all my older non-plus devices because of similar issues a few years ago.
Ugh and very surprised they are still available. They are 300 series Zwave and manufactured 6-8 years ago. There is a date code sticker on it and I bet says something like 15XX where XX is the week within the year 2015 or whatever the first 2 digits are. If you can return it I would recommend doing do.
Unfortunately, I didn't save the packaging. But,Amazon is usually very good about returns, so if the new hub doesn't fix the issue, I'll try to return it.
Yeah this is where I get super frustrated with Amazon because even though the top of the page says that you always must pay attention to the seller:
The latest models will list Amazon as the Ship and Sold by company. I’ve learned to pay attention to this because some companies will sell on Amazon and not be an authorized dealer for an item and the manufacturer will refuse support and warranty.
Understand too that z-wave non plus doesn't report it's status.... Only z-wave plus does. In order to get current status on a non plus z-wave switch is to use the built in polling app. Also non plus is limited to 40kbs so anything even a plus device routing through that non plus devices will will choke the plus device from 100kbps to 40.
This Enbrighten (same as GE/Jasco/Honeywell) model is a well-proven & very reliable performer -- it's 500-series (so no polling necessary), and can do S2 (if you're in to that).
