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    ZWave Devices forgetting network

    I have about 36 zwave devices in my network. The other day about 5 of the devices forgot the network they were on and wouldn't communicate. I had to delete them and then add them back to the network.

    All 5 of the devices are in my guest house. All the other devices in the main house are fine. They are all fed from the same electrical service.

    Anyone have any ideas what could cause this?

    #2
    Originally posted by gnichols View Post
    I have about 36 zwave devices in my network. The other day about 5 of the devices forgot the network they were on and wouldn't communicate. I had to delete them and then add them back to the network.

    All 5 of the devices are in my guest house. All the other devices in the main house are fine. They are all fed from the same electrical service.

    Anyone have any ideas what could cause this?
    Are you sure they weren't just out of range or the routing had changed? Devices that are on the brink of range will experience issues like that. Same electrical service doesn't mean anything for z-wave devices. I'm my detached workshop I put a z-net back there to fix range issues.

    How far is the distance to the guest house?

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by integlikewhoa View Post
      Are you sure they weren't just out of range or the routing had changed? Devices that are on the brink of range will experience issues like that. Same electrical service doesn't mean anything for z-wave devices. I'm my detached workshop I put a z-net back there to fix range issues.

      How far is the distance to the guest house?
      The 5 devices that dropped off the network had been working for 2 or 3 years. The guest house is about 20 feet from the main house. Most of the devices have the primary controller as a connection.

      I mentioned the electrical service because I thought it might be related to an electrical transient or surge.

      I should add that there are 3 or 4 other devices in the guest house that continued working with no problems.

      Comment


        #4
        Originally posted by gnichols View Post
        The 5 devices that dropped off the network had been working for 2 or 3 years. The guest house is about 20 feet from the main house. Most of the devices have the primary controller as a connection.

        I mentioned the electrical service because I thought it might be related to an electrical transient or surge.

        I should add that there are 3 or 4 other devices in the guest house that continued working with no problems.
        It hard to say at this point but I have never seen them loose network. Did you try to rescan, optimize, run Z-Seer+ or do any restores first?

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by integlikewhoa View Post
          It hard to say at this point but I have never seen them loose network. Did you try to rescan, optimize, run Z-Seer+ or do any restores first?
          I did, I tried everything in ZSeer and HS3 and they refused to communicate.

          Comment


            #6
            Here we go again....

            Happened again last week. All the devices in the guest house refuse to communicate again. Changed out one light switch that I thought was bad, but that didn't help. Removed power from all the devices except the new switch and tried to comm with it, didn't work. All the devices work with the Zstick plugged into my laptop with ZTools running.

            Nothing in my network has been changed.

            There is one device that continues to work. Optimized it several times and tried to talk to the devices in it's routing table and I can't talk to them.

            I've done everything I know to do, Anyone have any other ideas? Something I'm missing?

            Comment


              #7
              Last night I remove one of the devices from the network and then added it back. Same thing, nothing changed.

              I'm beginning to think it might be a RF problem? Interference from another radio maybe. Anyone had this problem?

              Comment


                #8
                I think you need a Znet in the center of the guest house and your problems would go away.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by gnichols View Post
                  Last night I remove one of the devices from the network and then added it back. Same thing, nothing changed.

                  I'm beginning to think it might be a RF problem? Interference from another radio maybe. Anyone had this problem?
                  I had half a dozen or so switches drop off "unreachable" last week. Not sure what happened (It was after an update though). I went around to a couple of them and toggled them and then they showed alive again in HS. A couple of them still would not come back online. I stopped my z-wave interface, started it again to check for errors, rebooted and then did a scan and all devices were available.

                  I know it's not a range issue (for me) as 4 of the devices are in the same room as the HS server. It may have been an interference issue though, as I had at that time 3 other z-wave "hubs" turned on as well as part of my test environment.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    A few days ago, I moved 2 of the plugin units over to the main house and they worked fine.

                    I'm thinking it's an RF range problem.

                    Last night I noticed one of my devices in the main house that is on the edge of the network is losing connectivity also.

                    Beginning to think the transmitter in my AEON ZStick is going bad.

                    Anyone have any recommendations on the replacement primary controller? Homeseer Smartstick+ or Z-Net?

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I noticed something odd last night. The thermostat in the master bedroom was not updating. When I looked at the device and went to the z-wave tab it said there was no reference to the device.

                      Not sure if that was caused by the HS upgrade I did yesterday or not as I wasn't paying attention specifically to that device until later last night when I was updating HVAC events.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by gnichols View Post
                        A few days ago, I moved 2 of the plugin units over to the main house and they worked fine.

                        I'm thinking it's an RF range problem.

                        Last night I noticed one of my devices in the main house that is on the edge of the network is losing connectivity also.

                        Beginning to think the transmitter in my AEON ZStick is going bad.

                        Anyone have any recommendations on the replacement primary controller? Homeseer Smartstick+ or Z-Net?
                        I use the Smartstick in the server due to cost, but I do have a ZNet in the detached garage due to issues like you were having.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by integlikewhoa View Post
                          I use the Smartstick in the server due to cost, but I do have a ZNet in the detached garage due to issues like you were having.
                          Beginning to think you are correct about the ZNet.

                          I bought a SmartStick+ and installed it last night with no change. Got to be a range problem, althought I sure can't explain what changed. The system had been working fine for 3 or 4 years(except for the occasional problem that is).

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I thought the problem might be a couple of 900MHz wireless phones that we have in the house. I unplugged the bases and removed the batteries from the handsets and still no difference in the network.

                            I talked with my neighbor and he said that he hasn't added anything wireless since my problem started. After thinking about the devices that don't work, they form a nice radius around his bedroom....

                            I ordered a ZWave Toolbox from ZWave Products today (https://www.zwaveproducts.com/z-wave-toolbox). I'll let everyone know how it goes.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Solved!

                              I got the ZWave Products toolbox in the mail yesterday and had a few minutes to use it.

                              Using the spectrum analyzer I was able to track down a zwave device that I THOUGHT was turned off. It's a switch that controls my pool pump thru a contactor. The pool was closed so I had the pump turned off at the panel board (I thought). With the Toolbox sitting in the middle of the guest house I could see a device that was transmitting all the time. I turned each breaker off one at a time to try and isolate the circuit with the offending device. I went thru all the breakers and the signal was still there! If I moved the Toolbox to the main house it reduced in amplitude, if I moved it towards my neighbor and the signal went down. So the signal was definitely in the guest house.

                              I got frustrated and went to the main house and opened the main circuit breaker feeding the guest house and the signal went away!

                              When I turned the main CB back on the signal did not come back.

                              I think the zwave switch for the pool pump had 'gone off in the weeds' and just started transmitting all the time. Cycling the power seems to have solved the problem.

                              I've attached screen shots of the spectrum analyzer below for reference.

                              The top pic is the spectrum in the main house,
                              The second pic is in the guest house,
                              The 3rd pic is with the main CB turned off
                              The 4th pic is with the main CB back on.

                              The ZWave band is the dark shaded area with the gold line at the top.

                              The Toolbox device sure made this process a lot easier. Without it I was just guessing.

                              Now I've got investigate why that switch had power with the breaker turned off....

                              Thanks everyone for your help and comments.
                              Attached Files

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