ZWave woes

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  • MalcolmSu
    • Mar 2024

    ZWave woes

    my admiration of ZWave is starting to wear off a bit now! Having completely switched from X10 appliance and lamp modules to the equivalent ZWave modules I now experiencing problems.

    Other than add more modules my set up has been almost static for some months but over the past couple of months with a bit more time on my hands I've notice quite a high number of failures in my HomeSeer logs.

    I've had numerous intermittent commands that are failed to be received by the ZWave modules, intermittent polling failures which cause HS not to know the current status and lastly adding a new device to my expanding inventory has been a nightmare!

    As you may know new devices are added via the remote and then transfered via a USB receiver to the PC and HS. That last part now seems to be extremely hit or miss. The send fails, it gets extra devices that don't exist - so frustrating. The only way I've found to recover is to power everything down and start again which for a HA server is just wrong!

    I've also had my first lamp module fail when a bulb blew - it became a bin job...

    I'm now no longer convinced that ZWave is going to bring HA to the 'ordinary man in the street'. :cry:

    M

    PS haven't seen these products mentioned in here before http://www.controlthink.com/ ?? Or did I miss that?
  • Otto-Mate
    Founder
    • Jan 2004
    • 882

    #2
    Re: ZWave woes

    Interesting to hear a long-term opinion on Z-wave.

    Doesn't sound too encouraging though. How many units in your setup now?

    M.
    Editor AutomatedHome.co.uk


    www.facebook.com/AutomatedHomeUK
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    Comment

    • MalcolmSu
      • Mar 2024

      #3
      Re: ZWave woes

      Just 22 at the moment although I've just removed 3 as they were controlling the Xmas lights. That in itself is not an easy task! Removing them from HomeSeer is easy but the remote and the USB interface still knows about them which means they re-appear everytime you download again. I wish I'd left them alone but I tried to remove them as HS keeps polling them and they weren't there which was giving errors (I've since discovered you can turn polling off).

      I dread to think what will happen next year - the devices cannot just be plugged in again. They'll all need to be re-learned since ZWave needs to know where they are in the 'network' - i.e. their position relative to other ZWave devices.

      I've read of others who have had a failed unit resort to deleting everything and relearning which might be fine with one or two units but I'd hate to have to resort to setting up 22 devices again in ZWave and in HS.

      If you read the HS forums the two main problems seem to be polling and the USB interface - although no one seems to be definitive about this. One of the main reasons for switching to ZWave for me was the two way feedback from devices.

      By default HS sets each device to be polled every 300s. It would 'appear' that with large numbers of devices all being polled at 300s intervals this can cause problems.

      The other problem area seems to be the USB interface which most people now seem to be swapping out for the serial version. Indeed HS were exchanging returns of USB devices foc for some time... I'm loathe to invest another $80 in this at this time. :-(

      The main advantage for me right now over X10 is speed and lack of interfernce. The units react far far quicker to commands than X10 and I haven't had some of the filtering problems I had iniitially with X10.

      As I said I had at one time thought that perhaps ZWave could take HA to the masses in a way X10 hadn't but I'm afraid I don't think that way now. Which will be a shame as that will potentialy limit the development and production of an expanded ZWave product set here in the UK.

      HTH?

      Malcolm

      Comment

      • MalcolmSu
        • Mar 2024

        #4
        Re: ZWave woes

        ...oh and also every so often HS loses the USB interface (so everything stops working). I have to disconnect and reconnect the interface and then re-boot HS to get it working again.

        M

        Comment

        • MalcolmSu
          • Mar 2024

          #5
          Re: ZWave woes

          and then i read this morning "ZWave wins best of CES award"! http://www.zen-sys.com/

          So what do I know...

          Malcolm

          Comment

          • MalcolmSu
            • Mar 2024

            #6
            Re: ZWave woes

            and maybe Cisco know more than me too!

            Data-driven insight and authoritative analysis for business, digital, and policy leaders in a world disrupted and inspired by technology

            Comment

            • MalcolmSu
              • Mar 2024

              #7
              Re: ZWave woes

              and just to balance this thread off I found this interesting white paper that reviews and compares the latest RF based HA systems (inc ZWave)



              in which Echelon are quite citical of RF based automation - but then maybe that's because supply powerline based systems...

              Comment

              • MalcolmSu
                • Mar 2024

                #8
                Re: ZWave woes

                yet another failed z-wave lamp module this afternoon - that's three in the past 12 months or so :-(

                To remove the failed device now I have to reset the remote (so losing all the device settings, scenes, etc), re-learn all the existing devices and then re-transmit them to HomeSeer. Bummer!!

