How to tell if a device did what it was supposed to do

[racerfern]

I have a couple of unseen, untouched devices. One of them controls my hot water recirc pump. The device bit the dust and I didn't notice right away. Actually there were some unusual symptoms that I basically ignored for a few days. My bad.

The question is, "Is there a way to have an event notice that a particular device is switched on or off and is not reacting properly? This particular device switched on as it should have but then didn't switch off. Resetting it, it went to off but the next time it went to on, it stayed on.

I could create a timer to check how long it's been on but I assume the event would fail because HS thinks the command was sent, however it was never executed.

Is this something for a script that I am incapable of?

[Uncle Michael]

It will probably depend on the capability of the switch. If you can poll it for it's state, then you can create an event to check to see if it is in the state you think it should be. Of course, if the active device itself - not the switch - has failed, that will be a different problem, and will depend entirely on it unique characteristics (power consumption? monitoring its expected output in some way?).

[mrhappy]

You can take this pretty far really and depends on how critical it is to you. You could use flow switches on the output, a temperature sensor, monitor the power consumed however they all still might not actually prove a device is functioning correctly, power consumption might not detect the impeller has fallen off the pump etc.

[racerfern]

In my case it was the z-wave device (Qubino switch) that failed. I might have been able to reset the switch and try again, but I opted to just replace it and move on. I realize the pump can be and some day will be an issue but it won't cause excessive energy consumption, just a little inconvenience.

When the device failed to shut off, it kept the pump running 24/7 which caused the gas hot water heater to run a lot more than it should have. Hence my interest in having a better grasp on what isn't working the way it should be.

HS4 indicated the switch was on with the usual symbol. However instead of the off icon, there was a question mark. So if I disconnected from mains and reconnected it was off but HS4 showed a ? . When I clicked it on it switched on but would not switch off.

To make matters worse, the Qubino is supposed to report wattage which I could monitor but HS4 doesn't pick it up. That might be the easiest way but with a new HS and a new z-wave PI coming, I doubt anyone cares about a couple of missing features.

[joegr]

...However instead of the off icon, there was a question mark. So if I disconnected from mains and reconnected it was off but HS4 showed a ? ...

"?" shows for unknown state (usually set as -1). You can write an event that issues some sort of warning if a specific device goes to an unknown state. Alternately, you could write a script that scans through all existing device references and warns if any of them have unknown for the value.

[paul]

"?" shows for unknown state (usually set as -1). You can write an event that issues some sort of warning if a specific device goes to an unknown state. Alternately, you could write a script that scans through all existing device references and warns if any of them have unknown for the value.

If you use the EasyTrigger plugin, you could simply create a group with all devices you're interested in and create an event trigger if any device in the group goes to -1.

[racerfern]

And that's why this is one of the best forums out there. Thanks for the suggestions!

AFA a value of -1 where would I find that? Using HS4 I checked the root and features of another device that I purposely unplugged. I have the "?" but I can't find a value of -1 anywhere. I did get an error posted in the log but it only says "Failed sending Z-Wave command to device: Lighting Breakfast Nook Built-In Light"

[joegr]

I'm still on HS3, but I assume HS4 is similar. Under device management, click on the device name, then the advanced tab. Look at the value field.

[SteveMSJ]

And that's why this is one of the best forums out there. Thanks for the suggestions!

AFA a value of -1 where would I find that? Using HS4 I checked the root and features of another device that I purposely unplugged. I have the "?" but I can't find a value of -1 anywhere. I did get an error posted in the log but it only says "Failed sending Z-Wave command to device: Lighting Breakfast Nook Built-In Light"

If it is a Z-Wave device it won't be the device value itself, the Z-Wave pi sets the property DeviceInvalidValue=true to indicate that it is in an Invalid State. It is fairly easy to write a script to scan through devices and check if the DeviceInvalidValue has been set. Alternatively if you use my SDJ-Health plug-in it is one of the things it can report on for general device checking.

Steve

[racerfern]

Alternatively if you use my SDJ-Health plug-in it is one of the things it can report on for general device checking.

SteveMSJ Thanks, I already use your PI for checking my z-wave smoke sensors. I'll have a look at this in your PI.