I have an Aeotec (Gen 5) Siren that was continually going offline for no apparent reason. I removed it from smartthings. Then when I tried to exclude it, I pressed the button on the bottom of the siren and nothing came up on the app for me to exclude.
Since then, when I press the button on the siren, nothing happens. None of the lights come on and all I hear is a weird buzzing noise. I tried to see if I could factory reset the siren, but that proved unsuccessful as well. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
If the device is really dropping offline it could be a signal issue, but itâs possible that SmartThings thinks the device is offline when itâs really not.
Am I correct to assume that you went into that deviceâs settings in the mobile app, tapped Remove, and then pressed the button on the device and it didnât display the message stating it was successfully removed.
If thatâs not correct, how did you attempt to remove the device?
Iâm pretty sure the button on the device cancels the siren, but it canât be used to turn the siren on.
Lots of users have reported a buzzing sound that can be heard within a few feet of the device so itâs most likely not related to your issue.
You can factory reset the siren by holding the action button for 20 seconds. If successfully reset the siren will sound for 3 seconds.
You are correct to assume that I went to the deviceâs settings in the mobile app, tapped remove, and then pressed the remove button.
I tried to factory reset the device, but nothing happened.
Right now the siren is useless. I canât add it to smart things because it isnât be recognized. I canât exclude it from smarttgfins because it isnât being recognized. All of my attempts to reset it to factory settings have be unsuccessful. The only thing that happens when I plug it into the outlet is that I hear a buzzing noise. It has become useless and I have no idea how to fix it. I donât want to spend money on a new siren, but it seems as though I may be left with no other choice.
I am facing the same issue while the Siren worked like a charm for almost a year. I already share this with ST support who donât think they have a problem with Z-wave devices but frankly my Z-wave devices started to act oddly 2 o 3 hub updates ago. Previously I had only ZigBee guys going offline, now it also affect the Z-Wave ones.
On my side I removed/excluded the siren and added back but it went off again after. So like every sensors I have now, I am logging in an excel worksheet the offline events per sensor and note the reset/battery changes actions. Of course as this siren is not battery powered, only exclusion/re-add can be done.
Just in case it helps, here is the Aeotec support comments after I sent a ticket yesterday:
Weâve contacted SmartThings hub on a few occasions unfortunately have not been able to find the issue so far. We have been testing, while we have not yet come across the same issues others are facing so its hard for us to debug directly as well.
Some possible solutions i came up with while troubleshooting with other users may or may not help, but it has definitely helped a few.
Test the Siren sound
Press and hold the Siren Gen5 button for 10 seconds
At around 8 seconds, the LED should blink wildly, and ring its siren.
Release the Button
If it is working, continue to do an exclusion then inclusion using the ST hub.
Disable Health detection on SmartThings as a test to see when you re-include if the Siren goes back offline:
Tap the menu (Android) / More (iOS)
Tap Device Health
Toggle the Device Health switch to the OFF state
Tap Done
Full Factory Reset Manually
Press and hold the Siren Gen5 button for 20 seconds
At around 8 seconds, the LED should blink wildly, and ring its siren.
The sound will stop after 1 second, and then continue to blink wildly
The LED will become solid, then turn off.
Once there is no more reaction, continue to step 6.
Release the Button
Now try the general exclusion process.
General Exclusion
To factory reset your device follow the steps below:
Put your ST hub into General Exclusion mode from the steps followed in this link: https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200878314-How-to-exclude-Z-Wave-devices
⢠Tap the Menu Button
⢠Tap the âHub is Onlineâ
⢠Go to Z-Wave Utilities
⢠Go to General Device Exclusion
⢠When you see the message"Please follow manufacturerâs instructions to remove the Z-Wave device from my SmartThings" (For most cases you just tap the button on your Z-Wave device that is used for pairing, some other devices may have a special way for the exclusion process).
Tap the button on the Siren Gen5 that you want to factory reset
Put your ST hub into Pair Device Mode: https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/205956950
⢠Tap Marketplace
⢠Under Things, tap Connect New Device
⢠Your app will say âIâm looking for your new Thingsâ and display a spinning circle
Tap the button on the Siren Gen5 that you want to pair into your network.
If this isnât working, continue onto trying the custom DTH if Siren Gen5 is still a part of your network.
Installing a custom DTH after pairing it back:
If you are having issues triggering the Siren Gen5, or if it is show as a generic device, we advise using a custom device handler Smart Alarm, a custom device handler by krlaframboise.
Click on the name of your SmartThings hub to select the location that you are in
Click on âMy Device Handlersâ
Create a new Device Handler by clicking on â+ Create a new Device Handlerâ button in the upper-right corner.
Click on âFrom Code.â
Copy statusbits code from Github, and paste it into the code section.
Install it on your Siren Gen5 by going to âMy Devicesâ page in the IDE
Find your Siren Gen5.
Go to the bottom of the page for the current Siren Gen5 and click on âEdit.â
Find the âTypeâ field and select your device handler. (should be located at the bottom of the list as âSmart Alarmâ).
Click on âUpdateâ
Save Changes
Power Cycle Siren Gen5
This one is a bit interesting and may take a full night to power cycle due to the internal backup battery in the unit.
At night before bed, unplug the Siren Gen5 and leave it in its area of installation.
Once you wake up, tap its button to confirm if the battery has completely run dry
Now plug it back into your wall outlet, and unpair and pair back the Siren Gen5.
Power Cycle SmartThings Hub
Sometimes power cycling the Smartthings hub will solve this issue:
Unplug and unpower SmartThings hub
Wait 30 seconds
Power up SmartThings hub
When fully initiated, test Siren Gen5.
I am going to disable the Health check feature as I kind of remember my ZWave devices started to behave strangely around the Health check deployment in ST hub.
SmartThings marks the device âunavailableâ when it thinks the device is offline, but that doesnât mean the device is actually offline.
If the siren appears âunavailableâ and you open it in the mobile app youâll see that unavailable message, but thereâs an x in the top right corner of that screen that allows you to close that message and see the tiles like normal.
Usually, if you tap one of the tiles youâll find that the device is really still online and that will cause SmartThings to change it back to online.
Since youâre running into this problem with multiple devices it might be worth disabling the Health Check feature, but I donât recommend it if the siren is the only device youâre having problems with.
Disabling it will prevent devices from getting marked unavailable, but it wonât have any effect on whether or not devices are actually going offline. The only way youâll be able to tell if is device is really offline is by using a device monitoring SmartApp like my Simple Device Viewer or Device Monitor.
If youâre using my DTH for the siren, which is apparently approved by Aeotec based on that response you received, try setting the checkin interval setting to 24 Hours.
When itâs set to 24 hours it will internally ping the device every 24 hours and SmartThings wonât mark it unavailable unless it doesnât respond to 2 consecutive internal pings and the ping SmartThings sends shortly before marking it offline.
Update! So, I left the siren unplugged for about 3 days. Then I went plugged it back in and was able to pair it smart things with no problem. I donât know what happened, but everything is working now.
Iâm having your original problem, exactly.
Only I didnât get nearly the helpful responses from Aeotec as I see shared here. Iâll unplug it and give it a try in a few days, as suggested.
I forgot about this thread. Just popping back in to report that leaving the siren unplugged a few days was the solution for me. It allowed me to pair the device to my system just as readily as when it was new.