Hi All,

I have the upgraded zwave board in my ISY 994i, which is in the basement.  I have a door lock there, about 5 feet away from the ISY.  I have several plugin repeaters/lamp controllers on the first floor of the house.  I have three zwave fan controllers on the second floor.  The rest of the house is Insteon.

I just installed a zwave lock on my front door.  The reception is intermittent.  I have programmed all the codes, though.  I have a repeater/lamp controller that is about 5 feet from the lock.

- Is there a way to strengthen the zwave system?  Such as by synchronizing nodes?

- Is there a way to see just the zwave devices?

- When I go to the lock, I can set codes for users, but there does not appear to be a way to see what the codes currently are.  Is that possible?

Thank you.

3 hours ago, ctviggen1 said:

Hi All,

I have the upgraded zwave board in my ISY 994i, which is in the basement.  I have a door lock there, about 5 feet away from the ISY.  I have several plugin repeaters/lamp controllers on the first floor of the house.  I have three zwave fan controllers on the second floor.  The rest of the house is Insteon.

I just installed a zwave lock on my front door.  The reception is intermittent.  I have programmed all the codes, though.  I have a repeater/lamp controller that is about 5 feet from the lock.

- Is there a way to strengthen the zwave system?  Such as by synchronizing nodes?

- Is there a way to see just the zwave devices?

- When I go to the lock, I can set codes for users, but there does not appear to be a way to see what the codes currently are.  Is that possible?

Thank you.

You dont say what your locks are nor what your firmware and UI is so there is limited support we can give you. See Zwave tips and tricks (very first post on this sub-forum) as that could provide you information that could help you with your issues.

Just because you have devices 5' from your lock does not mean they are routing your messages to your locks. You can check to see what the neighbors are by right-clicking on the device, then Z-Wave> Show Information In the Event Viewer, then watch to see the nearest neighbor.

There is no way to just see zwave devices (especially if you renamed them completely). Generally, they start with ZW (and their number).

It is not possible to view what the codes are. There is a notes section that you can put your codes in if you right click on the device. 

I too have a new Z-Wave front door lock, and I spent a lot of time researching just what one can do with Z-Wave here. Regarding existing codes, there is no support in the Z-Wave protocol for locks to provide that information - you can set or delete only.

As for your reception issues, my understanding is that the Z-Wave network recalculates the map every 24 hours or so. Try deleting and re-adding the lock to your hub, while it is mounted where you want it.

Sorry, I am using the latest version of everything.  I don't know what you mean by "UI".  I am using the Admin Console via a computer in my house, if that's what you mean.

"You can check to see what the neighbors are by right-clicking on the device, then Z-Wave> Show Information In the Event Viewer, then watch to see the nearest neighbor. "

I cannot get this to work. Nothing at all happens for any zwave device when I do this.

I think it's a horrible design that the zwave components are not marked.  That means I'll have to manually go through and put "z" or "zwave" in front of everything that's zwave. Terrible.

If I say "zwave", "update neighbors", again, there's nothing that ostensibly happens. Does it update neighbors? I have no idea, since there's no feedback.

I have two of these:

https://www.kwikset.com/products/detail/916-smartcode-traditional-electronic-deadbolt-with-z-wave-technology

One in the basement near the ISY 994i, which works fine.  The new one is on the first floor, in the front door, on the opposite side of the house from where the ISY 994i is. 

On the second floor, I have three zwave ceiling fan controllers.

In the basement, I moved one of these as close as I could to the front door:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3PGK61/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have another one of these (Honeywell) only 5 feet away from the lock on the first floor.

I have at least another Honeywell somewhere else on the first floor.

I put two of these (minoston) in closets, each device is about 2 feet away from the lock:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LN2NPZ3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I can ALWAYS get to the Honeywell that is 5 feet away from the lock.

The two new ministons are more problematic.  Could be the devices, as I've just installed them. I had to take them near the ISY 994i to get them connected correctly, brought them up in the closets (which have LEDs that come on when you open the closets, yes I have an MSEE and have done this in all the closets in the house).  They seemed to work, but now are more troublesome.

The problem I'm having is the software gives no feedback. Does the "update neighbors" do anything?  No idea. Nothing in "show information in event viewer" works.  The log uses command numbers, which are meaningless.

There's no way to figure out whether something is zwave without manually going to every single device. There's no way to see who is connected (or able to connect) to whom.  I could go on...

31 minutes ago, ctviggen1 said:

Sorry, I am using the latest version of everything.  I don't know what you mean by "UI".  I am using the Admin Console via a computer in my house, if that's what you mean.

"You can check to see what the neighbors are by right-clicking on the device, then Z-Wave> Show Information In the Event Viewer, then watch to see the nearest neighbor. "

I cannot get this to work. Nothing at all happens for any zwave device when I do this.

I think it's a horrible design that the zwave components are not marked.  That means I'll have to manually go through and put "z" or "zwave" in front of everything that's zwave. Terrible.

If I say "zwave", "update neighbors", again, there's nothing that ostensibly happens. Does it update neighbors? I have no idea, since there's no feedback.

I have two of these:

https://www.kwikset.com/products/detail/916-smartcode-traditional-electronic-deadbolt-with-z-wave-technology

One in the basement near the ISY 994i, which works fine.  The new one is on the first floor, in the front door, on the opposite side of the house from where the ISY 994i is. 

On the second floor, I have three zwave ceiling fan controllers.

In the basement, I moved one of these as close as I could to the front door:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3PGK61/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have another one of these (Honeywell) only 5 feet away from the lock on the first floor.

I have at least another Honeywell somewhere else on the first floor.

I put two of these (minoston) in closets, each device is about 2 feet away from the lock:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08LN2NPZ3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I can ALWAYS get to the Honeywell that is 5 feet away from the lock.

The two new ministons are more problematic.  Could be the devices, as I've just installed them. I had to take them near the ISY 994i to get them connected correctly, brought them up in the closets (which have LEDs that come on when you open the closets, yes I have an MSEE and have done this in all the closets in the house).  They seemed to work, but now are more troublesome.

The problem I'm having is the software gives no feedback. Does the "update neighbors" do anything?  No idea. Nothing in "show information in event viewer" works.  The log uses command numbers, which are meaningless.

There's no way to figure out whether something is zwave without manually going to every single device. There's no way to see who is connected (or able to connect) to whom.  I could go on...

Whats the latest version of everything? We hear that alot and then when further questioned, it turns out the person doesnt have the latest. The best way for us to help you is to provide actual details such as your firmware and UI. Having information on both is important. (Help>about)

What do you mean by zwave devices are not marked. Ive used zwave in dozens of installs and every single one has started with ZW 00# (number increases after each device)when a device is added. Ditto for every single person on here using zwave. The only way any of that information is missing is if you overwrite it. If youre having to go back through and put a "Z" in front of all your zwave devices then you erased it during setup. Thats a user issue not a software issue.

In regards to looking at the event viewer information- did you open the event viewer before or afterwards and set it to level 3? Ditto for update neighbors. Since locks are usually asleep, you want to wake it up by manually locking/unlocking it when you want to run it.

On the surface, it appears you have enough hardwired devices in your home for a decent mesh. However, not knowing the layout of things, environment, etc., I cant really help with whether actual placement is great for a strong mesh. Needing to add your minoston's close to your isy does not surprise me. All of your devices must support network wide inclusion for it to work from its final location. Otherwise, you must bring the devices close to your ISY.