Good morning, Most of my setup runs on Zigbee - and the experience really click-and-go, Z-wave however i have never quite cracked.
i only have 1 z-wave device that i really care about - a Yale lock, then to ensure there is a mesh i have 1 Z-wave outlet switch, and when that was still playing up i purchased a z-wave repeater, and finally a S2 z-wave repeater (so three devices to ensure 1 lock works well).
But i just cant seem to ensure the devices can talk reliably to the Hubitat C7 hub. ive tried resets, Z-wave repairs etc but i still get ongoing performance issues and a diagnostics that looks like this...
Can anyone give me any tips as to what i am potentially doing wrong?
- all devices are in the same room, and within about 5 metres of each other.
- the s2 repeater is about 50cm from the C7 hub
- the zwave socket about 2 metres away
- the final repeater is between the C7 hub and the lock (2m ether side)
There is certainly something strange going on with my setup so any pointers or guidance would be appreciated as i've exhausted the habitat z-wave guides. Could a hardware failure of the hub z-wave module be a potential candidate?
Thanks all.
Post your z-wave details page. It will help also to know the device models.
I presume device 01 is your lock which is not working. If all devices, including the lock, are in the same room, then you shouldn't have an issue and shouldn't necessarily need a repeater. How far is the lock from the hub?
Also - I've found not all repeaters/devices are created equal. I have several z-wave plug modules which are advertised as repeaters that aren't very effective. However, I have a couple of Aeotec dedicated repeaters which work great. I generally had to put those in to connect to a plug in the far side of my garage, and in another house to connect to a lock in an outside laundry room.
One thing to check/try. I don't have experience with the Yale lock, but I have multiple kwikset z-wave locks installed in three residences.
Some secure devices, such as locks, will only pair in a low power mode and have to be paired right next to the hub before they can be used in the network. This was originally setup for security. Assuming the lock is battery, try taking the module and pairing it right next to the hub, then test operate a few times from your HE before moving and installing back in the door. Then when you install, run any lock reset routines to marry up with the lock hardware. These typically only reset the hardware to the lock position (left/right - locked/unlocked) and won't reset the z-wave radio/pairing.
For comparison, attached is my z-wave mesh. On the surface it looks poor, however almost every node has at least one other connection, and it works reliably with no real issues.
The devices that are all red are those that I currently either don't have active, or just haven't used in quite some time. 20 for example, is a cabinet plug in my living room with built in lights on a dimmer plug. I haven't activated it since Jan this year, even though it is all red, activated this morning to test and it came right up. It's also reasonably close to my hub, 3-5m or so, on the same level, separated by two walls on each side of our stairs.
I believe that’s the hub.
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Good point - but then if the hub has no connectivity, why is everything else blue?!
its really strange isnt it. the Hub is 01, if i trigger the lock when its in this state sometimes the command goes though - but the route changes, other times the command never reaches the lock.
details below
Thanks, i had all this fun pairing the lock in low power mode originally, but its been paired ever since and appears to have strong connectivity to the repeaters, the lock itself is 5m from the Hubitat hub - with no obstructions beyond a wooden door.
the reliability did noticeably improve after adding the repeater but its not totally trust worthy as to when its going to have a hick-up
5m on the other side of a single door shouldn't be a real issue. In this case less may be more. I noticed that repeater 12 is 9.6kps, but 10 (0A) at 100kps is your strongest, which appears to be the repeater that everything, including the lock, is going through.
Additionally 17 is paired with S2 security which adds additional overhead and could be needlessly complicating/slowing down your network.
I'd remove the second two repeaters and see what you get with just the lock and 10.
Thank you I'll have a go at removing these two and track the behaviour over the next coupe of days, i'm still a little confused that the mesh appears to have a weak link (from all devices) back to the hub though.
Just to thank everyone in this post, i went though the recommendations to remove the extra devices and was still getting significant performance issues.
I have subsequently moved my hub to a different area of the house - well away from the other electronics and wifi devices and now all mains devices are 100kps, most of which are blue in respect to connecting to the hub - and the lock performance has been reliable ever since with a much lower ms reported in the logs.
Simply put if you have tried everything else - move your hub!
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