Problems polling Leviton ViziaRF?

[rragan]

I have about 23 switches installed now, a mixture of Intermatic, ACT and these two Vizia's which I needed for high wattage dimming (outside can lights). These things don't seem to want to respond to a poll very often and I've optimized the network probably 50 times this week. They turn on and off just fine.

There are two Intermatic switches right next to them that respond immediately.

[Rick Tinker]

Do you mean automatic polling or polling manually via the status page?

Because the Vizia RF products support instant status, there is no polling configured for them automatically.

[pclaar]

I have the same type of issue.

I don't poll the ViziaRF switches, but I see a number of these types of messages throughout the day:

Unable to send a command to Z-Wave device 100
No reply to get node level request for device Hallway bathroom Hallway Bathroom Lights

Sometimes the errors occur when a switch is manually tripped, but not always. When this happens, Homeseer blocks and doesn't seem to issue other lighting commands. For example, I try and initiate a lighting scene and the delay can be 30 seconds or more, and when I check the log to see what happenend I see these node level request messages. FWIW, all the devices that show errors are out of reach of my Z-Troller.

[sbwright]

I also get these errors with the ViziaRF devices. It does not appear to affect the operation other than filling the log fiiles up.

Polling is turned off.
HS version - 2.2.0.76
OS - XP
All devices respond correctly to Z-Seer(no errors)
All devices respond correctly to manual on/off
All devices respond correctly to on/off requests from HS status page
There are no corresponding scheduled events

25/11/2008 10:11:17 AM - Warning - Unable to send a command to Z-Wave device 3
25/11/2008 10:11:17 AM - Warning - No reply to get node level request for device FamilyRoom BarLights
25/11/2008 10:55:41 AM - Warning - No response from device when getting level: FamilyRoom BarLights Node: 3

[Mountainman]

I am seeing the same problem. I have had a support ticket open on this problem since April. Unfortunately it appears it is difficult to determine the root cause and fix it.

HomeSeer Technologies suggested using the latest version of HomeSeer because of the feature that optimizes the network many times to hopefully ensure that each node contains 4 good routes in its table. During the beta period of HomeSeer 2.3, I couldn't get confirmation from anyone that the problem had been resolved. I'm now running 2.3 on my system and still see these polling errors. However, I have moved several nodes since upgrading to 2.3, so it isn't a valid test, yet. It doesn't look good. I plan to watch it for another week or so to see how it performs. Disabling polling (ignoring the problem) is not an option for how I am using some of my nodes.

I strongly suggest upgrading to HS 2.3 as any prior version certainly will not fix this problem. One of the discussions about this is in this thread:

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=115104

[sbwright]

My current plan is to upgrade to 2.3 probably next month, been waiting for everyone else to work out or flag the bugs...

and even with the errors it is a reliable system and vacation is coming up.

Hopefully the upgrade will resolve the error log entries, but it sounds like it likely won't. Thanks for the feedback.

[pclaar]

I've been running 2.3 (and the previous betas) with the Z-Wave optimization feature on for months now. The optimization is mostly successful (all devices optimize at least once.)

But I still get the errors -- maybe 100 a day.

Unable to send a command to Z-Wave device 21
No reply to get node level request for device...

[sbwright]

Well I guess that answers that question. HS still has some issues with ViziaRF

[Rupp]

Ask Rick stated earlier, the ViziaRf switches report their status instantly so there shouldn't be a need to poll.

[Mountainman]

There is a need to poll in my case as I have stated in other threads.

[pclaar]

I can't speak for others, but I have turned all polling off -- still get the errors.

[Rick Tinker]

Well I guess that answers that question. HS still has some issues with ViziaRF

How does that answer that question?

Perhaps these are not HomeSeer issues at all - there is this small bit called Z-Wave here, that just might be what is experiencing the problem. The chip inside our Z-Wave controller is made by Zensys, the creators of Z-Wave. The chip inside the Leviton Vizia RF products is made by Zensys. The chip inside Cooper, ACT, Intermatic, Sylvania, and all other Z-Wave products is made by Zensys.

We have gone through a LOT of workarounds to address issues with Z-Wave - mostly in the early days - but there is nothing that says that these polling issues are HomeSeer related.

The most simple of things in Z-Wave is the BASIC class, and two of the frames in it are BASIC GET and BASIC REPORT. Polling is HomeSeer issuing a BASIC GET, waiting for an acknowledgement from the Zensys chip that the command reached its destination, and then the BASIC REPORT that the destination node sends back. The errors in the log indicate that the command is not reaching the destination node. We have provided a rich set of tools to make the system as reliable as possible from Optimization, support for multiple interfaces, and now Z-Health, but at some point you have to wonder if there is nothing else we can do?

I had switches that would stop responding to poll requests but would still accept On/Off commands, but those were some of the original devices - today's should not experience that issue - yet some other technological glitch could be causing this.

Did the RF characteristics change about the time this started? Did it start after you added a new device somewhere in the network? Did you just string up some metallic tinsel all over the house for Christmas? What other information might help explain what is going on?

