I picked up some Black series dimmers LZW31 and loaded the beta 1.52 firmware to gain scene control. I’ve been using them, and I noticed that when using scene control there is an additional delay. I have disabled the delay for scene control, but have the config button bound to perform various tasks. When pressing the config button it takes about a second for the device to respond. I also attempted using a single paddle up/down to toggle a different device using scene control. The behavior is the same.
When I toggle wi-fi devices within Home Assistant they are instant. But using scene control from the Black dimmers they take 1-2 seconds to respond. So I bound the same action to a Red series dimmer LZW31-SN. Same delay.
I verified that parameter 51 Button Delay is Disabled. I also set parameter 50 Button Delay Period to 0.1 seconds, just in case. There is still a considerable delay.
My final test was to use scene control and toggle the state of the very same switch using the config button. The delay is still present.
Is there something I can change within the switch configuration to make this delay shorter, or am I stuck with my scene control taking 1-2 seconds to send a command to my hub?
I have a few VZW31-SN sitting on my shelf that were delivered recently and haven’t tested them, but I’d be happy to swap out the few switches that need scene control with the newer ones if it’ll fix the problem.
Scene control is never quite instant. It depends on a lot of factors.
On the back end here is what happens.
You press the config button. The switch sends the signal over zwave to your HA server. It receives the signal, interprets it, runs the automation and then sends out the signal to the Wi-Fi devices.
Depending on things like network congestion, server load, etc… there is a noticeable delay when comparing it to something like turning on something like a dumb light switch which is near instant.
IMO, 2s would be pushing the limits on delay. 1s I would likely still consider a little long but acceptable. Check the traces in your HA automation and you’ll at least have an idea of how long it took the server to receive the signal and process the automation. Also make sure you’ve healed your zwave network to ensure all the nodes are taking the most efficient route back to the hub.
Checking my traces, the automations are taking between 0.02 and 0.04 seconds to run. So the delay seems to be the time it takes the switch to get the command to the hub. Even with a direct priority route to the hub the delay is pretty long (that 1-2 second range). I suspected originally that the delay is just the switch deciding when they key press is a scene it needs to notify the hub of. The short trace time seems to confirm that, but I don’t know the specifics of either the switch firmware or Home Assistant’s inner workings.
I’ve found that if I turn on a switch and then quickly press the config button (turn on overhead light and a separate smart lamp), the lamp will never turn on as if that combination could have been some sort of scene activation. I have to press one button, wait a few seconds, then press the other button.
One thing you can do, and this is far from an exact science here… If you have your phone or laptop on with the edit automation page pulled up, HA will give you a visual trigger of the automation being fired.
The bottom of your trigger description will have a blue bar show up saying “Triggered” where I drew the blue scribble. So you can sit there and manually trigger the scene and watch for the blue triggered to show up. I say it’s not an exact science because there’s really no way to measure exactly how long it takes from the physical button press for the event to be seen in HA, but you’ll be able to visually gauge roughly how long it takes.
So I checked that, and found that the automations fire immediately when HA gets the command. I dug a little deeper, and opened up the debugging console on Z-Wave JS UI. I found that the delay is, in fact, between me pressing the button and the command being received by the hub. With a direct connection I have measured about a 1.2 second delay.
This was a very rudimentary test by clicking the config button and as soon as the light toggles, pressing it again. The delay is almost exactly the same between every attempt.
When viewing the debug log I can see that turning the switch on and off using the paddle, the commands come in much quicker, with a delay between 0.5 and 0.6 seconds.
EDIT: As I was walking away from my computer I just realized something. I’m experiencing a delay of about 1.2 seconds. I’m also seeing that there is about a half second delay for normal commands to hit the hub. The difference is about 0.7 seconds, which is exactly the default timer of parameter 51 Physical On/Off Delay. Is it possible that my switches (on an admittedly beta, and old firmware) aren’t properly using those parameters in this instance? When I get some time I’ll install my new VWZ31-SN and see if it behaves the same way.
I have had occasional issues with parameters reverting (particularly turning power reports off on the older switches). Try changing it to something you don’t want then changing it to something you do want.
I think my most recent post hit the nail on the head. I’m seeing a 500ms delay getting the command to show up in the hub. There is also a 700ms delay for scene control commands. The config button always has this delay, despite disabling the delay. How do I know? I just installed a VZW31-SN and found this little gem.
On the newer switch the default is 500ms. On my old switches it’s 700ms. So the config button likely keeps the 700ms delay, despite disabling the delay.