                M

                Comment

                • FrankMcAlinden
                  Automated Home Guru
                  • Feb 2004
                  • 109

                  #9
                  Re: ZWave woes

                  Hi Mal

                  To remove the failed device now I have to reset the remote (so losing all the device settings, scenes, etc), re-learn all the existing devices and then re-transmit them to HomeSeer. Bummer!!

                  Sounds like a lot of frigging around to me ....Are you sure you have to reset the remote ???.....Any idea whats causing the module to fail ??

                  Frank

                  PS.....Must mention this on the xPL Forum as theres a plugin currently being written for Z WAVE......

                  Frank
                  Home of FirM - the Multi Zone IR Transport System
                  http://www.armaghelectrical.com.au/index.html

                  Comment

                  • MalcolmSu
                    • Mar 2024

                    #10
                    Re: ZWave woes

                    Are you sure you have to reset the remote???
                    Yep, it's the only way. See here http://tinyurl.com/9u2vv

                    The mechanics for moving z-wave devices in the home and for removing unwanted, and especially dead devices, have long been a bone of contention for z-wave users.

                    Hopefully ACT/HomePro have been listening and will improve the setup in the future. With 20 z-wave devices at the moment it doesn't take that long to go round and set them up again but I'd hate to have to do it in the future with double or more devices.

                    I don't understand why the modules blow but all mine have been accompanied by a light bulb popping.

                    Light bulbs pop in my (everyones) house from time to time but I cannot say with certainty which came first - did the bulb pop and blow the z-wave unit or vice versa...

                    I'm not sure how common this problem is but it would appear that I'm not alone - http://tinyurl.com/78aqk :-(

                    At the moment this is an inconvenience - they've been replaced under their 12m warranty but I dread having to shell out another £35 to replace one after that time...

                    Malcolm

                    Comment

                    • ashleigh
                      Automated Home Lurker
                      • Jul 2006
                      • 2

                      #11
                      Re: ZWave woes

                      Perhaps its worth a look at cbus wireless.

                      Remotes are optional, there are no central controllers, any unit can put the network into "Learn" for basic commissioning, you can link it to wired cbus, you can do more complex commissioning from a PC (which is optional).

                      And improvements in function and capability are coming.

                      Comment

                      • GaryG
                        Automated Home Lurker
                        • Feb 2007
                        • 1

                        #12
                        Malcolm

                        Do you use quickblow fuses on your appliances to protect your triacs?


                        I have had to replace several lights with integral dimmers because the bulb 'blowing' has shorted the triac, since swapping the plug fuse for a 20mm glass quickblow fuse I've had no further problems, the bulb now takes out the fuse.

                        The 20mm fuse is smaller than a standard mains plug fuse but will fit, 1A should be sufficient.

                        Regards
                        Gary

                        Comment

                        • Marc
                          Automated Home Jr Member
                          • Feb 2004
                          • 49

                          #13
                          It's interesting to see how many others are having the same problems as me. I use Z-Wave via Homeseer. To say that it's unreliable would be an understatement. It's come to the point where I am now buying X10 again over Z-Wave.

                          Homeseer looses connection to the USB interface every couple of days and the only way to get it back is by rebooting the server. I've had two lamp modules blow, and the remote control is basic at best. Don't even get me started on module development.

                          It's not cheap to get into Z-Wave and at this point I'm wishing I never bothered.

                          Comment

                          • mbuckhurst
                            Automated Home Lurker
                            • May 2006
                            • 7

                            #14
                            Originally posted by Marc View Post
                            It's interesting to see how many others are having the same problems as me. I use Z-Wave via Homeseer. To say that it's unreliable would be an understatement. It's come to the point where I am now buying X10 again over Z-Wave.

                            Homeseer looses connection to the USB interface every couple of days and the only way to get it back is by rebooting the server. I've had two lamp modules blow, and the remote control is basic at best. Don't even get me started on module development.

                            It's not cheap to get into Z-Wave and at this point I'm wishing I never bothered.
                            I have a limited z-wave setup, but found I was getting exactly the same usb reboot symptoms, I found 2 solutions to the problem

                            1) Go into control panel->system->hardware delete the z-wave usb interface, then rescan for hardware.

                            2) Using a powered hub to connect the usb interface - run like this I've only rebooted once since Christmas.

                            mike

                            Comment

                            • Marc
                              Automated Home Jr Member
                              • Feb 2004
                              • 49

                              #15
                              Originally posted by mbuckhurst View Post
                              I have a limited z-wave setup, but found I was getting exactly the same usb reboot symptoms, I found 2 solutions to the problem

                              2) Using a powered hub to connect the usb interface - run like this I've only rebooted once since Christmas.

                              mike

                              Ohh that's interesting. I'll give that a try ! Thanks for the tip

                              Comment

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