[sbwright]

How does that answer that question?

Version 2.3 apparently does not resolve the issue we have been discussing here relating to the error log entries. Which is what we were hoping for.

Perhaps these are not HomeSeer issues at all - there is this small bit called Z-Wave here, that just might be what is experiencing the problem. The chip inside our Z-Wave controller is made by Zensys, the creators of Z-Wave. The chip inside the Leviton Vizia RF products is made by Zensys. The chip inside Cooper, ACT, Intermatic, Sylvania, and all other Z-Wave products is made by Zensys.

Absolutely, but its HS that is reporting the errors, guess I could have said that ViziaRf devices and HomeSeer are having some issues communicating.

We have gone through a LOT of workarounds to address issues with Z-Wave - mostly in the early days - but there is nothing that says that these polling issues are HomeSeer related.

And Thank You very much for your efforts, didn't mean for it to be an attack against HS, as I indicated earlier in the thread other than the logged errors our setup is very reliable, in fact I was and still am quite amazed at the uptime reliability.

The most simple of things in Z-Wave is the BASIC class, and two of the frames in it are BASIC GET and BASIC REPORT. Polling is HomeSeer issuing a BASIC GET, waiting for an acknowledgement from the Zensys chip that the command reached its destination, and then the BASIC REPORT that the destination node sends back. The errors in the log indicate that the command is not reaching the destination node. We have provided a rich set of tools to make the system as reliable as possible from Optimization, support for multiple interfaces, and now Z-Health, but at some point you have to wonder if there is nothing else we can do?

I had switches that would stop responding to poll requests but would still accept On/Off commands, but those were some of the original devices - today's should not experience that issue - yet some other technological glitch could be causing this.

All our ViziaRF devices were bought this year, and as indicated in the thread above they all function correctly, report no errors in Z-Seer, and appear to have a strong signal.

Polling is turned off, so I don't understand why the requests are even being made to the device resulting in the errors to begin with.

Did the RF characteristics change about the time this started? Did it start after you added a new device somewhere in the network? Did you just string up some metallic tinsel all over the house for Christmas? What other information might help explain what is going on?

Nope no tinsel, no lights, or other ornaments. The errors are not consistently the same devices, nor similar frequency or time of day.

Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot the issue or possible heads up to other devices that may be causing the problem would be greatly appreciated, I believe that was why we were discussing the issue to begin with.

[Rick Tinker]

Polling is turned off, so I don't understand why the requests are even being made to the device resulting in the errors to begin with.

That particular log entry means that HomeSeer's interface failed to reach the indicated node with a command, so it does not mean that it was the BASIC GET command (polling), but that is what most commonly causes frequent entries in the log like that.

Perhaps we have a bug in the code in that we only read the polling interval at startup - if you changed the polling interval to zero recently, try restarting HomeSeer and see if the polling (if that is what it is) stops.

I assume this is a Vizia switch and not a scene or zone controller?

Nope no tinsel, no lights, or other ornaments. The errors are not consistently the same devices, nor similar frequency or time of day.

I kinda figured it would not be one of the easy solutions.

Any suggestions as to how to troubleshoot the issue or possible heads up to other devices that may be causing the problem would be greatly appreciated, I believe that was why we were discussing the issue to begin with.

Do you have other non-ViziaRF devices in the home? If so, what type/brand are they? Did you set up the network using a Vizia RF master controller or your HomeSeer interface as the master (primary) controller? What is your HomeSeer interface? We are working with Zensys on some things and answers to those might help me figure out if there could be anything else going on.

[sbwright]

That particular log entry means that HomeSeer's interface failed to reach the indicated node with a command, so it does not mean that it was the BASIC GET command (polling), but that is what most commonly causes frequent entries in the log like that.

I rechecked all the devices and polling is off, checked the Events page and there are no events setup for this device. Is there anything else that would cause HomeSeer to send a command to the device?

Perhaps we have a bug in the code in that we only read the polling interval at startup - if you changed the polling interval to zero recently, try restarting HomeSeer and see if the polling (if that is what it is) stops.

I have rebooted the machine, will report back tomorrow on the log, have to work tonight.

I assume this is a Vizia switch and not a scene or zone controller?

Yes its a switch (RZS15-1LX)

Do you have other non-ViziaRF devices in the home? If so, what type/brand are they?

Only ViziaRF devices currently installed in the home.

Did you set up the network using a Vizia RF master controller or your HomeSeer interface as the master (primary) controller?

Used the HomerSeer Smartstick with Z-Tool on a laptop, then moved the Smartstick to a desktop PC(XPpro) running HomeSeer. Have purchased a Z-Troller but have not had the time yet to switch them out and not sure I am convinced it will make a difference since Z-Seer indicates there are no issues.

What is your HomeSeer interface? We are working with Zensys on some things and answers to those might help me figure out if there could be anything else going on.

To access HomeSeer I use remote desktop from another computer on the network.