I have a kwikset 910 that I’ve been using pretty happily with my ST v2 hub for the last couple of years. Lately, though, it’s been slowly killing me. I know there are a number of posts regarding the Kwikset z-wave locks related to pairing, but pairing for me has been pretty painless.
In a nutshell, the lock will go offline after about an hour or so. Rebooting the hub and running a z-wave repair does not bring the lock back online. The repair fails at the lock. The lock will only go back online once I remove the battery and reinsert it.
I’ve also tried excluding, factory resetting, and re-pairing the lock, but again, it just goes offline after about an hour.
I’m not sure if the z-wave module is just failing because after a fresh pairing, all the functions (locking/unlocking, notifications) work pretty snappily.
Some other observations, I have the cover removed and noticed that the z-wave module’s led is lit a steady yellow after a little while also. But I’m unsure if it’s related to the dropping of the connection. Also when the lock goes offline, the battery seems to drain significantly, like when left offline over night.
@JDRoberts Thank you for the reply. I just sent Kwikset a message. Hopefully they have a good response. Otherwise I might try a z-wave plus module next.
@TonyFleisher Thank you for the suggestion. This was the first thing I tried since that normally fixed connectivity issues I had in the past. I’ve gone through 3 sets of batteries in the last week and half. Fresh batteries will drop to 60% within days when it’s offline.
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RBoy
(www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)
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I would suggest do a factory reset on the lock and then exclude and pair it again. If it’s still draining the battery at this pace you may have a defective module (quite common, you can search the forum).
Often resetting does the trick.
I have a Kwikset 912 that I’ve had since mid-2016. It ran very well for a number of months (over a year) but then started to drop off the network, more and more often and at shorter and shorter intervals. It would also periodically affect the other Z-Wave devices in the mesh - eventually collapsing the whole thing. Pulling the batteries from the 912 and waiting would bring everything else back to life. I’ve done all the standard things like reset, exclude, re-add, change batteries, etc, etc. I then moved the SmartThings hub away from the router, added even more Z-Wave and Z-Wave plus repeaters (with beaming) around the house - even though there are at least three already within 4 feet of the lock. Even though the hub is only about 12 feet away from the lock and less than that from the repeaters.
I finally decided to replace the 912’s Z-Wave module. That seemed to calm things down for about 5-6 months. But within the last 6-8 weeks, the lock mostly refuses to stay connected for more than about 1.5 to 2 hours. Pulling the batteries and dropping them back in gets the lock connected - for another 1.5 - 2 hours.
I’ve finally given up on the 912. Even though it’s just for an inside-the-garage-to-the-house door, it’s more work than not having a Smart Lock at all. I’ve ordered a Schlage FE599NX and it will arrive tomorrow. I’m sure the @RBoy Lock User Manager and DTH that I’ve been using with the 912 will work with this new lock too. I really didn’t want to spend the money on the new lock, but sometimes you just gotta bite the bullet.
I honestly hope your situation doesn’t end up here too. Good luck.
Unfortunately, I’ve factory reset, excluded, and paired the lock 2-3 times this last week and half and the results are always the same. The lock stays connected for an hour or so, then disconnects. Looks like my module has gone bad.
You have described exactly what I went through to a T. My z-wave mesh started to get affected also. That is, 75% of my z-wave devices would go offline and repairing would fail at those devices. Most of them were the z-wave repeaters built into my zigbee iris plugs. I read the z-wave repeater portion was a little flaky, so as part of the troubleshooting, I removed all of those. I don’t think it ever improved the mesh anyway. I installed an aeotec z-wave repeater about 5 feet from the lock and still the same disconnecting problem.
Z-wave in general has left bad taste in my mouth. I installed a z-wave garage door sensor a while back and that would give me a lot of heartache. It went offline constantly. I finally switched the sensor with a zigbee open close sensor. Now it always works.
I hope it’s not the lock itself that is the problem and not just the module. Is that burning out modules?
I ordered a used Kwikset Convert last night at a cheap price through amazon. I was going to swap out my dying z-wave module from my 910 and use the Convert’s zigbee module. Hopefully that will solve my issues.
