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Smart Stick behaves differently on linux vs windows

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    Smart Stick behaves differently on linux vs windows

    Hi I recently tried to give homeseer a go. I bought a smartstick plus and I have 3 ge zwave switches in direct sight of the smartstick that are about 20 and 30ft away. I wanted to run HS3 on my ubuntu 16.4 home server. I got everything installed and running however I could not add the switches to the zwave network. They weren't being detected.

    Stumped I pulled out my laptop and installed HS3 and the smartstick drivers and it works great. I literally have the laptop sitting on top of the server and I could add all of the switches from that exact location.

    I unplugged the smartstick from the laptop and plugged it back into the server and tried to import the zwave network. Only 1 of the 3 switches was being detected! The one that was being detected didnt work very well I could only turn it on and off every 5 clicks instead of instantly on one click when the stick was installed in my lap top.

    Its my understanding that the smartstick doesn't need drivers to be installed when its used with a linux box is that correct?

    I even tried multiple usb ports on the server to check if maybe one wasn't delivering enough power but they all behaved the same.

    Is there something I'm missing? Is the smartstick just not supported on linux?

    Thanks for any advice I'd like to get this to work but if not then obviously I won't be purchasing the software.

    Thanks!
    -Alex

    #2
    Greetings,

    Its my understanding that the smartstick doesn't need drivers to be installed when its used with a linux box is that correct?
    This is true for modern Linux kernels. I'm running 4.1.27-27 and it was plug 'n play - it shows up as a serial device. You say that after pairing the GE switches in Windows and returning the SmartStick+ to Linux you can see one of the 3 switches it HomeSeer. This would seem to indicate that Linux and HS3 recognize and support the SmartStick+.

    You mentioned that the Laptop was on top of the server. The location of the stick relative to other objects can make a significant difference. If you have a USB extension cable, try placing the stick above the server case. I had a problem where the stick couldn't detect some devices when plugged into the back USB ports, but could see them when plugged into the front. Also, consider other cables around the stick that might be causing RF interference - network/power/etc. If you have non-hardwired z-wave devices, you could try moving them around and see if that makes a difference. Unfortunately, RF transmission problems can be rather hard to figure out, so some guess and check is involved.

    -Alex

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by ARA View Post
      Greetings,

      This is true for modern Linux kernels. I'm running 4.1.27-27 and it was plug 'n play - it shows up as a serial device. You say that after pairing the GE switches in Windows and returning the SmartStick+ to Linux you can see one of the 3 switches it HomeSeer. This would seem to indicate that Linux and HS3 recognize and support the SmartStick+.

      You mentioned that the Laptop was on top of the server. The location of the stick relative to other objects can make a significant difference. If you have a USB extension cable, try placing the stick above the server case. I had a problem where the stick couldn't detect some devices when plugged into the back USB ports, but could see them when plugged into the front. Also, consider other cables around the stick that might be causing RF interference - network/power/etc. If you have non-hardwired z-wave devices, you could try moving them around and see if that makes a difference. Unfortunately, RF transmission problems can be rather hard to figure out, so some guess and check is involved.

      -Alex
      Hi Alex I wanted to write back and tell you that you were right about there being some sort of RF transmission problem. I was originally trying to set everything up on a server that was right by my wireless access point and other electrical equipment.

      I moved the server to a more central spot in the house away from the other electronics and everything is working great and has been rock solid. I ended up getting a rasberry pi 3 and putting the smartstick+ into that so I had a small device I could put pretty much anywhere.

      Thanks for the suggestion.

      Comment


        #4
        You're welcome, I'm glad to hear it worked.

        -Alex

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