Nortek GC-TBZ48 z-wave thermostat disconnects too frequently from HA

Hardware
1

I recently bought Nortek GC-TBZ48 thermostat and seeing an issue. Anyone any idea to fix/work around this? I was going to ask the manufacturer (gocontrol.com/support) but since I’m seeing the issue through HA I’m asking here first.

What seems done ok

Nortek/GoControl device seems to be successfully installed, I at least verified:

  • On the console: fan status, current measured temp, goal temperature appear correct. Changing mode seems to take effect on the A/C heater side.
  • From Z-wave (via Home Assistant, HA): fan status, current measured temp, goal temperature

Issue

  • On HA the thermostat goes “unavailable” very frequently. It’s been 5 days since I installed it and today HA shows the thermostat “Unavailable” for 3 days straight.
    • One trigger I almost verified is any operation on HA for thermostat to change the mode/temperature. When I do this, thermostat’s HA doesn’t show anything different but after awhile it goes unavailable.
  • Not sure if this is related but looking from ZwaveJS I/F. ProtocolInfo keeps failing.
    {
:      
     },
     "deviceId": "xxx-yyyyy-zzzzz",
     "status": "Dead",
     "interviewStage": "ProtocolInfo",
     "statistics": {
       "commandsTX": 95,
       "commandsRX": 114,
       "commandsDroppedRX": 0,
       "commandsDroppedTX": 0,
       "timeoutResponse": 0
     },
     "lastActive": 1638750631348,
     "minBatteryLevel": 100,
     "batteryLevels": [
       100
     ],
     "isBatteryPowered": true,
     "healProgress": "skipped",
     "_name": "NodeID_15"
}

Recovery that sometimes works

  • On GC-TBZ48 console do some changes e.g. fan from Auto to On then sometimes on HA it comes back up. But not always.

Environment

  • HA server on RPi3 that runs Ubuntu Core.
  • Z-wave gateway: GoControl HUSBZB-1, ZwaveJS Mqtt.
  • HA, and are installed via snap. Being on Core I guess they get automatically upgraded.
2

I would try starting a discussion on the zwavejs2mqtt github page.

3

The issue in this thread is similar but in my case the device was only battery-powered, never 24VAC-powered.

4

Thanks. I can do that if I’m more certain it can be a general z-wave issue, however all other 6 z-wave devices are working without obvious issues so I’m hesitant.

5

It could very well be an issue with the zwavejs database entry. Sometimes phantom or ghost nodes on your Z-Wave network can cause routing issues.

1 Like
6

Do you have the vanilla zwave or the zwave plus version of the thermostat? The model number is the same-- the only way to check is to open it up and look for the zwave logo inside.

7

Thanks again. Taking your opinion and I suspected potentially bad z-wave network (registration?). I removed the thermostat from the z-wave network and reincluded. Without knowing the best way other than doing factory-resetting, I did first excluded a bad node on HA side, then reset the device following GoControl GC-TBZ48 - How to Factory Reset - YouTube

Seems to be working so far. In OP I forgot to mention that I had never been able to operate the thermostat from HA (was only able to monitor) but this time I can operate and the thermostat doesn’t go away from HA. So I’d call this resolved for now.

8

Sorry I’m not sure exactly what you mean by vanilla and non vanilla (Ive always had a trouble in understanding when someone used vanilla). I opened the device. Does this picture give enough info?

PXL_20211211_210422173._exported_1806_1639256813840~2
PXL_20211211_210422173._exported_1806_1639256813840~21396×2014 434 KB

I already closed this thread as I’m satisfied but for future readers.

9

That’s the Zwave+ version (you can see the “plus” text just below the zwave logo on the product sticker. I was asking because the non-plus (what I called “vanilla”) version of this thermostat needs a parameter set in order to get it to report status changes (heating, idle, etc.).

10

OK Z-Wave devices and controllers can be put into exclusion mode to properly exclude a device. Factory Resetting the device still leaves the old node ID as a phantom or ghost node in the network on the controller. Other devices may try to route through i to reach the controller causing network issues.

I know there is Windows software that can be used to remove those nodes. I have not researched if there is any way of doing this from zwavejs2mqtt, I have the same controller for testing so I can research this if you wish.

1 Like
11

Ah sorry as I’ve updated my post I did exclude from HA first before factory resetting on the device side. So I’m good?

Yes I do see this issue on another device and ve been wondering why, so thank you for the hint!

1 Like
12

Sometimes the Z-Wave network stored on the controller shows network device nodes that no longer exist. In some software you can mark them as failed & then delete from the controller network, improving response times & mesh network routing.

If HA tends to find network nodes that no longer exist, you have ghost nodes, Otherwise you should be OK assuming all devices have a good signal route back to the controller.

13

I’m having an issue with my thermostat no reporting current temps. I’m not at home currently where I can see which model I have, but do you know the parameter that needs to be set just in case? Thanks!

14

FWIW, I too have the vanilla Z-Wave Variant (not Z-Wave Plus) and was able to create a workaround to get the temperature to update in Home Assistant every 5 minutes using node-red.

I’m not too worried about the Z-Wave network congestion, or the power required since I’m powering the thermostat using 24VAC (not battery).

This basically just leverages the “Z-wave: Refresh values” service inside of a 5 minute loop.

[{"id":"407e6bc5fdde2312","type":"api-call-service","z":"85a7d961416e2ceb","name":"Refresh Garage","server":"5fbf0f057d3a0ffe","version":5,"debugenabled":false,"domain":"zwave_js","service":"refresh_value","areaId":[],"deviceId":[],"entityId":["sensor.garage_thermostat_air_temperature","climate.garage_thermostat"],"data":"{}","dataType":"json","mergeContext":"","mustacheAltTags":false,"outputProperties":[],"queue":"none","x":400,"y":1380,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"56d00713cd1faa3d","type":"inject","z":"85a7d961416e2ceb","name":"manual","props":[],"repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":"0","topic":"","x":110,"y":1380,"wires":[["407e6bc5fdde2312"]]},{"id":"17dfe8c405ea7ab0","type":"inject","z":"85a7d961416e2ceb","name":"Automatic every 5 min","props":[],"repeat":"300","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":"0","topic":"","x":170,"y":1420,"wires":[["407e6bc5fdde2312"]]},{"id":"5fbf0f057d3a0ffe","type":"server","name":"Home Assistant","version":5,"addon":true,"rejectUnauthorizedCerts":true,"ha_boolean":"y|yes|true|on|home|open","connectionDelay":true,"cacheJson":true,"heartbeat":false,"heartbeatInterval":"30","areaSelector":"friendlyName","deviceSelector":"friendlyName","entitySelector":"friendlyName","statusSeparator":": ","statusYear":"hidden","statusMonth":"short","statusDay":"numeric","statusHourCycle":"default","statusTimeFormat":"h:m","enableGlobalContextStore":false}]

You can test this logic without node-red by just calling the service under Developer Tools:

image
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