Hi @professordave,
I work on Device Health here at SmartThings. Thanks for the feedback and know that we are taking this feedback very seriously. Let me briefly explain how Device Health works:
We determine the “aliveness” of a device based on events generated by the device. Devices on our platform usually have an expected reporting interval (e.g: report in temperature values, battery levels, light levels, etc) in the absence of an event. We use the “3 strikes you’re out rule” to determine if a device is OFFLINE.
For example, let’s say SmartPower Outlet reports in every 5 minutes. We are expected to hear from this device every 5 minutes. So after say 10min or so, we ping the device. Device Type Handler implements “ping()” method- in an attempt to generate an event from the device. If we still do not hear from the device in 1 minute, we mark it OFFLINE.
Hope this helps! In the coming weeks, I will be working with our Customer Support and Knowledge Base team to get more documentation and streamline the Device Health triage process.