Slow Automations with Z-WaveJS Devices

Configuration
1

Hello! Like many others, I’ve started to move my 100+ z-wave devices from SmartThings to Home Assistant using the ZWA-2 and ZBT-2 (for Zigbee devices) to get ahead of the upcoming API fees. So far, everything is going pretty smooth and I’m thinking I should’ve done this much sooner.

One issue I’m running into is with some of my automations being very slow or not triggering at all. For example, I have a Zooz ZEN32 Scene Controller in my bathroom where I use one of the small buttons to turn on 4 devices (lights and fans) and then another small button to turn off those 4 devices. Through some trial and error I was able to get it mostly working, however there is a noticeable delay in getting the 4 lights to turn on of off vs when I had my automation setup in SmartThings.

I’m not great in YAML, so I had to use AI to help me out. Is there anything I can do to better this automation to make it turn on the lights faster? I’ve pasted my Lights On automation below, but the same exact things applies for the Lights Off automation:

alias: Master Bath Shower, Lights On
description: Master Bath Lights turn on when Button 1 Pressed
triggers:
  - trigger: event
    event_type: zwave_js_value_notification
    event_data:
      node_id: 18
      property_key: "001"
      value: KeyPressed
actions:
  - action: switch.turn_on
    target:
      entity_id:
        - switch.master_bath_vanity_light
        - switch.master_bath_ceiling_light
        - switch.master_bath_shower_light_fan
        - switch.master_bath_toilet_fan
    data: {}
mode: parallel
max: 10

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

A lot of things can be doing that. It can be a time suck to figure out why.

That’s two separate things, right? Looking at the automation trace would tell you if it’s triggering or not.

As for slow, if you don’t mind getting into the weeds, you can look at the z-wave logs and watch when the controller sends out the message to turn on the lights and when the device responds with its updated state. You might see errors in the logs, for example, that might indicate an issue with your mesh.

At a higher level you can look at the stats on the devices (go to one of your lights, click three dots by Configure->Statistics) and look for a big percentage of dropped messages.

Unfortunately, you kind of have to dive into the timings to see what is happening when and where the delays are.