You should be able to remove the devices from the zwave network and add them back again later if you want. However, I don’t know if there’s anything particularly tricky about the specific SmartThings implementation. I know, for example, that if you’ve ever used the device with the SmartThings/IFTTT integration you could no longer remove it. Support has to help with that one.
So from a Z wave standpoint it should certainly be doable I just don’t know if there any particular SmartThings quirks as I haven’t done this myself.
my concern is that z-wave doesn’t seem to reissue the numbers of the removed devices. for example- currently i have zwave devices 3,7,8,0A,0E,0F, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19…
It will (to the best of my knowledge) give up at 232 (aka 0xE8) it will not reissue 2,4,5,6,9,16 etc. So you’re out of luck then.
Half the time playing with new devices i wast 2 or 3 slots removing and re-adding. So I’m a smidge weary to waste 4,5,6, etc slots each year for holiday lights. But I suppose In a few years when i get to 232 I’ll have a new hub at that point anyway…
Makes me wonder does zigbee handle this scenario better? Maybe i should pickup a handful of those devices for such needs?
my ge switches that used to ‘instantly’ report now seem to take 2-3 seconds so i’m thinking i have a mess in my z-wave network i need to clean up…
I think you’re right. Not good! It pays to be careful before adding any z-wave device. On the other hand, for even a large home 232 is a big number. After that point, one would have to tear it all down and start over.
Just unplug them and put them away. Leave them in your setup. This will slow down z-wave network repairs some, but not a big deal. Do repair the network for sure. Then, next year, they will come right back online. Do another repair, and you should be good to go. Zigbee devices are similar, but there’s no complaint when they go missing. Unplug the hub for 15 minutes to refresh the zigbee network. This worked for me.
V[quote=“MichaelK, post:42, topic:10897, full:true”]
my concern is that z-wave doesn’t seem to reissue the numbers of the removed devices. for example- currently i have zwave devices 3,7,8,0A,0E,0F, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19…
It will (to the best of my knowledge) give up at 232 (aka 0xE8) it will not reissue 2,4,5,6,9,16 etc. So you’re out of luck then.
[/quote]
This depends on the controller. For example, vera will issue zwave IDs in sequence up to 232 and then will go back and assign any currently unused device IDs, again working up in sequence to 232. So if you have deleted devices 9 and 47, new device IDs will be issued as 231, 232, 9, 47.
However, I don’t know if SmartThings works the same way. @duncan might have more to add.
You can also use the replace utility to assign an existing Zwave device ID to a new device of the same type. This is helpful if a device breaks and you’re replacing it.
Yes it will go back and reuse the lower IDs after going over 232. This is better than reusing them right away because of the possibility that a device wasn’t properly excluded and still thinks it has the same ID.
Thanks, MichaelK. That is my understanding as well. If anyone else has a better understanding, please let me know. The documentation doesn’t really cover how routing works with secondary controllers.
+1 on wanting more advanced troubleshooting tools. Has anyone ever worked with the IMA toolkit? Would love to get my hands on this code. It appears that it’s only made available to dealers. http://z-wave.sigmadesigns.com/docs/Z-Wave_Whats_IMA_Tool.pdf
I don’t know if it’s “better” but it’s different. The zwave controller assigns network IDs as each device joins the network. Each zigbee device comes with its own ID which it tells the coordinator at the time of joining. You won’t run out of zigbee IDs, but you can’t use a replace utility either. And you can force Z wave devices to have the ID you want by adding them to the network in a specific order. You can’t do that with Zigbee devices.
I keep getting the Failed to update mesh info for two of my devices they were working and nothing was moved there’s one zwave switch that i installed that should be making connection better since it’s a repeater. I’ve read all the information but I’m confused because that in on post, I read hub should be powered down for 15 minutes then brought back up then repair initiated . in another I read that only works for zigbee. The hub is about 9 feet from a Leviton DZS15 switch and then my problem switch is an Enerwave ZWN-RSM2 PLUS hooked to a ceiling fan is in the next room about 15 from that switch. What’s the best way to get these working right? (it’s my bedroom and my GF is getting pissed that lights aren’t working.
The powering down for 15 minutes does two different things. It initiates a network heal on your zigbee devices and it synchronizes your hub with your cloud account. So it’s one of those “can’t hurt, might help” things. It won’t do you any good if you just added a new Z wave repeater, because you need to do the Z wave repair utility to update the device tables, but it might fix some flaky problem caused by a loss of sync with the cloud.
Which specific devices are giving you the error messages? (Brand and model)
GE Smart Fan Control, 12730 and Enerwave ZWN-RSM2 PLUS. they’re in my bedroom. the Leviton DZS15 is a switch I installed for my front porch light specifically to be a repeater between the hub and those two switches
And you getting the “failed to update” from all three devices? Then probably there’s something wrong with One of the devices and it’s not relaying messages for the others. (All three of these act as repeaters)
Start with the wall switch. Check to see that it operates manually and that the LED comes on at the correct time. You may also need to check the wiring on the relay.
It would also be a good idea to contact support to see if they can see anything from their side.
@jody.albritton - are there any tools out to help with zwave network diagnostics? I think it would very helpful to have a diagram showing which devices talk to which other devices. This would visual pinpoint if there was one device that “bridged” to groups…good spot for a repeater. Even a text based report would be helpful showing which devices each can talk to.
I will check that when I get home. However, everything was working fine for a couple days, now it’s just those two things in my room. My dot works fine and the zigbee light bulb. Beside a wiring issue, is there another solution? should there be connectivity issues when two zwave repeating devices are only about 15 feet apart and separated by only one wall?
It could be that the radio in the device is defective. It happens.
“Failed to update” is pretty common for a battery powered device, because the device might’ve been asleep when the Z wave repair utility request came by.
But it’s not common for a mains powered device unless it’s falling out of range because a repeater that it was using has itself failed in some way.