[RELEASE] Iris SmartPlug Z-Wave Repeater with Diagnostics

I am releasing the DeviceType code that I wrote to manage the often flakey Z-Wave repeaters found in the Iris V2 Smart Plugs manufactured by CentraLite.

This DTH has a few features that can be very useful in troubleshooting the reliability and stability of these devices. Currently it seems that delayBetween() is currently broken (again) and sends all commands at once, regardless of the specified duration. These devices are notorious for being overwhelmed and will frequently fail to respond to Z-Wave commands if they receive too many in a short period of time. As a workaround, this DTH implements a series of scheduled events to ensure that the device has sufficient time to process commands that it receives.

This DTH can be used for all currently connected Iris Repeaters. It also contains the device fingerprint and new devices should be correctly identified by SmartThings as theyā€™re added.

Core Features:

  • Scheduled health check, separate from Device Health.
  • Device Interrogation, including Power Level, Version, Association, and Device Info
  • Z-Wave Transmission Test, sends test frames from hub to device then returns count of successful ACKs.
  • Uses scheduling to send commands and display updates to device response.
  • Correct Fingerprint to recognize the Iris Repeater during Z-Wave association.

I do not promise this will make these devices more reliable, but it will help to identify when theyā€™re not!

Edit: Github repo fixed for ST pulls.

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Does this replace the method used to add both the zigbee and zwave radios on these devices?

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This just handles the zwave side of the device, right?

Add your DTH, and then change to your DTH in IDE settings for the device, right?

EDIT: Yup - that appeared to work. BTW, an Aeon Zwave repeater I have (that was always offline for some unknown reason), is now showing online w/your DTH.

No, it just manages the Z-Wave portion of the SmartPlug. I recommend using the native SmartThings SmartPower Outlet DTH for the Zigbee side. It doesnā€™t have the nice GUI as Benā€™s DTH but does have the advantage of running locally.

Correct. It will also detect the Z-Wave portion of any future Iris Smart Plugs. You just need to put them into Z-Wave association by pressing the button 8 times in about 2 seconds.

Cool. Since itā€™s a different device, it might not support the same command classes. Does the interrogation and Z-Wave testing work on it? Iā€™d appreciate the feedback if you can.

Interrogate mostly works (one blank field) but the Z-Wave test fails. Device does not respond.

Below are screens from testing w/the Aeon Z-Wave Repeater - after interrogate only the ā€œAssociationā€ field wasnā€™t filled in.

Z-Wave Test w/the Aeon failed, as was probably expected.

@SteveWhite

OK, now something odd w/the second Iris plug that I switched to your DTH.

It went from online w/the previous DTH to offline (in the ST app). It shows online in the IDE, interestingly, but the ā€œDataā€ line in the details table for the device in the IDE shows ā€œNo data found for device.ā€

The first one I switched to your device showed up offline briefly but switched to online as soon as I hit the Refresh option in the device screen in the app.

The second plug doesnā€™t go online and shows " " in Status when I try a Refresh or Interrogate.

It goes back to On/normal if I restore the ā€œZ-wave Deviceā€ DTH.

Suggestions?

any idea what is causing the github pull to fail?
image

@SteveWhite - I switched back to your DTH for the second device again, and it is showing offline again in the SmartThings device list on my phone and Status: is ā€œAttempting to contact device,ā€ and then ā€œFailed - Device unreachable,ā€ though the IDE does still show it as Online.

The plug side of it is working fine - turns on/off normally, so that is behaving normally.

EDIT: I Removed the Zwave Repeater from my devices, and re-added it (via the normal 8-tap dance to get it in Zwave pairing mode, and itā€™s coming up online again using your DTH. Paired directly using your DTH as you noted it would, which is nice.

One note for othersā€¦it showed up as ā€œUnknownā€ a little bit after completing pairing and showing as Online/normal.

I tapped on the ā€œRefreshā€ option and it restored online status. Tested the interrogate and it worked as w/the first Iris plug/repeater that I set up on your DTH.

Great stuff!!

BTW - what does ā€œConfigureā€ do?

Thereā€™s a few reasons for this, if youā€™re speaking about an Iris plug, and not the Aeon repeater, these are notorious for not responding to commands. They needs LOTS of time to answer, especially if the messages are repeating through other devices. I recommend waiting a minute or two then use the Z-Wave test. If that fails the plug is not reliably communicating with the hub.

After switching device types on an already associated device I recommend using the ā€œConfigureā€ button. This will set the default values and start up the scheduled health check of the device in the ST cloud. Without that step theres no health check and the device will report status of unknown or offline.

In addition to starting the scheduled health check, it also sends an Association command to ensure that itā€™s part of Group #1 Lifeline which should be set by default by the hub. In practice Iā€™ve had a couple plugs not associate properly too.

My bad. I didnā€™t follow the proper paradigm for SmartThings. Iā€™ve fixed the repo and updated my initial post. You should be able to do a pull now.

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Very cool! Iā€™m also going to use this to test where a couple of mine are physically located. Iā€™ve moved them around a couple times and never changed the names, so now I have two ā€œStairs Repeaterā€ :grimacing:

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So we can do GitHub integration w/this now? Coolā€¦I did code initially, meant to ask if integration was supported and forgot. This worked:

Owner: Shackrat
Name: SmartThings-by-Shackrat
Branch: Master

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Sorry, I wasnā€™t clearā€¦the Aeon Z-Wave repeater is the one that failed Z-Wave test and had one blank field after Interrogation. But itā€™s online now and wasnā€™t w/the generic Z-Wave Device driver so thatā€™s all good!

The Iris plugs passed w/flying colors, everything worked w/your DTH w/Z-Wave side of the plugs. Sweet stuff.

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Folks, I cant remove the ZWave repeater object from ST. I removed the IRIS plug but even doing the force removal in the app the ZWave portion wonā€™t remove. Any tips?

Thanks for the great work on the code, Iā€™m anxious to try it out!

Actually got it removed, I got into the My Devices tab on the web based smarthings app. I just selected the repeater and deleted it!

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this works great, thanks again for the effort. My repeater shows version 1.2, while in the screenshot above it shows 1.6. Is there an upgrade out there?

Mine is 1.2 also.

This is just so cool, I never thought home automation would be my thing. I started with a smart lock, saw the ST hub for $49 on Amazon (got lucky) and from there whoosh!

Love the fact thereā€™s active developers making all sorts of stuff work. Caught a deal at Lowes for 2 outlets and one motion for $71 (good through 27 Dec).

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I have just gone berserk I have many devices, with SmartThings, most controled with Alexa. Now I have added a BOND which controls all by non SmartThings fans via Amazon Echo. I have now with help from @ErnieG set that to work through IFFFT and SmartThings. Just about everything is now under control. The house even talks when I get mail. So much fun and frustration at the same time.

:sweat_smile: