I'm having weird problems with my hub. I use z-wave devices. Mostly power plug switches and Fibaro 3 in 1 sensors, just to track temperature. The refuses to turn on/off my power plugs. When using the dashboard the sandclock just stays there and nothing happens. Needless to say this is totally annoying.
I am quite new to hubitat. Can you somebody let me where I should start looking to diagnose this.
You always want to start debugging these problems "closest to" the hub, which is the Device Info page. The Dashboard is largely just remote control of the Device Info page anyway, but you want to know if you have a dashboard issue or a device issue. As @Carl suggests, it's most likely to be a device (mesh) issue, but if the Device Info page doesn't work, you'd know that. If the device Info page works, but Dashboard does not, then you have. a Dashboard problem. Clear?
Battery devices don't repeat and therefore don't enlarge or stabilize the mesh. Powered devices do that. Obviously the powered plugs are powered but if they aren't close enough, given the specific interference of your home, then they can't "hear" the radio signals coming from the hub.
You don't mention it, but I imagine you have a C-7 which has a good display of the radio reception: Settings:Z-Wave Details:
Grab a similar shot of your devices and we can help evaluate / advise.
Looks like you have several "Ghosts" in your Z-wave details table. Those devices that don't have anything in the "Route" column are likely causing most or all of your issues.
Ghosts can appear in your Device Details when you are joining a device and the process does not complete properly.
Try hitting "Refresh" on those devices, and if things work as expected a "Remove" button may appear that can allow you to remove the ghost device from your hub database.
The main problem is that the hub can't remove ghost devices unless the actual device it represents (which usually appears farther down in the Z-Wave details page if you successfully joined it later) is fully powered down, no power going to the device. So before hitting Refresh and then Remove, make sure the device in question has no power.
You also have a device that w/the "Discover" button, which similarly indicates a device that did not join your Z-Wave mesh properly. In some cases clicking on the "Discover" button may allow the discovery/join of the device to complete, but w/all the other devices lacking routing that may not happen.
Are the devices in your list that have a blank in the Route column responding/working at all, if you try to control them from their device page?
Thanks for the feedback. Most of the powered devices are not working. Good to know about the ghosts. I will have to try and exclude them and then take it from there. I also read that in the worst case I am going to have to buy a z-wave stick and use a pc to remove the ghosts. Annoying....
I also looks like you have a bunch of devices paired as "SO" - this can impact your network as that security scheme is a lot more "chatty" i.e. sending a lot more messages which can bog things down.
Unfortunately there is no easy way to pair those devices without SO unless you purchase a separate Z-Wave usb stick like a SiLabs UZB-7 and use their free Z-Wave PC Controller Software.
A usb stick can also help remove ghosts when the HE method becomes problematic.
The "S0" thing is new to me. When you say "chatty" does this mean it just slows things down or does it actually prevent something from happening. Speed in my network in not critical. If it takes 10secs for a swith to turn on, I don't mind.
It seems most of the "S0" are fibaro devices.
How would I got about changing the S0 settings once I get my hands on a z-wave stick? And what would the appropriate setting be?
Too many messages for the hub to handle at once possibly preventing events from firing correctly or commands getting through. Slowness is one symptom, event and/or command failure is another.
For sure. Unless it is a door lock or garage door, S0 just adds worthless overhead to the network. I think it is 3X as much traffic as other security schemes.
Agree, that is a LOT of S0 devices!
This is the 700 series, I think the older 500 series were cheaper. @BlueFightingCat you can use the older less expensive 500 series Z-sticks for this if you can find one.
My Sillabs stick is a 700 series and was $19 + around $8 shipping a year or so ago. I think they have increased their prices on the same stick (possibly w/updated FW, but you can update the FW OTW if you want to, I have.
You will have to join the S0 devices w/out any security. S0 devices don't have a fall-back security option that is less troublesome. I actually don't join any devices w/security (S2 devices or S0 devices) other than my garage door opener and my locks. Many of us here do that as it's simpler to manage joining/re-joining devices if you have to, and less "noise" on the mesh overall for devices/sensors where security is just not important to us.
There are instructions in the Ghost Removal FAQ on how to join devices using a UZB stick w/out S0 security. There is a question in the FAQ section at the end of the doc: "Can I add devices to my hub without SO or S2 security?" I do have to say that I've never done this, and the instructions I have were cobbled from some posts here, so not 100% sure they are 100% complete/accurate.
Suddenly this morning everything started working again. My devices are responsive again. I have not done any changes and my z-wave details page has not changed but now everything seems to be working again. Strange!
Well there is a cleanup process that happens overnight so maybe that fixed something. Otherwise/also it could be your Z-Wave having the time to settle down a bit more. Good to hear though!!
Just wanted to report back that I cleaned up all the ghost devices (although I left the S0 security) and everything seems to be working great! Thanks for the help.
To paraphrase Queen, you, are the champion, my friend...
Great to hear that the ghosties were once again vanquished. And I agree w/the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim, so as long as things are working OK w/the S0 devices, there is no need to dork around w/security IMHO. I have two S0 devices (garage door opener and front door lock) and they don't appear to have any negative affect on my mesh, so I ignore them blissfully.