Misc Z-Wave Questions

[palayman]

A few weeks ago I installed the new z-wave dongle and a couple of Z-Wave devices - Zooz Z-Wave Plus Power Switch ZEN15 to control/monitor a couple of my sump pumps.

A few extra nodes showed up over a period of two weeks on these devices.  They were a water meter and a colored light on device. Can't seem to monitor or control either of them.  Should I be concerned?  Should I delete?

While setting up a monitoring program I noticed that they power variable available is not regularly updated.  Is it queried by the ISY on some regular time frame?  In my program I query it and wait some time before using the variable. Is this the best way to handle it? I wait 10 seconds - is this reasonable?

I have a repeat loop that is checking the current once a minute after waiting for the query. This seems to work OK, but it actually only gets executed once every 75 seconds. Is this a good way to handle and should I expect this kind of time discrepancy? Loading on my system is light except for some AVRemote and DCS node server traffic.

I also noticed that one of the devices loses it's z-wave connection once or twice and hour. It is about 30 feet from the ISY and has a clear line of site in my basement. Should this be happening?  I have tried multiple repairs of the network.

Thanks,
Paul

[Screw Loose Dan]

31 minutes ago, palayman said:

While setting up a monitoring program I noticed that they power variable available is not regularly updated.  Is it queried by the ISY on some regular time frame?  In my program I query it and wait some time before using the variable. Is this the best way to handle it? I wait 10 seconds - is this reasonable?

I don't have the Zooz, but my understanding is most zwave devices have a parameter that controls how often they update the controller.  Not sure if this is your exact model, but the user manual shows:

Quote

Power Wattage Report Value Threshold Parameter 151: Choose how you want your Power Switch to report power consumption to your hub. The number entered as value corresponds to the number of Watts the appliance needs to go over for the change to be reported. So if 50 Watts are entered by default, the Power Switch will report any change in power usage over 50 Watts (whether it’s at least 50 Watts more or 50 Watts less compared to previous report). Values: 0 – 65535. 0 – disabled (the Switch will not report power consumption based on this setting). 50 – default setting. Size: 2 byte dec.

Power Report Percentage Threshold Parameter 152: Choose how you want your Power Switch to report power use to your hub and associated devices by percentage rate. The number entered as value corresponds to the percentage in power usage change the appliance needs to go over for the event to be reported. So if 10% is entered by default, the Power Switch will report any change in power use over 10% (whether it’s at least 10% more or 10% less power use compared to previous report). Values: 0 – 255; 0 – disabled (it will not report power consumption based on percentage change); 10 – default setting. Size: 1 byte dec

Power Report Frequency Parameter 171: Choose how often you want your Power Switch to report power consumption (W) to your controller and associated device. The number entered as value corresponds to the number of seconds. So if 30 is entered by default, the Power Switch will report power consumption every 30 seconds. Values: 5 – 2678400; 0 – disabled (it will not report power consumption); 30 – default setting. Size: 4 byte dec.

Electricity Report Frequency Parameter 174: Choose how often you want your Power Switch to report levels of electrical current (A) to your controller and associated device. The number entered as value corresponds to the number of seconds. Values: 5 – 2678400; 0 – disabled (it will not report electrical current); 300 – default setting. Size: 4 byte dec

You may also want to make ensure parameter 21 is set accordingly:

Quote

On/Off Status Recovery After Power Failure Parameter 21: Choose the recovery state for your Power Switch if power outage occurs. Values: 0 – Power Switch remembers the status prior to power outage and turns back to it (default); 1 – Power Switch automatically turns ON once power is restored (it does not remember the status prior to power outage); 2 – Power Switch automatically turns OFF once power is restored (it does not remember the status prior to power outage); Size: 1 byte dec.

You can set these parameters from the ISY admin console.

[palayman]

28 minutes ago, Screw Loose Dan said:

I don't have the Zooz, but my understanding is most zwave devices have a parameter that controls how often they update the controller.  Not sure if this is your exact model, but the user manual shows:

You may also want to make ensure parameter 21 is set accordingly:

You can set these parameters from the ISY admin console.

