Leviton Z-wave switches appear offline but they are not really

Devices & Integrations
1

Hello,

I have a SmartThings Hub v3 with various Leviton Z-wave switches, dimmers and outlets as well as a Aeotec Multisensor 6, 2 Ecobee thermostats, 2 Ecobee sensors and a Harmony Hub.

I was running on this hub and its initial setup since 2018-2019 approx. It was working well, but with a few hickups now and then. Mainly, some devices would start to show as offline. Sometimes, I could still control them with the SmartThings app, sometimes not at all.

I decided to do a clean install (a new SSID), remove every device from the SmartThings app and add them all over again. It’s been about a month since the clean install. At first, everything was all right. But, now again, some devices start to show offline in the app. For now, it is 6 devices:

1 Ecobee thermostat (I do not mind if it is offline)
2 Ecobee sensors (I do not mind if they are offline)
3 Leviton Z-Wave switches

Funny things is I can still partially control some of the Leviton switches even if showing offline. i.e., I can turn the lights on, but then cannot turn them back off. 2 of those switches are 3-way switches (1 dimmer, 1 regular), the other one is a one-way dimmer switch. When I do manually control the “offline” device within the app, the device then doesn’t show as offline anymore, but still, I can’t close the lights after having opened them. After a while the devices reappear as offline in the app. However, when a scene or a routine is triggered, these devices work fine (either lights going on or off) even if they appear as offline.

I have other Leviton Z-wave switches (3-way or one-way; dimmer or regular) in the app and, as of now, they work fine. Some of those are farther away then the malfunctionning ones and stil work fine. One thing I see the 3 problematic switches have in common is that they all have one unit in the same electrical box (it’s a 4 units electrical box). One of the 3-way switches have its master unit in that electrical box, but the other 3-way switch only has its slave unit in that electrical bow. The one-way switch is also in that electrical box. All units are well wired by my electrician. They were working great at the beginning of the new install.

What could be wrong? What should I check about those devices? What can I do to solve that issue and, more importantly, make sure it doesn’t happen again (repair the devices could work temporary, but, as seen with the clean install, doesn’t stay in proper working mode)?

Thank a lot in advance for your help about all this!

2

Have you run a Z-Wave repair? If you have not you should run it.

It won’t help your Ecobees, but it may help the Levitrons.

3

Offline means that the device’s status has not been properly reported to the ST cloud for some interval. Doesn’t mean the device isn’t online locally to the hub. Remember that hubs report status to the cloud and the ST app controls your devices from the cloud.

I would do a few things. First, check which driver the mis-behaving switches are using vs the ones that are working. If that’s good, then for the offline ones, I’d write a simple Routine to change some setting of the device and see if that “wakes them up” and if they then stay online. Lastly, I’d run a Z-Wave repair.

4

Check with Leviton support. It’s highly likely you need a firmware update. I had issues with my Leviton switches falling offline for no apparent reason. Firmware update fixed the problem.

1 Like
5

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your answer. I did run a couple times some Z-wave repairs, but without any success.

6

Hi,

All the switches are using the same driver… : /

Z-wave repair didn’ help either.

I have a routine that opens the lights from the mis-behaving switches at a certain time of day. If I run that routine when the switches appear offline, the lights connected to those switches open even if the switches are offline. After that, the switches appear online for a certain time but go back offline eventually.

7

Hi Hal,

I just called them. They emailed me the steps to do a firmware upgrade. How can I see the actual firmware version of the switches?

Thanks,

8

Sadly, I don’t know.

Back in the days of the IDE, you could find the firmware version in the detail data it provided (with some caveats). The stock Edge driver I use for my Leviton devices does not show it and it’s not available in the new, advanced, web interface.

It’s been too long since I’ve used it, I don’t recall if the Silicon Labs Z-wave controller software can show the firmware level.

The only devices that I can see the firmware version these days are my Zooz devices running the Zooz Edge driver.

9

Again, thank you for your time and your answer.

1 Like
10

Most welcome. Good luck!

Updating the firmware on Z-wave devices is tedious.

In theory (with some brands) you can do it without removing the device from the SmartThings Z-wave mesh. In practice that’s difficult or impossible if the device drops offline unexpectedly. And, of course, removing a device from the SmartThings mesh buggers up all automations it was in.

11

I can’t say for sure, but I seem to recall that the Z-Wave Explorer driver from @philh30 and the Zigbee Thing Mc from @Mariano_Colmenarejo might show the firmware version.

12

Good idea!

With the warning that changing to that driver can affect automations when the new driver is missing capability settings required for the automation.

1 Like
13

Thanks.

I’m upgrading firmware as we speak.

