Since Sept 25, I've been facing a lot of problems due to network issues and firmware. Somewhere in the intense troubleshooting, I eventually thought that one of my z-wave devices has gone bad (I was incorrect, it turns out to be the zwave and network incident that was recently fixed). At the time, I tried to exclude the zooz switch which then created a ghost. I am able to include the switch as a new zwave device, but the previous device refused to be removed despite:
repeated exclusions
repeated shutdown, pull power, reboots
repeated repair and/or removes
#2 and #3 with the power turned off at the breaker
I have read endless posts here and ordered a Zooz 800 zwave stick for early arrival in the morning.
Questions:
A) Will the detailed instructions to remove the ghost using the zwave stick really work? I am dreading all the work for it to continue to fail.
B) can I use a spare hub in place of the zwave stick?
C) manual cloud backup failed just now. Is there something else I should be looking for? (firmware 2.3.9.194).
The horror in the back of my mind, something has been corrupted on the hub somewhere through the 2.3.9.18x updates and simultaneous severe internet issues (I was also hit VERY hard by the if/elseif/else issue, too).
@bravenel Is there something I can do directly with the team to ensure that I'm hitting the correct root cause since there are so many simultaneous symptoms and issues?
After 3 days and dozens of attempts and reboots to include the zooz 800 stick to HE, I managed to remove the failed node. Now I can confidently continue to troubleshoot and fix other issues.
@danabw, your guide is awesome! Without it, there would be no way this could have been accomplished.
Few thoughts:
General question to anyone: Would there has been a way to more easily include the stick to HE? I feel that though I followed instructions to the T, I was still missing something. NWI wasn't working. So as per instructions I tried Classic. Out of frustration, I excluded the stick (can't remember if NWI or Classic) a number of times, which registered on HE, so I knew HE wasn't completely ignoring the stick, but inclusion kept timing out repeatedly. After giving up last night, this morning there were 12 nodes showing, but no zwave entry on HE?!? So I excluded, reset and went through the motions again. At one point, it worked after an exclusion and immediate inclusion. I know this has nothing to do with HE and it's all Silicon labs. But is this whole process "just try it dozens of times and it should work... eventually?"
@danabw FYI, out of fear from reading some post here in regards to 800 series, and the fact that the stick shows as "[S2] Controller", I paired with S2 security. Would it be possible to add additional info to the instructions that it's not the end of the world to include with S2 security (at least for 800 series)? I was majorly on edge with this step!
the Zooz stick 800 does not show version number as in the screenshot when trying to discover the stick in the controller software. Please add a note for others. I thought my stick was broken or more likely I was doing something wrong until I took a leap of faith and continued.
I read that Zwave has been improved by SilLabs over the years. I shudder to think how much more difficult it was before.
Thanks for the feedback, appreciate it. I haven't a few edits I need to make in the guide and just haven't found the time to get around to it, need to do so
I'll take a look at that. S2 was a bigger issue a few years ago, not so now, so need to account for that.
Thanks for mentioning that. I'll note it in the guide.
Regarding your problems including the Zooz, I haven't run into anything like that w/my stick (older SilLabs version) but I have seen others w/similar problems joining a UZB stick to their hubs, and I don't remember anyone w/a clean/easy fix. When I have issues joining I tend to exclude first, like you, and do a shut down/pull power/wait 30s/restart process frequently.
It was a hot mess when 700 came out...just a Nightmare on Z-Wave Street.
If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know. If you PM me the PDF or original word doc and any crude notes you have, I can give your edits a head start.
Thanks for the offer, but I kinda like doing the editing...makes me feel like a useful member of society. I've been retired for a while now so this is (aside from keeping my wife happy) one of my part-time jobs.
Regarding what the Zooz stick showed/didn't show in the screen below - I are you saying it lacked any info in the "Version" column, or only showed something like "ControllerBridgeLib" and didn't include a number, or ? If you have a screen show that will be quick and easy to share. Just want to clarify what showed in the Version and Description columns.
@danabw I used your guide extensively while using several different Zsticks to try to get rid of Ghosts. The guide is fantastic.
The joining problem is real. My 3 Zsticks would NOT join the mesh about 19 out of 20 times, and then it was usually a crap shoot regarding how complete the inclusion was.
Quite often the stick would join enough that the silabs software would show some percentage of my mesh and then just stop.
I finally gave up on fixing the C8, and moved all my Zwave devices to a C8Pro. It was a nightmare, and when I was done, I still had unresolvable ghosts...many from poor Zstick inclusions.
Fortunately I was successful in joining everything to the Pro, with only 1 Zwave ghost created through a seemingly bad exclusion. The stick fixed that, and all seems well.
I do think theres something up with the 800 series stack. I had almost Zero Ghosts in the 500 and 700 series, but Ive had a lot on the 800 series.
Really frustrating. But your Guide really save a couple of weekends worth of frustration! Thank You!
Thanks for the nice comment, and for the feedback, Scott.
I only have a 700 stick so maybe that's why I haven't experienced the many tries required join problems.
I've updated the doc in a few areas, including info on some UZB sticks (like Zooz) not showing version info, the potential for many, many tries required to join UZB sticks to the hub, confirmation you can join your UZB stick with or without security, etc.
Also of note: when the stick is inserted, a Port is created in Device Manager. However, an Unknown device is ALSO created. I don't know if that is helpful or hurtful in this whole process.
@danabw Used your updated guide again. It took me over a month to get the stick to pair through various beta versions to get rid of a powered/battery device that just up and died. Finally got it to work on 2.4.0.134
Couple more comments:
For the first time, an actual device was created and showed in the z-wave table (instead of "Discover) Sorry, forgot to take a screenshot
The Guide mentions to get as close to the hub. I found that being 4-6 feet away was actually an issue today and moving to 20 feet away from the C-8 Pro worked immediately. And that too on a dining table with a glass overlay. The glass usually creates signal issues (i'm guess reflections on both sides of the glass causes overall interference), so for the stick pairing to work flawlessly and on the first try seemed magical.
