I’m currently using a HUSBZB-1 stick for Zwave and I think it may be the source of some of the problems I’m having with my network - long RTT to some devices, nodes that shouldn’t be marked as dead getting presumed dead. One of the major culprits I know is that even if I centrally locate my hub, the range on the HUSBZB is so short that most battery powered devices end up having to hop through my powered nodes to the controller (though I’ve got all devices down to one or no hops).
Is this the case with most USB sticks? Would a hub be a better idea? I was playing with a Wink Hub 1 and it seems to be able to have the range to reach almost all of my battery powered devices directly. But the delay because of the cloud is a problem. I know that the Vera is integrated with HASS for local control, can anyone comment on the reaction time for controlling Zwave devices?
I’m not afraid to throw money at the problem but I need to know what to throw money at .
A lot of people use the Aeotec stick. I don’t have any battery powered zwave devices so I can’t comment on that but my powered stuff is almost zero latency and instant.
I use the Aeotec z-wave usb stick too.
I have a few aeotec multi sensor gen6 all on battery power only, they work very well with zero latency on motion detection and hourly report for all the other sensor data (temp, humidity, lux). bought them all in March, so far battery going strong on all with them reporting 100%, which I am sure is not true.
plus I also have a couple of aeotec switches, again no latency, but as powered more frequent data sent back (amps, watts, voltage)
overall very pleased with all of it, will get some more sensors when the price comes back down
I don’t know the distances, but it is good for me.
the usb stick is downstairs in the front of the house and the furthest battery sensor is upstairs at the back of the house and it works well
I know its not the same as it is powered, but I have a switch in the garage so it has to go through two external walls and the width of the house and half the length of the house and this works well too.
Any powered devices like this will act as a relay too, so can extend the reach
I have a HUSBZB-1 with about 20 devices and several of them are battery powered. I do not have much latency at all. What devices do you have? Have you tried to adjust polling interval and intensity? Might want to look into some of these things to see if you can resolve them.
I have seen the dead node issue but that is only on 2 devices but they are quickly recovered with a Test Node service call. I think those device may be on their way out too. I was able to automate the service call when the node was marked dead. One of my devices that has died was my GE Dimmer 45606 and the other is a Aeotec Smart Energy DSC06. But again a test node service call brought it back. In the case of the GE Dimmer I just needed to pull the air gap and pop it back in and its been good since that.
Might want to list your devices too and what you have tried to minimize latency.
I guess if I really think about it it’s one specific device that I seem to have latency problems and presumed dead status with no matter what I try - it’s a Kwikset 910 door lock (not the smartcode kind, it’s part of the signature series with a plain key turn on the outside and Zwave unit inside). I have two HomeSeer dimmers, two Leviton plug in receptacles, three NeoCoolCam door/window sensors, and a NeoCoolCam plug in Receptacle. I’ve placed a Leviton Receptacle about 10 feet from the lock, and while the RTT to the leviton receptacle is like 20ms and it reacts instantly, the lock RTT is more like 3000ms and takes what seems like forever to react and to update status. And occasionally it’s presumed dead, and if a heal network or test node doesn’t fix it, I need to exclude and then secure include it again.
Maybe I need to be talking to Kwikset support about this…
Edit: I should add though, that when I was using it with the Wink Hub 1, it never failed to react - it might react after 15 seconds, but it always did and updated its status in the Wink app. And it never died to the point I needed to exclude/reinclude it. Powered nodes had like 3-4 seconds of latency though, which I didn’t like, and battery sensors too. So I decided to go with a USB stick, etc etc.
Does that battery sensor have powered neighbours though? Just wondering what the furthest a battery powered device could be from the stick and still connect to the controller directly.
Check your config parameters maybe you need to adjust something so it reports appropriately? I would check the forums. Personally I have a Schlage connect and I couldnt be happier. Coming from SmartThings it works a lot faster and better on hass with this new dongle. I am also using zigbee on the usb stick and seems to do well for the most part.
I just checked and its only neighbour is the usb stick. I think it could be about 30foot from the stick.
(The powered devices (switches) are new last month and the battery sensor has been going strong since march)
I have similar latency with Kwikset 910 but not the presumed dead problem.
I think the latency is more or less to be expected. The lock has a wakeup interval of a couple seconds IIRC, so it is always going to take a bit for it to receive and respond to commands. All battery-powered Z-Wave devices are like that but most of them do not have to listen for commands most of the time - they mostly only send commands.
As far as the network routing it sounds like you really do need a powered device to do routing in between the hub and lock. You can try doing a network heal when you are sure the lock is in range of both the nearby outlet and the hub, then do another one when it is out of range of the hub to convince it to route via the outlet. YMMV.
Here’s the issue - there’s a Leviton DZPA1-2BW in between the hub and the lock, it supports beaming. And the RTT to the Leviton is like 20ms. But I’m still seeing a really high RTT with the lock, so I dunno. Network has been healed multiple times and the Lock Node definitely has the Leviton as a neighbour, as it can’t reach the hub without the Leviton plugged in.
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