Dear forum,
I have a black battery symbol and a ? over my door sensor. Any ideas what this is?
What is the device? Brand/model? It sounds like the battery status unknown.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
DSB29-ZWUS Aeon Labs ZWave Door Window Sensor . I have just relocated the Vera System to my vacation home and two of the three door sensors show the black battery sign with question mark.
This is probably a failure to communicate resulting in status unknown. Did you perform a network heal after relocating?
No, I have not done this before. Can you advise how to accomplish this?
OK, I found the the heal process under Z wave settings. The report results only show my HEM as being configured. The other devices show a not ( circle with a slash through it ) configured. My 3 in 1 motion seemed to be working but also shows the not configured. Any ideas?
Your battery operated devices sleep except for when an event occurs and then only wake upi long enough to report the event. While sleeping they cannot be polled or configured. For this reason, battery operated devices wake up at a scheduled interval.
The heal process is not having an effect on your devices because they are asleep. You need to manually put the sensor in “stay awake mode”(see the device’s manual) which usually lasts for about 10 minutes and then perform the heal while they are awake. Then your battery operated devices will get configured and everything will start working.
Sometimes, the wake up and configuration all happens automatically over the course of a day or two.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:7, topic:181500”]Your battery operated devices sleep except for when an event occurs and then only wake upi long enough to report the event. While sleeping they cannot be polled or configured. For this reason, battery operated devices wake up at a scheduled interval.
The heal process is not having an effect on your devices because they are asleep. You need to manually put the sensor in “stay awake mode”(see the device’s manual) which usually lasts for about 10 minutes and then perform the heal while they are awake. Then your battery operated devices will get configured and everything will start working.
Sometimes, the wake up and configuration all happens automatically over the course of a day or two.[/quote]
Hi–
The manual for this device says that it can be awakened by toggling the tamper switch. Do do this the sensor need to be physically removed from the window/door. I have fourteen of these. Do provide a battery reading I must remove and replace all fourteen switches every theee days. Poor design. There must be a better way. Any ideas anyone?
Don
@Don Diego - The explanation I provided was for newly installed devices, when one wants to expedite the initial configure and polling process.
Once a battery operated device has been configured and is communicating properly, it will wake at the prescribed interval and Vera will poll it then. Vera should always have a fairly recent battery status and should not show a black battery with a question mark.
The wake up interval of battery operated devices varies depending on the type and model of the device. I have door and window sensors that have a wakeup interval of 3600 seconds and another brand that has a wakeup interval of 1800 seconds.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:9, topic:181500”]@Don Diego - The explanation I provided was for newly installed devices, when one wants to expedite the initial configure and polling process.
Once a battery operated device has been configured and is communicating properly, it will wake at the prescribed interval and Vera will poll it then. Vera should always have a fairly recent battery status and should not show a black battery with a question mark.
The wake up interval of battery operated devices varies depending on the type and model of the device. I have door and window sensors that have a wakeup interval of 3600 seconds and another brand that has a wakeup interval of 1800 seconds.[/quote]
Hi
I agree with everything you said BUT that is not what I m observing. Properly configured sensors after 3 days seems to loose the battery readings. I have set the wake up interval to 600 seconds. It makes no difference. After three days they all seem to loose batter information, I am using ui5 don't know if that makes any difference. Any ideas?
Don
First there is usually no need to change wakeup intervals. The default setting is almost always perfectly adequate.
But, if you change the wakeup interval you must manually wake up the device and configure it or it and Vera will be out of sync on what they think the wakeup time should be.
Did your problem start before or after you changed the interval?
Were the devices working properly and then suddenly started to not report battery levels or have they never reported the levels correctly?
Do the devices work properly, other than the battery levels?
Exactly which devices(model) are you referring to? I’m unaware of any door/Window sensors that have this issue with UI5 that it is not a communication or misconfiguration issue.
A good test is to place one of the problem devices close to Vera. Exclude it and include it again. After it has successfully configured and reported its battery level, leave it close to Vera. Does the problem occur?
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:11, topic:181500”]First there is usually no need to change wakeup intervals. The default setting is almost always perfectly adequate.
But, if you change the wakeup interval you must manually wake up the device and configure it or it and Vera will be out of sync on what they think the wakeup time should be.
Did your problem start before or after you changed the interval?
Were the devices working properly and then suddenly started to not report battery levels or have they never reported the levels correctly?
Do the devices work properly, other than the battery levels?
Exactly which devices(model) are you referring to? I’m unaware of any door/Window sensors that have this issue with UI5 that it is not a communication or misconfiguration issue.
A good test is to place one of the problem devices close to Vera. Exclude it and include it again. After it has successfully configured and reported its battery level, leave it close to Vera. Does the problem occur?[/quote]
Hi –
I have excluded and re-paired all 12 devices three times (and done multiple repairs afterwards). Same result… after about 3 days I get the black battery symbol with ? