I've been getting the zwave is busy message in the logs at the same time devices in this area of the house are not working like they use to before this last string of updates. Just want to make sure I'm understanding this, before I throw these bulbs in the trash.
Address 1 is your hub
Address 15 is acting as your repeater
Address 28 is the destination which is the landing bulb
What is device 15?
How many devices do you have in your mesh?
What is the distance between your hub/ device 15 and your landing bulb?
Thank you for the help/info
What is device 15?
Sorry to hear of your troubles - I just want to wave and say 'come to the dark side'.... (Zwave and me don't get along either! I have 3 zwave dev's left - only cuz I have too.
lol for sure, this latest struggle with Z-wave just made it very clear to me. I've wasted way to much time playing around with Z-wave. I'm going to go the opposite way of the advice given and go with minimal z-wave repeaters, not the you can't have too many repeaters the more the better. only going to leave the dedicated repeaters which is like 7 and like 3 devices that I can't get in Zigbee.
I hate reading posts like this. It puts me into a blind panic that I made the choice of Z Wave in the first instance and makes me wonder when my system will implode. Unfortunately I'm very finicky and I wanted to go with one tech or the other (I realise that this defeats the whole point of Hubitat).
My main reasons for choosing Z wave over Zigbee were product availability (I didn't see many roller shutter motors in Zigbee) and I wanted dimmers with no neutral requirement that would be installed behind standard light switches so (virtually) everything would retain manual control when wanted.
I'm up to 40 Z Wave devices with about 75% connecting directly. One or two on the periphery are poor for neighbouring devices but no major issues. I wish I'd have chosen Zigbee for the lighting to improve response times for motion lighting.
Honestly the only time I have z-wave issues is when a battery dies.... I have a large house as well. I'm sure it helps that my hub is located dead center of the house (on it's axis no less) but overall it's good. Same with my zigbee and clear connect (lutron)... The only times I see bad stuff on z-wave is a bad mains device (so even though it's in the mesh it's trashing everything) or ghosts...
My Z-wave network was running good enough for me not to have to sit down and see what's going on. Ever since these latest updates it's been a mess. Unplugging and restarting some of my mains devices seems to have had a positive effect on the amount of z-wave network is busy messages. From my first zigbee device all I've ever had to do was include it and forget it nothing zigbee has made me sit down and see what's going on. My hubs are pretty central I've done pretty much everything one can do to get a stable z-wave network. I'm pretty sure my problems with z-wave are the aeotec MS6 and some zooz double plugs they just seems to flood the network no mater what I try with them. A few years with Z-wave and I'm still having to waste time with it... Just way past done and playing around. I just have seen how much less attention Zigbee needs in my house. Less battery changes stuff just works and it's noticeably faster.
Personally, I find Zigbee (and Lutron Clear-connect) to be a lot more user friendly than Z-wave. My preference is: Lutron Caseta, Zigbee and then Z-wave. However, I do have 23 Z-wave devices; sometimes they are the best choice for a specific application. However, I do have six dedicated range extenders/repeaters and four other mains powered devices that have repeater functionality. A couple of repeaters never seem to be actively involved in the mesh, even though they are well positioned to connect with other devices. My hub is centrally located and most devices connect directly with the hub, which is ideal.
Although my mesh works well now, getting to that point was not easy. Relocating the hub or specific devices even a few feet can have a huge effect on the signal strength. I had to keep experimenting until I had everything positioned where it needed to be. With my range extenders, that meant plugging them into short extension cords rather than plugging them into the wall sockets located behind furniture. While that might not be the most aesthetically pleasing, it does wonders for signal strength.
Investigate any devices that do not have a 100 mbps signal. Can you relocate them for improved performance or can you add a repeater that will allow the signal to bypass immoveable obstacles? I have one outdoor motion sensor that has a brick fireplace between it and the hub. so it has to route through a repeater.
The only z-wave devices I have left that aren't repeaters are 2 ring outdoor contact sensors. I have dedicated repeaters all over the place I might have more dedicated repeaters then actual devices at this point. I think my problem is the z-wave motion sensors in busy areas of the house. They just flood my network every few minutes even when there's no motion so when there is motion they flood it even more and the network throws up. I use Lutron select for for outdoor lighting and blinds atm. I don't really want to use Lutron for my light switches indoors because I have inovelli dimmers and switches and I like the led notifications. Hopefully inovelli comes out with their zigbee dimmers soon so I can trash most of the z-wave gear.
The Lutron dimmers has an LED that scrolls from bottom to top indicating the light dimming level. I love Lutron devices, but cannot make a compelling case for replacing existing devices if they work as intended.
Motion sensors are only useful if they are located in an area of limited movement so they can detect unusual activity.
I have several motion detectors inside and outside, but do not have one in the kitchen area as that would trigger constantly during the day. Sometimes you can set the sensitivity of motion detectors so they only indicate human size traffic. I have a couple of cats and try to minimize them triggering the detectors.
I have motion sensors in every room, the only time I see problems is with automations that use the z-wave motion sensors and z-wave dimmers or switches. zigbee motion sensors with zigbee switch, bulb or light strip never seem to miss a beat. I use zigbee motion with hue recessed lighting in the kitchen and it works perfect. I might have fixed my problem for a bit by unplugging and restarting the aeotec motion sensors. I haven't seen a z-wave network busy all day since doing so. No clue why that might help but I'll take it for now.
The Inovelli dimmers have a multi-color led strip that can be used for notifications among other things.
I have one in the kitchen. I simply set it to go off if I've shutdown the house (left the house and turned everything off) or after 11:30 pm... (cat doesn't seem to set it off) Mainly it brings a couple of lights on to 10% in case someone goes in there)
Just because the kitchen motion detector does not trigger any alarms or lighting events while you are home does not mean that it is not detecting motion and sending notifications to the hub.
Check the motion sensor events log to see what is being detected. The more detections, the quicker the battery will run down.
I do understand that too but I have f changed the battery in mine for a year and a half and it's still running strong (says 72 percent but I don't trust battery readings) I think changing a battery out every year or so is worth having one in there. I'll be notified if it dies and drops from the mesh as well
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