Z-wave Leviton dimmer and switches problem

[K-bert]

I migrated from my ISY994 with 500 z-wave board to an EISY with the Zmatter dongle yesterday. I had some issues with the z-wave stuff, but most of that was fixed when I removed and then re-added them to the system. I currently have a problem with the Leviton switches and dimmers. I have two of each.

The Leviton devices do not update their status automatically. This was a known issue with the ISY. I found the solution on this forum which was to have the ISY react when the Levitons sent a hail. Every time the Leviton switches and dimmers were operated manually they sent out a hail. I have a program that when a hail was received from that device it would query the device. This worked fine and the ISY always knew what status the Levitons were.

Now that I have migrated, the EISY is not updated when one of the Levitons is operated locally. I can still query and control the devices just fine from the admin console. I opened up the event viewer and set it to level 3 (device communication events) and the hails are simply not present when I operate the devices locally. I am confident that they are still being sent out, but the EISY is not registering them in any way.

I tried removing one of the devices from my system and then added it again. This didn't change anything. Is there something I have missed in getting the hails? I really don't want to have to set up a query program that seeks information on a schedule. For example: every 30 seconds query all Leviton devices.

Any help would be appreciated.

K

[Geddy]

@K-bert This is another one that probably the best way to get the attention of UDI at this point is through a support ticket. It seems the biggest issue is indeed z-wave/ZMatter related so individual devices probably need to be handled through bug tracking, and that's best handled through the direct support process.

Good luck! And if you get any tricks/fixes in the support request please update here in case others need assistance similar to this.

 

[K-bert]

Thank you. I have submitted a ticket. I expect that there are a lot of tickets currently being dealt with considering how new these things are.

K

[brians]

I have mentioned this problem from beginning and is still not resolved.

This is not really an issue with ISY, was rather an issue with Leviton not wanting to pay a patent royalty (which now is expired) to support instant status. Their workaround was to use Hail. Many other hubs do this behind the scenes for these switches. Therefore it is hidden to what is going on, which unfortunately gave a false impression that there is nothing really wrong with these switches. Moving to ISY it is easily discovered the trickery!

I only have three of these Leviton switches - one is controlling an outdoor light which for some reason the builder placed switch in coat closet so it is just a responder style controlled by a keypad Linc, and never is turned on/off locally so I don't require instant status or hail. A 2nd is in closet in basement which I use a program that queries then once per minute which is better than nothing. The 3rd is sitting on my table last time I noticed. The other leviton devices like plug-in outlets never get turned on locally so instant status or hail is not needed.

Hopefully UDI can fix hail, I was working with Chris on this while ago and sent info about the switch but I believe is low priority.

[K-bert]

I would hope that it wouldn't be too much work to fix the hail. It worked fairly well with the ISY. I am using the two switches to run bathroom fans. Both have a timer so after a certain number of minutes they turn off. One of them is in a room with a shower and a z-wave humidity sensor which is used to automatically turn on the fan when the shower is used.

The two dimmers are controlling the lights in the great room and the front entrance hallway. The dimmers are less critical than the switches.

K

[vbPhil]

1 hour ago, K-bert said:

fix the hail.

can someone explain what the "hail" is?

[Geddy]

15 minutes ago, vbPhil said:

can someone explain what the "hail" is?

Command Class Hail (0x82/130)

Version 1, Controlled

This Command Class is transparently implemented in the library to trap unsolicited reports via Hail in legacy devices.

Data holders:

 

• hail: Updated every time Hail command is received

(Source: https://z-wave.me/manual/z-way/Command_Class_Reference.html#SECTION0016530000000000000000)

 

I don't use z-wave (at least not much...yet), but seems that it is/was a way that ISY would update the device status if the device didn't report status naturally. There was an old post that used a program to query the device when "hail" was sent so that the status in the ISY would match the switch/device status.

 

[vbPhil]

9 minutes ago, Geddy said:

There was an old post that used a program to query the device when "hail" was sent so that the status in the ISY would match the switch/device status.

Great, thanks! I never noticed that control command before in the AC.

[K-bert]

That was the program I was using in the ISY. It worked well for these switches.

I received a reply to my ticket:

"HAIL does work for some devices but does not for others, it depends on whether it is defined by the device as SUPPORTED vs CONTROLLED.

We are waiting on a fix to the library we are using that will work for both modes."

 

So hopefully this will be working again in a future update.

K

[Geddy]

@K-bert thanks for updating with the info from the support ticket. That's helpful!

I had been suspecting that many of the problems being faced with ZMatter are due to how different device manufacturers incorporate things differently. With the rapid growth of "generic" devices coming to market being touted as "z-wave plus" I'm sure many meet the bare minimum of any z-wave "standard". That's got to make it difficult for a controller to try to handle every little difference. 

Hopefully there's a solution soon!

 

[K-bert]

Final update: Ticket has been closed and I am told that the information need to resolve this problem. The fix will be provided in a future update.

K