I'm feeling deflated, need a hug. I held off for a long time on upgrading to C8-Pro and then finally got one for 3 reasons. In no particular order as they were all valid - more memory, the ability to move to Z Wave JS, and other automations coming that would be only available on Pro.
So regarding Z Wave JS. My [limited] understanding was that Z-IP was no longer being updated by Silabs, JS was the way forward. Switching was relatively easy. However - User drivers aren't handling reporting correctly needing modification, system drivers aren't handling reporting correctly either.
At what point can a device be considered as compatible with Hubitat. If a system driver does not work correctly then is it supported?
My Hubitat experience is going backward. I've modified a couple of drivers but keep finding issues with others so I've had a ■■■■ show of a few days. I'm now sat looking on Amazon for possible Zigbee replacements for devices that aren't playing ball only to find they also have no 'system' driver in Hubitat.
I know the comments are going to be 'you can switch back and forth between JS and Z-IP, Z-IP is still supported by Hubitat' but really? I don't really want to switch back and I'll probably find that my modifications to get drivers working in JS may not work properly on Z-IP - who knows.
I seriously think that JS should have remained a switch only available to beta users until issues were well and truly ironed out.
I think switching would be fine. It's a case of thoroughly testing absolutely every devices functionality though. You think somethings working but then find its state isn't updating. That one thing causes havoc. You have rules that check the state of a device in order to perform some action - they're knackered. You have rules set 'only turn off if on' and vice versa - they're knackered because the state is incorrect. Lights are on showing off, off showing on.
My mistake was trying to resolve the issues - I'm not a dev, I'm clueless with code and rely on AI to fix things. Initially that's a buzz, I feel a certain sense of achievement when I fix something (even if AI has done the legwork), but I'm tired of it now. I'm probably the nearest I've been to ditching the smart home altogether which has been a primary hobby for a good few years now. It's my fault I should have switched and then abandoned at the first sign of a problem.
I totally understand this sentiment. Many times I have considered dumping the pursuit of a smart home. As I get older, 62 now, the technology is getting better and my ability to keep up is getting worse. Realistically, I am too financially invested to toss it all out at this point. So I encourage you to hang in there. I also appreciate the small victories. I am sure the Hubitat team is working hard to keep things moving smoothly.
Sending you lots of hugs—you’ll need them while you wait for the mesh to settle. Your experience is definitely not common, to say the least. And I would know: I’m usually the one handing out hugs to people having trouble with Z-Wave JS! Hang in there—the mesh sorts itself out soon.
But if issues persist, I wouldn't rush to make any changes, just yet. Instead, I would offer details about which specific devices seem to be struggling with the transition to Z-Wave JS. That information may help pinpoint whether there’s a pattern or a device-specific issue.
I'm a spritely 56 but yeah I too have invested time and money in getting things automated how I want. Regardless of my rant, I'm unlikely to quit as I'd be miserable about the time I'm sure I'd feel had been wasted.
You experience sounds a lot like mine. It's been probably close to a year since I tried to switch. My system became completely useless. I read you have to let it settle, I tried it never settled. I switched back. Been watching to see a post saying it's all good now but I haven't seen one and your post suggest the issues still exist.
Mine all came on almost instantly, no devices missing or 'pending' for long periods of time. It's all responsive enough. It seems to be purely compatibility in the drivers. The changes I had to make in two devices were actually quite minimal. As you say though, if it's close to a year since you tried - how long has JS been an option and when will it be a safe switch.
Perhaps when switching there should be some message "Due to the number of devices supported by Hubitat, we cannot be sure whether all drivers will support current functionality under JS". I do understand that there are a HUGE number of system drivers and it is not reasonable for all of them to be retested. Staff will be reliant upon users (or whinging gits like me) reporting issues.
No mesh issues - devices are responsive. I've reported devices and issues over a couple of posts over the last few days. It's driver issues. Taking one of the community ones as an example (Fibaro FGS-224). Turning the device on/off at the switch reported its state to Hubitat but commanding from Hubitat did not update the state. The fix in that case was amending the driver to get the state from the device after commanding it. It's all gobbledegook to me but it worked.
I’m glad to hear that your overall experience has been positive—that wasn’t clear to me from your opening post.
I see you’ve been working with @bcopeland on the device-specific driver issues. Fibaro devices are known to present challenges beyond just Z-Wave JS, but the JS flexibility may ultimately provide a better experience with these devices, in the long run. Please keep providing @bcopeland with the details he needs to improve the experience for you and other Fibaro users.
Z-Wave JS Migration – Known Issues & Device Tracking
Maybe a collective, centralized thread for the community and Hubitat developers to document device/driver issues during the transition from the legacy Z-Wave stack to Z-Wave JS.
The goal would be to identify common issues and devices, and track patterns across devices, firmware, drivers, interviews, security, and migration behavior to help determine where the actual issue is or what is needed to resolve it.
For each problem device documented:
Device / model / firmware
Battery vs. line voltage
Hub & firmware
Driver (stock vs. community)
ZIP vs. Z-Wave JS behavior / specific issue
Re-interview / Configure / Wake / Re-pair requirements
This could give developers a single place to see recurring issues and identify patterns that may otherwise be scattered across multiple threads.
AFAIK, HE does not test device compatibility with community drivers, their compatibility testing/documentation is based on built-in apps/drivers. Just checked and the FGS-224 (and 223) is not included in HE's compatibility list for Fibaro devices.
Unless I'm missing something, you're surprised/upset that HE doesn't fully support a device on JS that HE has already said (via compatibility list) is not supported. The fact that an unsupported device worked w/a community driver on ZipGateway was a lucky break for you an others using it. Saying HE dropped the ball when an unsupported device doesn't work as well on JS, seems a bit unfair, doesen't it?
Am I missing something? Are you talking about both officially supported Fibaro devices and unsupported devices?
Yes it appears to be the same issue affecting both.
Community drivers - we can see the code and attempt to resolve it without involving Hubitat. System drivers on the other hand cannot be edited. So the device is supported, using a system driver, but does not (currently) work. That was my point. I don’t think it was unfair, but I started it in the Lounge as it was admittedly (and tagged as) a rant.
Thanks...wasn't clear to me from above that you were talking about both officially supported Fibaro (or other) devices and unsupported (e.g., 224 & 223). No rant here.
My experience was along the same lines when I switched to ZWaveJS when it first became available. There were too many issues to fix, so switched back to Z/IP.
When @bcopeland updated ZWaveJS to 15.23 (and later 15.26), I switched again. This time my experience was 100% positive. No issues at all. The system has remained responsive. So I think the product has matured, and if you have the time, I'd recommend having another go at it.
A perspective from the support channel, based on tens of thousands of customer interactions: despite a rough start, incidents related to the overall Z-Wave experience have decreased significantly since users began migrating to Z-Wave JS.
Having every user and hub on JS would be a game changer. Who knows—maybe one day we’ll get there. It would be amazing to see everyone benefit from a better, more consistent Z-Wave experience.
Probably 99% of stuff is working fine on JS since this latest round of JS updates in 2.5.1. It wasn't that way before, but it currently seems to be relatively OK.
You should try it, and report any bugs to bcopeland, that is the only way this stuff gets fixed is if people don't just throw up their hands silently and then the next user does the same, and again and again.
It is completely different now, you should try it. I am not saying things are perfect, but I think my system is now almost if not on-par with Legacy ZIP.
The fact that an unsupported device worked w/a community driver on ZipGateway was a lucky break for you an others using it. Saying HE dropped the ball when an unsupported device doesn't work as well on JS, seems a bit unfair, doesen't it?
No rant here. 