Dead GE Z-wave Switch, Removed and Can't Re-Add

Configuration
1

So I have 2 GE Z-wave Plus switches right next to each other, they were working fine until one of them showed as “dead”. Ok weird I thought (FWIW The switch still works itself but Z-wave just thinks it’s dead).

So anyways I remove it and it no longer shows up in the list of nodes. NOW however I cannot add it back. I go to Add Node and click the switch (to include it) and I get nothing. I have tried restarting HA multiple times/heal network/etc… No luck.

Any ideas? the switches are MAYBE 2 months old? I know it’s not a range thing because the working one is literally right next to the other one.

2

Have you tried to reset the switch? I believe to reset you press the on 3 times then the off three times.

3

The switch may thinks its still connected to the hub so will not allow you to add back after it was removed.
reset it and then readd to hub

4

I gave both of the above a try (resetting/etc…). When I go to “Add Node” in the z-wave panel I see this:

2019-05-24 19:59:33.353 Detail, contrlr, Queuing (Command) ControllerCommand_AddDevice: 0x01, 0x05, 0x00, 0x4a, 0xc1, 0x14, 0x65
2019-05-24 19:59:33.353 Detail, Notification: ControllerCommand - Starting
2019-05-24 19:59:33.355 Detail,
2019-05-24 19:59:33.355 Info, contrlr, Sending (Command) message (Callback ID=0x14, Expected Reply=0x4a) - ControllerCommand_AddDevice: 0x01, 0x05, 0x00, 0x4a, 0xc1, 0x14, 0x65
2019-05-24 19:59:33.359 Detail, contrlr,   Received: 0x01, 0x07, 0x00, 0x4a, 0x14, 0x01, 0x00, 0x00, 0xa7
2019-05-24 19:59:33.359 Detail,
2019-05-24 19:59:33.359 Info, contrlr, FUNC_ID_ZW_ADD_NODE_TO_NETWORK:
2019-05-24 19:59:33.359 Info, contrlr, ADD_NODE_STATUS_LEARN_READY
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail, Node001,   Expected callbackId was received
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail, Node001,   Expected reply was received
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail, Node001,   Message transaction complete
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail,
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail, contrlr, Removing current message
2019-05-24 19:59:33.360 Detail, Notification: ControllerCommand - Waiting
2019-05-24 19:59:33.361 Info, WriteNextMsg Controller nothing to do

And then nothing else. The other switch now seems to be screwing up now too. I must’ve goof’d the network up somehow. Is there any way I can reset the z-wave integration completely? (like delete the entire integration and all entities (because I know there are some .yaml files/etc… that store the entities)

5

reset both switches and delete zwave_device_config.yaml and zwcfg_???.xml.
I believe that should put you back at square one

You did not recently update HA or any other change?

EDIT
maybe just rename the files instead. I never delete until certain
filename.old

6

weirdly I cannot find zwave_device_config.yaml, does hass.io have that?

7

should but the other file is most important to remove

8

I am starting to see the other device show up in logs now:

Node002,   Received: 0x01, 0x08, 0x00, 0x04, 0x10, 0x02, 0x02, 0x5a, 0x01, 0xb8
2019-05-25 01:34:03.701 Detail,

(That is the other switch) but it does not show up in the nodes yet.

9

I know from other zwave devices that you usually want to “exclude” them before you include them. If you can find a way to exclude it try that first and then you can try to readd it.
Or maybe it wasn’t kidding when it said it was dead!

10

I have GE switches (in fact all my switches are GE) and the only way to factory reset them is to press the Up 3 times then the down 3 times in very quick succession… the only way to verify it has been reset properly is the blue LED indicator will blink 5 times… How I reset mine was to put fingers on both the up and down of the switch (at the same time) and press very quickly (and I do mean really quick).

11

Yeah i’ve tried the factory reset as well…no idea. Maybe it truly is dead. Thing is I still see like entities mentioning it other xml files so im thinking I need to just completely remove every reference to it maybe? I have no idea.

12

Looks like it showed up again, but as a dead probe. Must be a bad switch. Maybe Jasco or w/e will refund me (bought through amazon). Shows “is_failed” as true.

I’ve managed to reset it and add it twice now and it shows as dead. Must be really dead.

13

So I finally got it working again, hope this helps others. I came across a reddit thread mentioning with the GE Z-wave switch it had to be ON when he rebooted Home Assistant. So sure enough, I reset it for the 500th time and left it on and then did Add node and it added it with zero problems. Now it shows up in my nodes as complete.

Anyone else ever run into this?

14

Never had this issue.

When add node you must manually switch state(never pay attention off>>on or on>>off, never was issue).

I reboot many times with GEs off without issue.

15

Could be a range thing, as I originally added them manually with the aeotec stick and I was close by, this time it’s further away and im trying to add via the control panel on HA.

16

Likely this.

I had similar issue with aeotech switch located in deadspot of home. It is close but metal/concrete block signal. Range extender helped.

Conversely, I have motion some 33+ meter from nearest device and works great

You can look at device in HA for retransmits and fails. This is big clue.

17

Where would I find the retransmits listed and what would they look like in HA?

18

States>>zwave.entity
Look at node details and it has some transmit stats

Configuration>>zwave>>zwave node management>>nodes>>entity>>select [node information]
Same information shows here as from states page

This can give clues to zwave node problems. When I was having issues before add repeater I I think “retries” or “sentfailed” counts being high. This did make issue obvious to me.