So I finally managed to flash my Aeotec Z-Stick 5 with the Zniffer firmware, hoping to track down my network issues.
Three things have caught my eye directly:
There is no node with ID 85 in my network, but still, this node is communicating a lot, looks like especially to FLiRS, in this case a Fibaro TRV:
A few months ago I got definately rid of one stubborn ghost node using the Z-Stick, so my network looks fine.
Looks like the network gets flooded with wake-up beams due to a large amount of CRC errors.
Node 41 is also a Fibaro TRV, node 33 is another non-existant one.
Can anyone tell, if this is something to be concerned of?
All of my Aeotec MS6 seem to send something which I take as "Explorer Frames" each time motion is triggered, could this indicate a broken route?
But according to the Z-Wave Mash Details tool, at least 2 of them didn't change their routes.
Also the destination node with ID 49 doesn't exist.
My understanding of CRC errors are that sometimes they show up due to the distance from the zniffing device itself.
This doesn't mean all CRC errors of course. Also I have had issues in the past with repeating/routing on the MS6 (and battery vs powered) - so much so that I now have only 2 left on my system and they are on the "edge" of my network.
edit: With later firmware things seem to have gotten better though.
For me, it's the first attempt, rather interesting.
Yeah, I found this post, but what confuses me is the fact, that they seem to appear each time a wake-up beam had been sent.
There seem to be a link between these results and the observations I made with a hammered network each time the TRVs are triggered.
Also, this device is almost in line of sight to the Z-Stick.
Thanks, but I upgraded to v 1.15 only a few weeks ago. All of them are mains-powered.
May I ask which drivers you use for MS6?
For the node 85 issue. Do you have another USB stick you can join as a secondary controller? The hub creates 4 extra nodes for communications (not sure why). Normally these are 2-5, but on my hub I guess I had some database corruption or something and the hub re-created these nodes so they are 70 something now. I can only see them using a USB stick as a secondary controller with the PC Controller. The Hub interface hides them. Anyway... I often will see devices talking to node 71, instead of 1, and 71 is one of these extra nodes that are also the hub. So that is possibly what your node 85 is.
Those are virtual nodes and from what I can tell they are used for some kind of session handling and connecting multiple clients communicating with the same device at the same time... up to 4.
Hm, this would make sense, thanks for the hint.
Unfortunately, I dont have another spare stick, but I remember, when adding the Z- Stick as a secondary controller to remove the ghost, it did display nodes 1-5.
But who knows what happened since then?
So maybe it's not worth spending time on this...
Like @jtp10181 mentioned they usually are the first few IDs in the list but if you have issues they can appear other places. They will NOT show up on the HE details page by design to avoid confusion. I don't think they would change automatically though without some sort of pairing device manipulation but don't know for sure. I am not sure about any of this.. so will refrain from speculation.
Switching drivers, all by itself, won't improve anything. You need to click Configure and make sure the device wakes up, to get any difference in drivers transferred to the actual device.
I repeat this detail because I actually know how easy it is to overlook.
As to the virtual nodes... ignore them. If you see them let your eyes skip right over them.
Yeah, I do not think that this is the main part of my problem, just found it confusing.
Thanks, this is what I did, but it keeps sending those "what I take as explorer frames", still, it keeps reporting reliably.
So maybe this "issue" is related to the device itself?
Even it they don't have an ID between 2-5? So ID 85, in my case, could be one of them, as @jtp10181 mentioned?
I have 4 ZWave networks in my home. 3 are in the 'Production' set and one is for development. As a result, I move my Z-Stick around a lot. I've just come to recognize that there are 4 Virtual Nodes per Controller. It's odd that all 8 of mine are clustered together for this one Hub, but not shocking
I have just one C7 hub (and no other hubs). The Aeotec Z stick I've just connected is a Gen 5 model. Should I be seeing 4 virtual nodes or 8 (as I am). The only reason I'm asking is that I've been using the Z Stick on and off since last March, but only noticed the second set of 4 virtual nodes fairly recently.
In the above screen cap of mine, the Secondary Controller (20) is also an Aeon Z-Stick (500 series) and the virtuals are still there, which matches your experience I believe.
I have one of these attached to one of my Mac Minis
and it's got 4 ZWave sticks and one portable DVD attached. Meaning it's easy for me to confuse which ZWave stick is doing what after a few weeks. It's convenient to have a couple of ZWave sticks on different hub meshes. The 700 series stick is on one of my Production Hub's mesh and the one in the screen cap above (Aeon 500 series) is on my Development Hub's mesh.
