I’m hoping someone here, possibly @TheSmartestHouse, can help me with a couple of questions.
My HelixFi gateway (my ISP’s rebranded Xfinity Xfi) seems to suffer from leaks and according to tech support it needs regular (weekly) reboots like my old WRT-54g did running Tomato way back when.
Since I’m using the Xfi as a modem (only) in “bridged” mode because I have PiHole running as my DNS-level catch-all adblocker and two separate WLANs (one for VPN), I’d like to reboot the whole system at the same time to keep everything fresh and in sync. In the past, with an OK modem and my decent Nighthawk router that never needed power cycling I tried using a Zwave outlet on the VPN, VoIP adapters and PiHole, but the lack of sequencing prevented some parts from coming back online consistently. With the suggestion to reboot the Xfi as well now, I added it and the main router… and SmartThings lost control of the Zwave outlet and I had to go downstairs and manually turn the outlet back on.
Fast forward: to address the power-up sequence issue I decided to get the Zen20 instead of five separate plug-in outlets, and I was going to program a simple automation to do this power-down and sequential power-up once a week. But one of the first things the instruction sheet says is to not plug a router into it! The other issue (before I get started) is that the ide shows the Leviton outlet I tried (that didn’t power back on) does indeed have Local control, so why didn’t it switch back on? Is local control possible with the Zen20? I’m growing concerned that I invested poorly!
Thanks for the reply. The reason I ask is because the Leviton plug-in Zwave outlet I tried with the modem and router shows “Local” in that column of the IDE, but the it doesn’t switch back on when the modem and router are powered down (the ST hub has fresh batteries and is plugged in separately). I plan to use the two DTHs linked on the Zooz site and in other ZEN20 threads here.
I’m not quite following what you’re trying to do, but at the present time all custom code runs in the cloud. The only ones that can run locally are the ones that smartthings distributes to all customers in the firmware of the hub. So if you’re getting a DTH from anywhere else it won’t run locally.
AlSo, the only automations which can run locally are those created through the official smart lighting feature. Automations created through smartthings home monitor or The + in the upper right of the main screen to “add an automation“ won’t run locally.
How were you planning to use the Leviton plug in combination with the Zooz device? Because the other issue you run into is that different models have different behaviors when current is restored after an outage. Some remember their previous state, but many are off when power is restored as a safety feature. So you may have run into that also.
Ah. Sorry for the confusion, but your post has definitely enlightened me. I was using the Leviton plug with a small power strip to power down my LAN-connected devices as described, then power them back up together (which didn’t work consistently for some devices). When my ISP’s TS told me it’s a good idea to power-cycle the new Xfi gateway (the modem in my setup), I tried to cycle just the gateway and my Netgear router using the Leviton switch, and the switch never turned back on, despite “local” control showing in the IDE. I’ll double-check, but I’m pretty sure I was using a stock Smart Lighting app to trigger it (Classic, didn’t work, New, same). The confusion I caused: I don’t plan to use the Leviton switch with the Zooz strip, but to use the Zooz as five switches to power the five outlets off then sequentially back on as if I were manually power-cycling my LAN; I just want to make sure the Zooz strip has local control from the hub before I wake up to no internet (no Alexa, no camera feeds, etc) on Tuesday morning. If I use the stock handler, can I still control the five outlets independently?
Here is a grab of the Leviton’s Smart App screen, I can’t see why it doesn’t switch back on locally. I ran the automation this week without cutting the internet/WLAN and the switch worked normally.
OK, installed the ZEN20 with the stock ST handler and as expected it shows up as five individual “Z-wave Multi Metering” switches, but also only shows control as “Cloud.”
See my above reply (in which I forgot to tag or quote the helpers in this thread, oops) for more clarification on what I’m trying to do. If I power-cycle the power strip manually, the modem and router behave normally and come back online as one would expect, so I dont understand why I shouldn’t – according to Zooz’s instructions – plug a router into this smart strip.
That makes sense to me, because I believe at the present time there aren’t any composite devices that run locally. But things have been changing a lot over the last few months I could be wrong on that.
In other words, not all of the stock DTHs run locally. It’s just that The only DTHs which run locally are stock DTHs. It’s a subset.
I believe they might be referring to a woodworking router, not a Wi-Fi router. The ZEN20 isn’t designed to handle motors or high amp bursts so it shouldn’t be used in those applications.
As for sequential rebooting of your network equipment, I am doing this using a TP-Link Kasa Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip. In the Kasa app you can have the individual outlets turn on/off on a schedule. This schedule runs on the device itself so it doesn’t require internet or even Wi-Fi to work. As a bonus, you can add this strip to SmartThings as well. Keep in mind that if you kill the internet, SmartThings can’t control this strip either. Therefore, don’t go turning off your router or modem with a SmartThings automation or you will have to go manually turn the outlet back on.
Edit: Also, some routers have a built in scheduled reboot function. If that is the case for yours, you should probably use that rather than hard powering it off/on.
Thank you. I had looked at the TP-Link before but I’m a bit peculiar I guess and didn’t want more architecture than Zwave for most power and sensors, and Zigbee for bulbs and light strips. That said, I’ll look into why the “local” control of the Leviton outlet doesn’t power it back up, and use that for the modem and router, and the strip for the rest of the gear I’d like to control in my wiring closet (VPN router, Raspberry Pi running PiHole and FR24, VoIP adapters, various smart home gear, WH audio, etc).
Multi-channel devices, even if officially integrated like our ZEN20 and ZEN25 are still processed in the cloud, we never received an explanation or an estimated date when the devices would run locally from SmartThings but hope this will happen soon.
The disclaimer actually refers to Internet routers because small impulse loads can cause unknown current states on the circuit as well and we found that they too, occasionally, can damage smart outlet and don’t recommend using them with any Z-Wave plugs or outlets, maybe with the exception of the ZEN15 Power Switch which was built to handle spikes and sudden drops of current with additional components.
If I use the stock handler, can I still control the five outlets independently?
The ZEN20 isn’t designed to handle motors or high amp bursts so it shouldn’t be used in those applications.