WD-100 5.14 to 5.19 status bug when controlling remote

[LukeScott]

I am writing software using OpenZWave. I am sending/receiving ZWave commands on my own, so I am not using the HS3 software. The latest firmware seems to have greatly improved status reports when operating the device locally (w/ button press), but when operating the device remotely via ZWave I am not getting the final value when the dimmer finishes ramping up or down.

When operating the device locally, I get two status reports. The first report is typically 2-3% from the starting value. The final report is sent when the device finishes ramping up/down from an on or off state.

When operating the device remotely via zwave I get the same initial report that is 2-3% from the starting value, but the final report is not sent, so I do not get the final value.

A work around I have done is when I get the initial value I poll the device 1 second later, and continue to poll if the value changes. I stop polling once the value stops changing. This works, but I would rather the device work consistently if possible - when I get the report I have no way of knowing how the device was updated, so I have to poll regardless if the update happened local or remote.

I suspect when the firmware was updated to include instant status from locally controlling the device, that was the only part that changed. I have tested older firmware, and the remote control behavior is the same, while local control is different.

Ideally it would be nice if the device only sent 1 update when the device finished on both local and remote control. But having both sent on local and remote would be sufficient. I just want the behavior to match regardless of how the device is controlled.

[drhtmal]

I am wondering if this behavior is by design rather than a bug. Here is why.

When you are controlling the device remotely you are explicitly setting it to your requested value. For example turn on or set it to a known level. Since I just set the device to a specific level there really is no need to report back what that level is since I just set it.

When controlling the device locally you might not know what the current setting is nor what the setting will be once you stop pressing the paddle. The second report is needed in this instance because you need to know the final level setting.

This is speculation on my part. Perhaps someone from HomeSeer can chime in. You might want to open a ticket with HomeSeer about this.

[jvm]

I am wondering if this behavior is by design rather than a bug. Here is why.

When you are controlling the device remotely you are explicitly setting it to your requested value. For example turn on or set it to a known level. Since I just set the device to a specific level there really is no need to report back what that level is since I just set it.

When controlling the device locally you might not know what the current setting is nor what the setting will be once you stop pressing the paddle. The second report is needed in this instance because you need to know the final level setting.

This is speculation on my part. Perhaps someone from HomeSeer can chime in. You might want to open a ticket with HomeSeer about this.

Even when controlling a device remotely, you want it to report back to HomeSeer (and to all devices in its various Association Groups). There are a few reasons for this. First, you might be controlling it via an associated Z-Wave remote which communicates directly with the device, which means that HomeSeer doesn't know of the control. Or you might be controlling it via a scene (if its a scene supporting device as HomeSeer dimmers are) in which case, again, you want it to report the final result back to HomeSeer or else HomeSeer doesn't know of the change. Third, you might have multiple controllers in your network -- i.e., multiple devices in its "Lifeline" Group 1 - , in which case, you'd want it to report back to each whenever the device is adjusted so all controllers know of the adjustment. Unfortunately, HomeSeer devices don't do any of this. I've raised it in other forums in the past, but I don't think its being addressed.

[LukeScott]

The process of remotely controlling the device and receiving the update are also independent. If you were to make the assumption that "I just changed it, I know what it is" that would be fine if the switch didn't send the first update. Because of this even if I were to assume the value based on what I just set it to, it gets overridden by the first report, and there is no way to know if that report was a result of just the last request, or from the user physically interacting with the device. The request to change the value can also fail, and the report back is the confirmation of it being successfully changed.

Does HomeSeer write/update the firmware? Or does DragonTech provide the firmware to them? Am I barking up the wrong tree here?