I am using a Zooz Zstick with the Leviton OTA firmware upgrade software (https://hubconnecteddecorasmart.leviton.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407521680155-Can-Leviton-Z-Wave-Products-Firmware-Be-Updated-) that was supposed to be used with the Aeotec ZStick (not available where I am).

The funny thing is that not all the devices show up in the Leviton software (I am guessing the software only show the Leviton devices that are available to be updated with the software). Also, the device ID do not match the Netword ID in Smartthings… What’s more strange is that software seems not to be listing all my Leviton switches. I have 2 models: the DZ6HD (dimmer) and the DZ15S (regular). I have 5 DZ6HD installed and 10 DZ15S installed. No matter what, the Leviton software only shows 11 devices…

14

That is the Homeseer software. The disadvantage of it is the cost. The advantage is it comes with updated firmware packages for a number of devices.

The other software you can use is the Silicon Labs PC Controller, link below. It is free but you have to get the firmware separately from the device manufacturer

They both accomplish the same thing.

Be aware that most SmartThings interfaces display Z-wave Network IDs in hex. The Homeseer and SI PC programs display them in decimal.

Back when I updated my Levitons, the devices were not online in SmartThings so attaching the PC software to the SmartThings mesh as a secondary controller didn’t give me access to the devices.

The other method is to run the PC software as a primary Z-wave controller of its own mesh. Since a device can only have one Z-wave controller that meant force-excluding my Levitons from the SmartThings mesh and adding them as new devices to the PC software’s mesh. Then, after updating, remove them from the PC software’s mesh and add them as new devices to SmartThings.

15

Wow, thanks for all the details.

The Leviton software is free. This is the one I used.

For the devices that were showing offline, I tripped the breaker off, then back on. That got the devices back online long enough to use the Z-stick as second controller and do the firmware upgrade. That way, I did’nt have to mess with my automations if removing and adding back devices to Smartthings.

Yeah, I was wondering why the IDs did’nt match between ST and the Leviton software. But I realized one is in decimal and the other one is in hexadecimal. ; )

Now, every Leviton switch I have is firmware 1.22 or 1.23, depending on the model. So everything is up to date. Crossing my fingers that this will avoid any more troubles with random offline devices!

Thank you,

2 Likes
16

I think I misunderstood the Leviton article you linked.

Nice! I was not so lucky. Happily, those were among my first few smart devices so I had not built up much for automations yet.

I’ve got to update some of my Zooz devices. That brand requires the devices to be reset after a firmware upgrade so only “the hard way” works.

17

Can anyone tell me how they got their Leviton Z-wave socket firmware updated? ST updates some device’s firmware, but it doesn’t for Leviton. Mine goes offline and will not recover without killing the breaker it’s on first. Then it’ll be good for a week or so until it happens again. I just moved back from Hubitat, and this Leviton was a solid rock. Never had any issues.
Thanks in advance!

18

As far as I know, SmartThings can’t update any z-wave devices.

You’ll need a Windows PC and a Z-wave USB stick. Then get a copy of Silicon Labs Simplicity Studio from here: Simplicity Studio - Silicon Labs And, from Leviton, get the updated firmware.

Read their help doc about updating device firmware.

If you can keep the Leviton devices online long enough, you can connect Studio to the SmartThings z-wave mesh as a secondary controller and update without removing the devices from SmartThings.

If you’re not that lucky, you’ll need to exclude and reset the devices, then bring Studio up as its own primary mesh controller. Attach the Levitons to that mesh, update them. Then exclude them from the Studio mesh. Finally, add them to SmartThings where they will be new devices. Then fix all the automations this broke.

3 Likes
19

Thanks for that good info. I was afraid that’s the way it was going to go. I have the zwave stick from my first Hubitat I can use. I actually live near and toured Silicon labs here in Austin. :sunglasses: The other solution is just replace it with a Zooz. Lol. Oddly I have 2 identical Leviton outlets and the other isn’t exhibiting the issue. The one that is, goes to an offline status in about a day or two of power cycling. I can check their firmware versions though

20

Random thoughts

  1. I’m a couple hours south and west of you, near Fredericksburg.

  2. The Studio program is free. If you connect it as a secondary controller you can get a map of your z-wave mesh.

  3. The update isn’t at all bad if you can use the secondary controller method. It’s pretty annoying if you have to do it the hard way.

  4. I’ve had to update Leviton switches and dimmers because they wouldn’t stay online. Could not keep them online long enough to use secondary controller.

  5. I’ve had to update some Zooz switches and dimmers because they would turn on full brightness after a power failure. At last check Zooz devices needed to be reset after a firmware upgrade so had to be done the hard way.

  6. I and, I think, some others here are avoiding purchasing new Z-wave devices. My only smart outlet is an GE Enbrighten 43102 Zigbee which I purchased to help my Zigbee mesh reach a leak sensor in the laundry room.