Sometimes after doing a Z-Wave repair you’ll notice error messages on your logs from unknown devices which only have a device id or when you’re looking at the device routing table you’ll notice an Unknown Device listed. These are ghost device, i.e. devices that are no longer paired with the hub and not recognized but still remain in the network routing tables.
The problem with ghost devices is that they can create issues with the mesh, unresponsive devices, slow communication, delays and other issues.
How to check the routing table for a device
To do this, open the IDE -> click on My Devices -> Click on your device . Scroll down and look for Route.
A healthy network route should look something like this:
- This Device ↔ Hub
- This Device (5C) ↔ TV Audio System (D8) ↔ Water Valve (D7) ↔ Hub
An unhealthy network with ghost devices will look something like this:
- This Device (5C) ↔ Unknown Device (40) ↔ Bathroom Light (A0) ↔ Hub
- This Device (5C) ↔ Unknown Device (BA) ↔ Unknown Device (F2) ↔ Tree Lights (A7) ↔ Hub
These Unknown Device are ghost device. You will need to make a note of each of their ID’s (in brackets) as you will need these to get rid of these ghost devices from your network routing tables.
How to remove a ghost device from your Z-Wave network
To remove a z-wave ghost device, follow these steps for each “ghost” device:
- Log into your IDE
- Click on My Devices
- Click on + New Device
- Under
Nametype in some random name (e.g. Ghost Device 1)- In
Device Network Identer the ghost device id you had located earlier- Select Z-Wave Device for
Type- Select the
Locationwhere you found the ghost device- Select the
Hubin that location where the ghost device is present- Click on Create
- Open the ST mobile app
- Open the device, click on the 3 dots on the top right corner and select Edit
- Click on Delete at the bottom of the page and confirm, then wait while it tries to exclude until it presents you with a Force Delete option and then tap on it
- After the device has been successfully deleted, now run a Z-Wave Repair
NOTE: If you have multiple ghost devices, it’s better to delete all the ghost devices first and then run a Z-Wave repair at the end to update all the tables since Z-Wave repairs can take from 5 to 30 minutes.
You will need to repeat this for each ghost device you have. After running a Z-Wave repair, you can verify the network route for the affected devices using the process above to ensure that ghost devices have been removed.
How to remove a ghost device from your ZigBee network
- Unplug your SmartThings hub
- Unplug/turn off your ZigBee devices which are affected by the ghost devices
- If you come across any ZigBee devices in your house which you know are connected to your hub but not showing up in the list of devices under My Devices, unplug them also or pair them with your hub and then exclude them to a clean start.
- Wait for 30 minutes and then plug the hub back in and power up all the devices, this forces the ZigBee mesh to rebuild it routing tables and should remove any ghost devices in the routing tables
