This is a very novice question but is there a way to determine if my z-wave controller and/or host is being overworked by Z-Wave requests?
I recently did a complete re-do of my Z-Wave network with a new Zooz 700 Series Z-Wave Plus S2 USB Stick and I figured it would be a good time to basically start over. I decided to use Z-Wave JS to MQTT since it has more Z-Wave features (I don’t use MQTT Features, though). Everything felt very snappy and fast as I was adding devices but as I neared the end of including my 60 devices everything started to slow wayyyy down, it would take multiple tries to join devices and sending a command takes just ever so slightly longer for a response. And I’ve already had a few devices disconnect, but they reconnected after I pressed the physical button on the deice.
About 20 of these devices are energy monitoring devices so they send some data every 30 seconds back to the hub.
The only think I looked at is the Raspberry Pi’s CPU usage is around 2.1% and Memory is 5.3% so I don’t think its the Pi. But maybe the controller or Z-Wave 2 MQTT is being overworked?
Two extra bits of info:
Almost all devices are joined with S2 Security (maybe 4 or 5 are not)
I know inclusion puts a strain on the network but this sluggishness has persisted for over 24 hours now.
You have the right firmware, there was a bug pre. 17.1 where devices randomly drop on busy networks (like one with 60 devices, 20 of which are constantly talking)
If its not that, then two things.
Yes if seriously look at optimization of the energy reports (watch your ZWave network on debug I bets its constantly pinging) and trim them down to not update within x% if the device supports it.
Also some report issues with sticks plugged directly into a USB3 port on various devices. I recommend a short USB extension and plug into a USB2 port. Or use a small powered USB2 hub.
Thank you for the feedback, I did update to 1.17.2, I can’t quite tell yet the effect it has had. There is still a delay, but the delay is not consistent. Sometimes it is instant and sometimes it takes about 3-5 seconds.
As for your comment about trying to reduce network activity. Can you clarify what you mean about x%?
And I need to do some research into what I can turn off, I know a lot of these report volts as well and I don’t need that, just watts and kwh.
From reading the previous reply, the “x%” thing is a suggestion that you change configuration parameters on your “chatty” devices so they only send energy reports (or other non-critical information) with say a 10% change rather than sending a report every 1% or 0.1% change.
Exactly. But - it will depend on the device as to what capabilities are available. Look for ‘threshold’ type values in the device configuration and learn what they trigger you don’t need a device reporting the same value every 30 seconds, you want it to report when things change. My Zooz Zen15 I use on my washing machine has Both Power Report Percent Threshold and Power Report Value Threshold - I’m still working on tunning to get a good balance of reporting (to detect my washing machine cycles) v. traffic. What you can do depends on your device - but definitely get that firmware up to date first.
Sorry for the delayed repsonse, so I completely whipped and reincluded my network with a new, better, controller. I included only two of the new energy monitoring plugs and I can see the issue now. When I go to their configuration, I have everything on the maximum interval possible, yet it still reports in the wattage every second. So that makes sense now that with ~10 of these my network would be flooded. Any ideas on how I can get the device to calm down?
The device is a Minoston MP21ZP (firmware 1.0) and here are my settings:
Automating Reporting: Power Change Threshold (1-5): 5
Automating Reporting: Power Interval: 50,000
Automating Reporting: Current Change Threshold (1-10): 10
Automating Reporting: kWh Change Threshold (1-5): 5
My first instinct is to suggest throwing it in the bin and getting something with well-known support, like a Zooz.
In case that’s not an option, firstly do a factory reset (click Z-Wave button 2 twice quickly, then hold for
at least 10 seconds), then set it up how you want.
The only change you should theoretically make is to max out the seconds for the Power Interval, to 65535.
If that doesn’t fix it, go back to my first suggestion. Good luck!
I determined the issue is caused by monitoring devices with very low (but not zero) idle power draw. For example, when the microwave is running everything behaves normal but only periodic power readings. Once it is done the Wattage fails to around 0.1watts and then the outlet sends updates every 2 seconds. (I suspect this is due to the power % change).
I put the last 2 on the toaster and the dishwasher since they both pull exactly zero watts when idle.