Two Red Series Dimmers dropped off Z-wave network; one won't re-include successfully

Switches General Discussion
#21

I had this issue. To me a long time to figure it out. Bought a 10 ft cable and hung the stick from the joist on the basement.

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#22

I rebooted ZwaveJS to MQTT just a few days ago and have rebooted HA several times since this occurred, but Iā€™ll both again now.

I only used secure inclusion for my door locks, and possibly one or two of my motion sensors. None of these are Inovelli devices. The remaining 50 or so Z-wave devices are included without security.

I like to exclude nodes first rather than going right to a factory reset so it doesnā€™t leave artifacts/dead nodes in the network. I had removed both of these devices from the network as dead nodes before I was able to get one re-included.

OK, HA restart and Zwave restart completed. I donā€™t like restarting ZwaveJS to MQTT that often because I invariably have to re-interview a few devices that donā€™t get picked up; a vastly easier problem to solve than dead nodes, fortunately.

ā€¦picking up this comment 4 hours later: all existing Z-wave network devices are back up. The non-working Inovelli switch will not exclude or include. Excluding ends in failure (red LED) before ZwaveJSā€™s 30-second exclusion countdown concludes. Inclusion fails as well.

It is, and thatā€™s a good idea. Iā€™ve never had Z-wave range issues, but I had a USB extension sitting around, so I did that 4-5 hours ago before I left home & came back. I donā€™t notice any differences in my network graph, but I suppose it canā€™t hurt to leave it in.

#23

I was able to exclude the switch and include it today! I have no explanation why it works today and hasnā€™t worked for the last few days. When I woke up, I attempted an exclusion and it immediately worked; it didnā€™t even flash blue, just one long green flash and ZwaveJS showed, ā€œExclusion stopped, no changes detected.ā€ Then I included it and it worked.

The only change I made was an upgrade to the latest ZwaveJS to MQTT, which showed up yesterday. Iā€™m now running v0.21.0ā€¦ but I was able to include & exclude other devices even before upgrading. Odd.

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#24

You wonā€™t notice anything in the supplied graphs as they donā€™t tell you anything. Youā€™d need to check packet routing with a zsniffer.

Iā€™d say the USB extension may have helped :wink:

#25

Ehā€¦ Iā€™m not ready to chalk it up to that, but who knows. There are at least 45 devices that are much farther away from the hub than that malfunctioning one that didnā€™t cause any problems, even after restarting ZwaveJS. Restarting the plugin sometimes causes nodes to take hours to come back up, but I havenā€™t had to exclude any (others) yet.

#26

Glad to hear. Weird issue but failures with these switches are like 0.3%, so likely a z-wave mesh or control issue.

Keep us informed if it acts up again!

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#27

I know this is an older thread, but Iā€™ve been having issues with my switches going dead since I migrated to zwave-js. One thing Iā€™ve found very strange, is that, if I go manually turn the switch on, it will suddenly start the reinterview process. Doesnā€™t always happen and sometimes doesnā€™t complete, but better than half the times it has worked. This makes no sense to me. I did not have any issues with SmartThings, however there are more switches connected now.

I have one switch that is in a weatherproof housing outside, but down stream of a GFI. I find if the GFI trips and is reset, turning on the switch has been the only way to get it to return from the dead.

#28

Have you tried a network heal once the switches are showing as connected?

#29

Yes I have but only twice, and in both cases healing failed even though the device status remained Alive.

#30

Interesting. Sounds to me like they didnā€™t pair fully or somehow lost their meshing ability. Most have resorted to an exclude/hard reset (config hold until red)/include in this case.

I know itā€™s a pain for Hubitat/ST, but sometimes it just didnā€™t set up in the beginning properly.

Also, can you post a screenshot of the device information including firmware versions? Sometimes they come across as 0000ā€™s or whatever and that also indicates an incomplete pairing.

#31

The last time it was available I updated the firmware successfully. (1.57) Please note, this is a black series (LZW31) and Iā€™m running Home Assistant. If this continues to be an issue, I will try repairing. Iā€™m running Z-wave JS and while the switch is functioning the info appears complete. Unfortunately the network graph is not working to confirm the mesh.

#32

Ah gotcha. That makes it WAYYYYYYY easier to exclude/include again. Iā€™d highly recommend it.