At this point, I’m not sure if it’s that I got two bad Kwikset Connect Z-Wave modules in a row or if the lock itself is also to blame - or even that it was causing the modules to go bad. I guess at this point, it doesn’t matter since I’m replacing the whole lock with the new Schlage FE599NX later today. If I were to try to make a reasonable guess, I’d say the z-Wave Home Connect Modules are not very good and even if they start their life OK, they go bad after a a few months.
I thought about switching to a Zigbee lock but decided to stick with Z-Wave because my Z-Wave mesh is so much stronger than my Zigbee mesh, and because all of my Z-Wave/Z-Wave+ devices are very stable - of course other than the Kwikset 912. I blame Kwikset for this debacle of over a year - not Z-Wave.
It’ll be interesting to see if a new Home Connect Module will solve your issue. I originally replaced just my module, but it was with the same version/release as the one I was replacing. Therefore (I guess), the same thing happened to the replacement. Yours, although quite a bit more expensive because you bought a whole lock to get a new module, may work out better because Kwikset has hopefully released a new and improved Home Connect Module and you got one of those.
Good luck, Ron. Not at all wishing bad luck and I hope it solves your issues. In my case anyway, things stabilized for a while with the replacement module but then it slowly went the same route as the original. Hopefully, you get a new release of the module and it’ll work out. Fingers crossed.
The Kwikset Convert, used on Amazon, was actually cheaper than trying to find a zigbee module by itself on ebay. I was able to get a “good condition” version coming from Amazon Warehouse for $33+tax.
I found the link on this thread:
Apparently the “Amazon Key” editions of the lock are just zigbee versions of the Kwikset Converts.
Smart way to convert to Zigbee. I looked at the ‘Convert’ listing on Amazon but didn’t see that you could also get a used lock/module. Since you only care about the module, the condition of the lock is certainly less important.
I just heard back from Kwikset and these are the instructions I was sent:
Thank you for your recent email describing the difficulties you are experiencing with your product. We apologise for the delay in response to your inquiry.
If the batteries in your SmartCode need to be removed and replaced in order for your lock to reconnect to the Hub, The mounting plate is placing tension on the torque blade. Remove the interior assembly from the mounting plate, loosen the screws on the mounting plate and reposition the plate, so there is no tension on the cylinder torque blade.
Next, align the turn piece with the torque blade and reinstall the interior assembly on the door.
Lastly, perform the door handing steps to correct the orientation of the bolt.
NOTE: Adding repeaters to your system may help communication between the lock and the Hub, especially if they are far away from each other.
We hope we have answered your concerns. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by updating this case with your comments or submitting a new case.
I’m not sure how this would affect the z-wave, but I’ll give it a try later.
Yellow for 5 seconds means that lock is ready to pair. No wonder is draining the battery. Check this out on Vera forum allegedly from Kiwikset support:
From Kwikset: “Yeah the Z-Wave products in general are pretty bad. Z-Wave just isn’t a reliable or good technology. Have you considered our Zigbee option? Those are definitely a much better solution, Z-Wave isn’t the right way to go anymore. You should return that lock and buy our ZB version or look into our new Bluetooth solution which has some awesome new features.”
There’s no way that’s a real reply from customer service. Kwikset is part of spectrum brands, which is a $3.5 billion company. Not some startup in a garage.
As for zwave, it’s a solid technology that works well when it’s implemented well.
Kwikset is a budget brand that takes a lot of shortcuts to keep the price low ( ask any locksmith), and one of the frequent complaints is the use of plastic parts where other brands use metal, which leads to degradation over time.
So it wouldn’t surprise me if there are internal issues with the alignment. But it’s not a zwave protocol issue and I would not expect their zigbee product to be any better.
I know, but who knows what the support division at Kwikset was going through in 2013. That’s about the same time I’ve got my three 910 Z-Wave locks (which I never had a problem with) …
Their response felt more like a reply to someone who is having a problem with batteries draining in general. That is, if the torque blade was hard to turn then the motor will need to use more battery power.
TBH, the zigbee module does look sort of like a prototype card. hah.
Let me know how things work out. I’ve been looking for a reason to change my locks to zigbee, not because I have problems but because secure devices slow down your Z-Wave mesh. And my locks are growing old. Swapping modules might be the cheaper way to do it.
allegedly from Kiwikset support: