ST Hub won't always "see" a Relay's quick signal

Devices & Integrations
1

I’m using a zooz zen17 for a garage door opener relay.

The clicker receiver is connected to the zen17 input (S1) and the zen17 corresponding relay (R1) is connected to the garage door opener.

The clicker receiver sends a signal to the S1 input that last for about 1/4 of a second. The zen17 automatically closes and then reopens the R1 relay for the same 1/4 second which is more than enough for the garage door opener to see the signal and open the door. This works without issue.

My challenge is that sometimes the S1/R1 is “on” for such a short period of time, that SmartThings never “sees” that the Zen17 was ever on at all. I have other automations/Scenes that get triggered when the Zen17 relay is turned on (lights and other things), however, during the times that SmartThings doesn’t “see” that the relay was on, it doesn’t run the Scenes.

This issue seems most likely to happen whenever my hub has sat idle for a while.
The hub is close to the relay…maybe 15ft max.
No, direct association is not a solution for this as I also incorporate SharpTools which needs the SmartThings hub to actually “see” the signal.

Zooz has updated the firmware on the Zen17 to allow for a new parameter to adjust for this, however, the SmartThings Driver for the Zen17 doesn’t take advantage of this new parameter yet.

Suggestions or am I out of luck until the driver gets updated?

2

So you don’t need the lights to turn off again when the relay closes?

If so, use zwave direct association to have the relay turn on a Z wave smart plug, which does not turn off again immediately and then use that smart plug coming on as the trigger in your smartthings routines.

I’m not sure when you want to have the plug turn off again, though, so that it’s ready for the next time. :thinking:

3

So my lights are on a different hub than the zen17’s, so I can’t direct associate to them.

However, I’m pretty sure I have a smart plug that I’m not using at the moment that I could use as a bit of a sacrificial device with direct associate to act as my surrogate “longer signal” to make everything (including sharp tools) work more smoother with the short pulses.

4

ok, so a really basic question that I’ve never fully understood with Direct Association.

In my case, zen17 ID is 43
I’m using a zen15 as my sacrificial smart plug and is ID 16

I enter 16 in my association group 2 of my zen17.

After that do I still need to make a routine to have the zen17 turn the zen15 on?

5

No routines.

Zwave direct association allows the trigger device (the zen17) to send a message directly to the target device (zen15) without going through the hub at all.

A routine wouldn’t work in this situation because if it did work, you wouldn’t need to do this. The whole point is that the hub is not always getting the message that you want it to. (or I suspect it is receiving the quick off before it runs the routine.)

Anyway, let’s try it and see what happens. We may need to make one more adjustment, but I’ll hold off on that until I see if it’s necessary.

6

Ok…this is what I thought. And in that case, I think this one other adjustment you refer to is needed.

I have my network ID (16) for my Zen15 in the Association group of my zen17. Nothing happens to the Zen15 when the Zen17’s relay is triggered.

7

Ohhh…I bet I have a security miscompare. I’m betting my zen17 is S2 security while my Zen15 is not.

If so, I need to install my zen17 without security? Correct assumption?

8

Yes. Zwave direct association can only be made between two devices with the same security level. Good catch.

9

Ok…after a dozen tries finally have both installed on the same security level. The Direct Association DOES work. However, the Zen15 now mirrors the Zen17…the Zen15 goes on and off with the same 1/4 second duration.

Hmmmmm

10

Yeah, that’s the extra thing I mentioned. Hmmmm indeed.

Unfortunately, that particular smart plug doesn’t have a parameter that would help with this.

Since The smartest house provides its own custom edge Drivers for Zooz products, I guess the next step is to ask them what suggestions they have. :thinking:

Are you using both relays in the zen17?

11

FWIW, I do also have a ZEN04 and a ZEN05 on hand, but not sure if those have any parameters that would be helpful.

Zooz didn’t have any suggestions other than “wait for the driver to be updated”

I am using both relays in the zen17, but wouldn’t be against getting another one to use for this if there was a solution if I had an open relay…what are you thinking on this?

12

The issue we ran into is that the smart plug wasn’t smart enough to only do a turn on when the relay turned on, it also immediately turned off, so that didn’t help.

We need something that we can turn on that won’t turn off.

I was thinking that there might be a way to have the second relay turn on when the first relay turns on, but give it a longer time before it turns itself off, long enough for smartthings to detect it.

13

Gotcha. Some sort of way to send a longer signal. Will need some brainstorming on my end.

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