Do I need to poll my devices for their status?

Configuration
1

I have 4 standard z wave switches and 3 insteon switches. I can turn the switches on and off in the HA UI and they work but I noticed yesterday if I manually toggle the switch then their status is not updated on the HA UI.

I heard from someone that since my switches are not z wave plus they need to be polled but in reading the docs it looks like polling happens every 60 seconds by default.

How do I get the HA UI to display the current status?

2

I only have experience with Z-Wave devices, not insteon, so I can only speak to Z-Wave…

It really depends on the switch. In my particular case I only need to do this with a couple switches. If you find you need to poll one or more devices, add polling_interval to your zwave configuration to set the basic polling interval, and then add polling_intensity for each device that needs to be polled. This second parameter basically means how often to poll it - e.g., 1 means every time its turn comes up in the polling sequence, 2 means every other time, etc.

E.g., here is what I have:

zwave:
  usb_path: /dev/zwave
  network_key: !secret zwave_network_key
  polling_interval: 10000
  device_config:
    switch.living_room_lamps:
      polling_intensity: 1
    switch.kitchen_light:
      polling_intensity: 1

The polling interval is in milliseconds, so 10000 corresponds to every 10 sec.

See z-wave configuration for more details.

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3

Thanks! I will try that and report back.

Would a z wave plus device update immediately without the need to poll?

Unfortunately I see nothing in the Insteon section that corresponds to polling.

4

Not all Plus devices support the instant update. Not all manufacturers paid to license the feature.

5

From what I understand, the answer isn’t straightforward. It does have something to do with the licensing issues. However, even my older GE switches that aren’t Z-Wave Plus and don’t have the necessary feature are still somehow instantly updated in HA. (Someone explained it once, but I don’t remember the details. Bottom line is whether or not you see instant updates, no matter the details behind the scene.)

E.g., in my case (all GE/Jasco switches), the only ones I need polling for are the ones with Add-On switches connected to form 3-way or 4-way configurations. If the switch itself is manually operated, HA gets updated instantly. But if the switch is changed by manually operating the Add-On switch, HA doesn’t get instantly updated. This is why I use polling just with the two switches to which I have Add-On switches connected.

6

That explains why HA doesn’t poll every device as default…because it is only needed in certain situations.

I have Linear switches.

7

Insteon_plm does not require polling because all Insteon devices send status updates on state change. Per the other thread, I believe yours is a linking issue.

8

@pnbruckner Those changes to my config worked for z wave, thanks!

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