I’m wondering if anyone has input on a problem I continue to have… Every few days, I will lose connection to one my GE/Jasco plug in switches. My smart app fails and I cannot control the switch from the app. (it works fine if I manually push the button on the device though).
If I try to modify the smart app, I get an “error fetching device” message.
I’m not sure if this could be an issue with a defective switch, or if it’s possibly related to interference, etc.
The switch is only about 20 feet away from the hub, but the signal does need to run through my kitchen (fridge, microwave, etc.), and 2 walls - one of which is a bathroom.
I’ve read a few posts saying that these GE/Jasco switches do have problems sometimes…
As a test, I’m going to try and move the switch into a different room to see if I continue to have the problem. Just wondering if anyone has any similar experiences…
I have a 30+ GE Zwave switches both 45XXX and the 12XXX series. I do have some that appear to be more finicky than others. Every once in awhile they’ll fall off the network and in order to get them back on I have to exclude them. To which SmartThings replies that I may’ve removed a different device. Then I have to force delete the device from SmartThings. Obviously its a pain since the device can’t have any SmartApps when removing. Its happened enough now that I have a system of taking all the SmartApps and associating them to a dummy “repair switch”, remove the device, add it back, re-associate all of dummy “repair switch” SmartApps back.
Scott, thanks for the reply. Stinks you have to frequently perform that work around, but I like that idea of the “dummy switch”. That will make changing the smart apps much easier when needed.
Do you suspect that your finicky switches have something to do with interference or range issues?
I got this new switch last Nov, right around the time of the ST upgrade that caused all sorts of problems. So I’ve going under the impression that this was just another ST problem. But now I’m starting to wonder…
Because this is the only device I’m having connection issues with, I started thinking it might be losing connection for some other reason… But I really have no proof of that theory.
I have have tons of Jasco/GE switches and once in a while. One of the switch dropped offline but not every couple of days. Sounded like a range issue to me. Have you try doing a z-wave repair first. Fridge, microwave and a couple of walls with no repeater is a little too much I think.
They certainly could be range related, although the devices removes and re-adds easily. Its more like SmartThings and the device somehow got out of synch for its network id. Which is why when I remove it SmartThings says “Oh you may have removed the wrong device”. I’ve even seen the LED stop responding to manual on/off and then come back to life once re-paired. So I think something is up with the switch rather than SmartThings.
Ultimately its not that often maybe once a quarter or so I’ll find one has fallen off. Certainly manageable.
Thanks for the replies guys… I have tried doing the zwave repair many times, but it never works. The only thing that gets it working right again is an uninstall/reinstall or a hub reboot.
I’d have no issue if this only happened once per quarter… But this is pretty frequent and frustrating…
I am going to try moving the switch into a different room for a few days as a test…
What a freaking comedy of errors this is… So I moved the switch into a different room. Seemed to work fine controlling from the app. So it seemed the problem may have been with range or interference.
Now, past 2 days, my smart app hasn’t fired… And I’m getting an error trying to remove it, saying “an unexpected error occurred” ST problems… I can’t win!