Z-Wave failures increased, now devices are all unavailable

🛎️ Get Help
1

Hi - I had been on a C7 since September when I bought it new to replace SmartThings, and overall everything was good. SmartThings was working fine too, but the writing was on the wall with the proposed changes, so I figured it was time to move.

Some Z-Wave devices took multiple tries to get paired with the C7, but honestly it was all working well without any additions or changes on my part for about 5 weeks before problems started. I had been on the firmware that shipped with the hub (2.2.3.148) from the day it arrived, and the only change to my hub around the time of the problems was that it started receiving updates, and I accepted them. It started on November 16th and just kept getting worse with more failed / unavailable devices, and of note is that automations related to these devices would work one day, but then not the next, but sometimes they would come back on the third day. Almost seemed random what was going to work or not.

I have 20 something in-wall switches, 2 in-wall outlets, 2 plug in outlets, a few motion sensors, contact sensors, sirens, tilt sensors, valve actuator, in-wall relays... and maybe a few others on the Z-wave side. The mesh was strong with all the hardwired devices, as I had started in close and worked my way out when first installed and when switch over to Hubitat.

I submitted a support ticket on November 25, but being it was the day before Thanksgiving, I started a Facebook post in the user group to try to keep working on it over the long weekend...

I did get a response to my ticket on November 30th, but despite writing back a few times I have not heard anything back, and at this point I am 3 weeks into having issues, and close to 2 weeks with no Z-Wave.

Thanks to Bobby Dobrescu for trying to help me in that Facebook thread, but nothing improved. Effectively, that thread lead me to reset the Z-Wave radio, remove remaining Z-Wave devices from the Device list, and then try to reset them, and exclude and re-include my devices. The hub did not acknowledge that any devices were even available for exclude/include.

I have Zooz and Ge/Jasco switches I started with that are within feet of the hub, and the hub was then moved to be within an inch of either I tried... No response. I kept trying those devices repeatedly, did try a few battery powered devices, and then finally had success with a single device excluding and re-including... a Zooz ZEN06 plug in outlet. Not sure why it worked, but it remained the only one that worked as I kept trying the switches in close proximity to the hub. I continue to let the hub receive firmware updates, but have also tried rolling all the way back to 2.2.3.148. I have rebooted, shutdown properly and left it off for hours, let the hub just sit there powered on, and any other pieces of advice people have posted in similar instances.

As I continued to read things online and work on things on my own as I waited for official guidance, I convinced myself a soft reset was worth a shot. That process seemed to go OK, but now even my one working Z-Wave device, the ZEN06, will not come back.

I own a Fibaro Home Center Lite which has always been useful as a 'universal excluder' for times things in SmartThings had to be forced out, or when I got devices from other people that were not excluded. It would always exclude Z-Wave devices for me no matter what it had been paired with previously. I got that out of the closet now and it also fails to see any of these Z-Wave devices.

I really can't imagine what is wrong. I have been using Z-Wave on one hub or another for 6 years maybe, and have never had issues anything like this. All kinds of ideas are now running through my head since the obvious answers aren't working... like signal interference, power surge, device corruption, malware. They don't really fit, but neither do the reasonable answers.

Any ideas? Thanks.

2

Suspect your radio is locking up from ghost nodes on the mesh. Open up settings, zwave details and post some screenshots of all the devices in there. Pay particular attention to the devices with nothing in the clusters column.

3

Hi - There are no devices in there. When I had devices in there, some were failed, some were unavailable, and there were ghost nodes. Was advised previously to reset Z-Wave radio - which didn't help, and then subsequently the hub was soft reset to no avail.

Zigbee continued to work through the Z-Wave issues and resetting that radio, but after the soft reset I did not even add those devices back in.

1 Like
4

If you want to do a screensharing session I can take a quick look and see what's goin on. Anydesk is probably the easiest if you have it or want to download it.

5

Seeing any busy messages in the log? What build are you currently on? .158? Have you tried factory resetting the zwave devices? This will clear anything they think they are paired to.

6

I am on .158 - I keep letting updates occur as they are released hoping something will happen.

Log just shows my include / exclude attempts, plus one 'cloud request' that appears to be a presence detection, perhaps since I turned GeoFencing back on for a while this weekend. Earlier was showing other cloud requests but disconnecting from Google Home and Ecobee seems to have stopped those.

I have done the factory reset of the devices, since a few I am working on are Zooz, the "tap, tap, tap-n-hold" seems to be working as you get the LED pattern that says it is resetting.

I would definitely take advantage of remote desktop help, but would have to schedule a little later - about to start a meeting and definitely wasn't expecting an offer like that. Thanks.

3 Likes
7

Np, just let me know when you're available. I have a conference call at 9:30 cst but I'm available after 10:30 cst.

1 Like
8

I'll have to come back to this... That meeting lead to expectations of getting work done. lol

Anyone with any other ideas along the way are welcome - thanks!

9

If you have a uzb stick or a z-stick join it as a secondary controller and check in PC Controller v5 and see if there are any id's that don't match up with the settings, zwave details.

10

Also before re-pairing them back try excluding them on Hubitat first and then join.

11

I had bookmarked the Zooz USB stick over the weekend but was wondering if I could get that to join Hubitat since nothing else will. May just order it to try anyway - I think living a few blocks from TheSmartestHouse makes me order more gadgets than I need since they get here so fast.

1 Like
12

It's a great option to have. I use mine for all kinds of stuff working through issues.

13

I'm not familiar with this device, but this sounds very strange...it should allow you to exclude your devices if they are near it and in exclusion mode.

Have you tried doing exclusions using the ST hub, then turn off the ST hub before you start trying to include them to HE? (Be 100% sure that ST isn't getting in the way of any inclusions.) I've found that my ST hub is very reliable in excluding Z-Wave devices...aside from my original Ring integration that's all I use it for these days. When Hubitat can't exclude a device, my ST hub has always been able to.

14

The Fibaro HCL is an older, Z-Wave only gateway that has an actual external Z-Wave antenna. Even when SmartThings couldn't exclude something for me, the Fibaro HCL could, and usually in one try. Lately I have had only one hub on at a time as I try things, just to avoid conflicts, but in September and October, when things were going well, SmartThings and Hubitat were both up and running and coexisting just fine.

15

Thanks. Yup - my ST hub is up/on 24/7 running alongside my HE hub, and I've never had to turn it off to get things to work, but others have reported issues. As usual, YMMV. :slight_smile:

16

Kudos to @lewis.heidrick for helping a newbie.
Bravo!

4 Likes
17

So, sitting on the couch with an extension cord and a pile of devices, I started putting Zigbee items back online, and tried to do the same with a variety of Z-Wave devices.

It took many, many excludes/includes, but my Zooz ZEN06 Z-Wave outlet is back in and seems to be working well. I tried plenty of other devices, but that one is the only one that would go.

I also tried a Zooz ZEN22 switch, a GE/Jasco switch, a GoControl contact sensor, a Zooz motion sensor, and an NZW37 Inovelli double outlet. Of all of those, only the NZW37 reacted at all, as I would get occasional "unknown device excluded" text, but never actually got a successful include.

18

Make sure you are not creating ghost nodes.

19

So far so good in that department.

ScreenHunter 98 2020.12.08
ScreenHunter 98 2020.12.081182×895 140 KB

1 Like
20

Try to build out the mesh from the hub picking the closest and work your way out. It should help with joining the devices. The effective range depends on obstacles and such but try to pair all the devices within 20 feet or so first then move out.

1 Like