Node die spontaneously

[Lectere]

Domoticz v4.9700
Raspi 3, with a Aeonlabs Zwave stick Gen5 (on a long USB cable away from other stuff)
I have around 30 z-wave devices in my house

Once every week a node dies, I get a error message like;

Code: Select all

2019-03-02 19:05:22.959 Error: OpenZWave: Node has failed (or is not alive), Switch command not sent! (NodeID: 104, 0x68)

Many of my z-wave devices are build-in behind physical wall mounted switches, they have constant power (non-battery), so my mesh should be solid.

Things I tried;

• -Reset domoticz
  -heal the network
  -heal the node
  -push the button on the node to have it send a INF frame
  -take the power on/off with the failed node
  -tried the z-wave control panel trick, test & heal with the node number and a message count of 8

Nothing works, only thing that solves it; remove, and re-add the node.

But since my devices are behind physical wall mounted switches, this really, really, I mean, really, sucks.

To give you an idea;

• -power down my NAS
  -take out the power (main fuse box)
  -open the wall mounted socket
  -have the z-wave device hanging out
  -put the power back on
  -remove the device from the z-wave network
  -add the device to the z-wave network
  -turn off the power again
  -boot Domoticz
  -test to see if the device works
  -trying to fit the z-wave device behind the switch again
  -turn on the power again
  -turn on my NAS
  -and hope and pray I don't have to repeat this tomorrow.

This takes me at least half an hour to fix, every week again...

[Plantje]

I have been struggling with some Z-Wave stuff as well and posted several questions on it here. At times you get a response, but in a lot of cases it's just a matter of applying band aids and hoping for the best.
I have added a topic on Z-Wave reliability

Perhaps it is possible to bundle more Z-Wave issues into one feature request/bug fix request.

What would you think how this can be improved? I would think something like the following:

• Better Z-Wave communication between controller and devices
• Better handling of the Z-Wave data (if you change the configuration or if you get the configuration from a node, just wake up the node and get the freaking data )
• This would improve a lot, I think: If you click the plus sign next to a node that equals the following. Retrieve current configuration, remove node, add node, apply configuration, update previously configured devices to now be attached to the node.

[DutchHans]

sorry I made a mistake, moderator please delete this post

[febalci]

Well, for over 2 years I have these problems as well. I chose zwave thinking since it is a commercial product and professional; it should be stable. Most of the people here claims they have no problems with zwave and it is rock solid and the most important thing is the mesh structure to be solid. I have 12 qubino roller shutters, aoetec power meter and fibaro movement sensor. It should be stable regarding the mesh structure. However it has never been... I blame 2 reasons: ZWave specs and code not to be open, and openzwave which is created by reverse engineering. I have this sonoff wifi modules which is 100 times more stable than zwave for the cost of 1/20 of zwave products. After all these 2 years i really regret using zwave and seriously thinking of converting all to wifi products.
Anyway, regarding the node dead issues on powered nodes, i experienced that switching off the electricity fuse of that node from the fuse box of the house for 10 seconds and switching it back on and then restarting domoticz helps most of the issues. As @Lectere has it, i also have almost all my nodes behind physical switches in the wall and this helps a lot to me. Just to let you know...

[Plantje]

Well, for over 2 years I have these problems as well. I chose zwave thinking since it is a commercial product and professional; it should be stable. Most of the people here claims they have no problems with zwave and it is rock solid and the most important thing is the mesh structure to be solid. I have 12 qubino roller shutters, aoetec power meter and fibaro movement sensor. It should be stable regarding the mesh structure. However it has never been... I blame 2 reasons: ZWave specs and code not to be open, and openzwave which is created by reverse engineering. I have this sonoff wifi modules which is 100 times more stable than zwave for the cost of 1/20 of zwave products. After all these 2 years i really regret using zwave and seriously thinking of converting all to wifi products.

Is this a Z-Wave issue or a Domoticz issue? In other words: does a Fibaro system have similar issues?
I added a reply to the topic I linked to. I am willing to gather requirements etc if someone will use that functional documentation. I am not able to create a new build of Domoticz (yet)

Anyway, regarding the node dead issues on powered nodes, i experienced that switching off the electricity fuse of that node from the fuse box of the house for 10 seconds and switching it back on and then restarting domoticz helps most of the issues. As @Lectere has it, i also have almost all my nodes behind physical switches in the wall and this helps a lot to me. Just to let you know...

That's a good one. Hope it helps him!

[Lectere]

I'm really disappointed in zwave and domoticz. My previous fs20 setup was more stable at half the price. That's the thing, zwave products are not cheap. And I don't mind spending money, but I expect quality. Keeping things working is a nightmare, and takes me hours per month just to stay operational. Taking of the electricity doesn't solve the problem. Only one thing does; re-adding to the zwave network. Probably openzwave has issues, domoticz has issues, and the hardware has issues. For example I bought a "the button", and after two years of use, it seems you need to re-add it to the network every time it runs out of battery power. And such a thing costs almost 50 euro. I can't believe that! I also suspect qubino to be of poor quality. I had about 8 devices of the total 25 I own, replaced.