I have been having an issue with my Z-Wave JS UI setup for a few weeks now. Every time a device dies (which is multiple times a day due to the distance of the devices), my network dies. This is a big issue as we will be having guests staying here who need to use the Home Automation, and I want to minimise the issues they will have. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
Add more mains powered devices to improve the mesh. If you can’t, manually mark the remote device as dead, or exclude it is the only other way.
The coordinator will attempt to contact a device, and depending on the coordinator firmware I’ve seen this cause a pause in traffic for about two minutes (might be 200S).
ISTR updating the firmware on a Aeotec Gen5 helped slightly - but that was several years ago.
If this helps, this post!
This device is spamming network and taking it down. As suggested, add mains powered device or repeaters to help.
I like the aeotech range extender
Another option if we are talking another building or super duper far. If there is excellent network access, not just “I think my WiFi can reach it”, you can add a pi with ZwavejsUI installed and run a seperate network.
Thank you both @tmjpugh and @FloatingBoater for your suggestions, and I do understand what you are telling me. In truth, it is a large house with slightly over a hundred Z-Wave devices. The house has a basement, ground and first floors, so 3 floors in total, and the reality is that there is the bottleneck of the staircase through which Z-Wave signals have to move up or down the building. I am resigned to the fact that there will alwys be some devices dying, but they used to be successfully brought back to life by the automation that pings them right after they die.
So, to clarify, I’m talking about every device on the edge of the network - not any one specific device. My goal is not to stop them from dying - there will always be that occasional device dying for a few seconds and I understand it is normal. My aim is to stop the network from dying completely for like 2 minutes (or more) every time a device dies. This did not used to happen and started happening since a few weeks ago.
Requirement is the same:
-Check for devices that have high tx/rx retransmits
-Heal those devices in hopes of improving connection
-Add extender ior AC powered device
-depending on distance and causes maybe adding remote zwave network is best
Network doesn’t die because device dies
It dies because the device is alive and having trouble connecting
My home is constructed of metal and brick
Also large size and multi floor
Wi-Fi can’t move room to room in some area
I also have seperate area away from home that I automate
In the home I use many AC powered zwave switches and some rooms I must place zwave extender by door because signals cannot pass through wall
I extended my network to the area separate from my home. Here I added a pi running zwavejsui only. This connects via ethernet/websocket to my main HA
If you have trouble floor to floor maybe add pi running zwavejsui on each floor as Ethernet/wifi may be better between floors. There is no reason to except poor function when real solutions exist . Relocating zwave hub and adding extenders can help also.