LZW36 Fan/Light Parent/Child Device Issues

I installed five LZW36 combined fan and dimmer switches over the weekend. Mostly things went well but I did run into an issue that, for one switch, I am still contending with. Help is appreciated. I am using Samsung SmartThings for the moment (but probably not for long).

To lay the groundwork here, I have both device handlers installed. I have the 2020-05-18 version of the “Inovelli Fan + Light LZW36” handler and the 2018 version of the “Switch Level Child Device” handler.

My issue revolves around the devices I get when I add the switches to my SmartThings-managed Z-Wave network. 2 of the 5 switches worked exactly right the first time - I got the parent device for the fan and the light, and the 2 child devices, one for the fan and one for the light. For 2 of the switches, I had to go through multiple add/exclude cycles to get the right devices. Sometimes I would get the parent device and the light device (no fan-only child). One time I got only the parent (no light-only, no fan-only). And one time, oddly, I got four devices (one working parent, one identical but not-working parent, and two working children. I just hid the non-working parent and kept it).

But my last switch is my problem child. It has been through three add/exclude cycles so far and every time the results are the same - I get only the parent device and the light-only child. No fan device. The parent and the light-only child work as expected. This switch should have excellent connectivity, it shares a 2-gang box with an Inovelli LZW31-SN dimmer switch that works well. The LZW31-SN has zero hops to the hub. Besides the add/exclude cycles, I have also tried Z-Wave network repair utility but no change there.

Is there any way to add the child fan-only device that’s missing? If not, any other ideas? Thanks!

I would do a factory reset and re-pair to your hub. I have had to do that with a few of my devices.

Thanks, Sky. To the best of my knowledge, a Z-Wave exclusion is the same as a factory reset. I have done 3 pair/exclusion cycles so far with this switch. While this tactic did in fact work on 2 of the 5 other switches I had this problem with, this one is more stubborn, and I keep not getting the fan-only device upon add.

I thought the same thing, it is not the same. @Eric_Inovelli ay be able to explain better than I can. I have had to do a fuLl factory reset by pressing and holding the program/inclusion button for 20 seconds until led turns red. Then re-include.

Thanks again, Sky. In-between your posts I decided to give it one more try and it would seem the fourth time is a charm. I did not do the full factory reset. For whatever reason, with an identical process of “exclude -> z-wave repair -> pair”, this time around I got the correct 3 devices. I followed an identical process earlier on the day with the same z-wave network members with the broken results above. I did not change any hardware or upgrade anything.

BUT the fan-only device populated in the IDE as type “placeholder” and not, like my other switches, as a “Switch Level Child Device”. And, while controlling the fan from the app works, I still get an error message falsely indicating that the command failed (“A network or server error occurred. Try again later.”)

I changed the type to “Switch Level Child Device” in the IDE, but the false negative network error messages persist.

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Try to enable local control right at the switch. Press and hold A while tapping B eight times. do the same for the fan pressing and holding D and tapping E eight times. You will get a green led flash of three times. This is what I had to do on mine to get it to function correctly. Read through this post also may help.https://community.inovelli.com/t/lzw36-issues-local-control-stops-working-after-adding-switch/3873/2

Thanks but local control has always worked. The local control works whether or not the switch is included in the SmartThings z-wave network. I suspect the bug you’re referencing was limited to Hubitat.

Yeah, most likely thanks, glad its going for you now.

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