Zwave device not responding

no ghosts... i've become pretty good at using PC controller and other means to eliminate them... the two S0 devices i have are my two garage door controllers... I'm just wondering if they are causing me issues. @lewis.heidrick talked about adding devices into the mesh using PC Controller to avoid the security settings... It might not even be possible with the garage door controllers. If they are part of the problem, and i can't include them without security, I might consider buying the newer version that supports S2.

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You could use a zen-16/17 which is 700 series chip and an ecolink tilt sensor to handle your garage

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The Zooz 16/17 are definitely solid options for the garage door - I use a Z17, and it's been a champ in that role. Though I could've used S2 for it, I paired it as "No Security" (not to be confused with "S0").

I have an older (but super trusty) Yale z-wave door lock that pairs as S0 no matter what -- it's the only S0 thing in my mesh, so it hasn't caused me any grief. But I'm not interested in tempting fate with any additional "noisy" S0 or S2 devices, so I don't use S2. Someday, I'll do something different with that S0 lock and then I'll consider playing around more with S2 in my mesh, but until then, I KISS as much as possible.

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s2 isn't really chatty. For your garage I would recommend it and it shouldn't impede the speed of your mesh. It's when you add so much with it enabled, the cumulative effect is slow down from constant decryption processing. So a couple of things won't hurt at s2...I'd leave your lock at s0, again only one device and s0 is still better than nothing for a lock.

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Good stuff - and that logic makes sense to me - I guess I just needed to hear it packaged up that way.

I have another z-wave project in mind for the garage, so I think I'll give the Z17 S2 swap a whirl along with that. Unfortunately, the forecast here through the weekend is a mess of sub-zero, so I'll likely wait for a break in the deep freeze (detached garage). Thanks again!

We need more information to help you troubleshoot your issues. Hubitat Z-Wave Mesh Tool provides some useful information to narrow down where your problems are.

RTT Avg, Route Changes and Errors being the most useful. Post some screenshots and I'm sure we can track down the problem.

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Its installed and I use it.... Not sure I know what I'm looking for...

Ive had a bunch of devices connect directly to the hub after doing your antenna mod... I have a few holdouts that route random ways even though I've excluded and re-included them... All of my devices are z-wave plus but a few just seem to want to stay at slower speeds...

from looking at the generic z-wave garage door driver, it constantly polls the garage door controllers, that are at S0... That's why I was wondering if that might be causing me some of the issues.

But I can easily share info from the mesh tool if you like...

Yes, some screeshots would give a better picture of your overall mesh.

I doubt that is your problem. Even at 3X the packet traffic for S0 packets, you can only open and close the garage door so many times a minute. The usual issue is when S0 is on a switch/plug that does power reporting with a low threshold for reporting, such that the Z-Wave mesh is constantly flooded with packets.

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He could technically force traffic by triggering refreshes with a rule or app at much higher rates but I doubt that is going on.

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Ok, here is the latest capture...

so its only sending the 3x packets upon opening and closing? Not much of that is happening, but a few times a day... I thought the hub and driver were polling it constantly for state... if that's not too much of an issue, then the garage door controllers may not be my problem... I don't have a rule or anything else that polls, just the generic z-wave garage door driver

If it’s Z-Wave Plus, yes, and, depending on the driver, perhaps even for non-plus. You can tell if it’s Z-Wave Plus because the In/Out clusters will have a 0x5E entry.

they are definitely z-wave plus... but they might not be my issue... i'm just trying to figure out why i have devices that won't respond and that change speeds, etc...

the garage door controllers

  • deviceType: 18244
  • zwaveSecurePairingComplete: true
  • inClusters: 0x5E,0x5A,0x72,0x73,0x98
  • zwNodeInfo: D3 1C 80 04 40 07 5E 5A 72 73 98 68 23 F1 00 86 85 5C 59 66 22 71
  • secureInClusters: 0x86,0x85,0x59,0x66,0x22,0x71
  • deviceId: 13616
  • S2: 128
  • manufacturer: 335

Then there is no need to poll them. Don’t believe S0 is your problem.

Now, just as a comment, our house, when it was purchased a couple of years ago, had Schlage BE469NX locks, which are Z-Wave non-plus. While they worked fine paired S0, I changed out the lock electronics to convert them to BE469ZP (Z-Wave Plus), which were able to pair S2. The reason I did this was for increased battery life on the locks. Before the swap, I got 3 to 4 months battery life. Now I get just over a year on a set of batteries. S0 wasn’t causing a mesh issue, but the lock, because it was handling 3X the packets, had shorter battery life.

@SuperDupe The biggest issues I see are 0x12, 0x13, and 0x91. In general you're signal strength is really strong. See what can be done to resolve the signal issue with those three. Can you show the routes column? May be worth trying to unpair and re-pair those 3 as well just to make sure there wasn't a pairing issue.

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Sorry, got tied up for a bit... Ok, here is the screenshot with the routes... the last one got cutoff... if the rain lets up, i'll try to unpair and repair those specific devices... but the weird thing is problematic devices seem to rotate around. those might be the ones with the longest rtt today, but it might be different ones tomorrow... and then some devices which show 100k and a direct connection to the hub and be unresponsive... its almost like something is clogging up the mesh...
also, as you can see, x91 is direct to the hub, supposedly...

Just a note: I noticed you have a garbage disposal on there. You may end up burning out the switch because those switches are not designed for that kind of spiked initial load. (Also why a garbage disposal?) Just wanted to point it out is all..

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All three of these are outside, are they enclosed in a metal box? 0x12 is routing through 0x13 and 0x13 isn't happy with it's route. Is it possible to add a repeater near 0x12 and 0x13 that could bridge the gap? Preferably indoors so it isn't having to struggle with your exterior building materials back to the hub but still close to the devices.

They are in plastic enclosures and I have mains powered switches and outlets within feet of them. weird they won't route through the repeaters nearby... i'll try the re-pairing and see if it helps... thanks lewis for your help and for the antenna mod... i have a shop near me that did an almost perfect soldering job...

@rlithgow1 the garbage disposal is setup through Alexa so when your hands are soapy and wet from doing the dishes, all you have to say is Alexa, turn on the garbage disposal... :wink:

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