Dan,

Thanks for this. Guess I should have RTFM.  It looks like most parameters get updated once every 5 minutes by default.  May just change my monitoring loop to match.

This brings up another question. If I set a state variable to the power reported, will a program containing the state variable in the IF clause be executed only when state variable is changed or every time it is reassigned, even when it is reassigned the same value. Or do I need to track the power with another variable and only reassign the state variable when it changes. Looking for a simple way to trigger my alert if any change in power consumed by sump pump is detected.

Paul

[Screw Loose Dan]

I am using an Aeotec zwave module to monitor my sump pump, but it seems like it's pretty much the same.  I set up  what would be parameter 151/152 on the Zooz to report anytime the pump kicks on.  This way I didn't need to worry about polling intervals.  My pump runs for about 4 seconds on most runs from what I can tell.  I assign a state variable to the wattage whenever it's > 0 and alert based on that.  It seems my programs trigger anytime the wattage changes.

[palayman]

33 minutes ago, Screw Loose Dan said:

I am using an Aeotec zwave module to monitor my sump pump, but it seems like it's pretty much the same.  I set up  what would be parameter 151/152 on the Zooz to report anytime the pump kicks on.  This way I didn't need to worry about polling intervals.  My pump runs for about 4 seconds on most runs from what I can tell.  I assign a state variable to the wattage whenever it's > 0 and alert based on that.  It seems my programs trigger anytime the wattage changes.

Sorry, I don't understand completely.  The Aeotec reports whenever  the pump kicks on using parameter 151, by default on mine 50 watts. How does this trigger the assignment to a state variable? Is the Aeotec variable somehow a state variable that can trigger other events?

My Zooz variables only show up under status, implying they are not capable of triggering anything. The only thing that shows up under control is ON/OFF and I leave it on all the time of course.

Paul

[Screw Loose Dan]

I'm at work right now, so I can't look up the particulars on my Aeotec (but they really wouldn't apply for you anyway)...but the idea is to have the zwave module update the controller (ISY) whenever there is any significant change in power used by the sump pump.  The vast majority of the time, my sump pump isn't running, so it has zero power usage.  I think I have it update at ~25 watt change, so ISY get notified anytime the sump kicks on (my sump is ~900 watts when running). I have a program that watches the zwave device power (triggers on anything > 0) and writes the value to the state variable. I use that variable to trigger other events.

This wouldn't work (well), except my sump rarely runs and doesn't run very long when it does.

[palayman]

28 minutes ago, Screw Loose Dan said:

I have a program that watches the zwave device power (triggers on anything > 0) and writes the value to the state variable. I use that variable to trigger other events.

Ok.  I doing the same thing.  I have a loop that runs every 5 minutes.  It looks for an increase in power consumed. If it has increased I save the power and send a message telling me it has run.  I also calculate and send the the number of minutes it ran since that last time I was notified using roughly the same 900 watt number. My pumps switches are just above the static water level in my area. If they run at all I want to know. I figure a 5 minute window it is good enough. 

[Screw Loose Dan]

3 hours ago, palayman said:

I also noticed that one of the devices loses it's z-wave connection once or twice and hour. It is about 30 feet from the ISY and has a clear line of site in my basement. Should this be happening?  I have tried multiple repairs of the network.

You mentioned this in your original post.  How do you notice that the device loses it's connection?  I haven't noticed my Aeotec losing connectivity, but I haven't gone looking to see if it has problems.

[palayman]

5 minutes ago, Screw Loose Dan said:

You mentioned this in your original post.  How do you notice that the device loses it's connection?  I haven't noticed my Aeotec losing connectivity, but I haven't gone looking to see if it has problems.

I was sitting on the admin console for a long time yesterday.  I had a program that was polling both sump pumps every 60 seconds.  Several times I got a message that the connection to one of them was lost. Need to look through the logs for more detail.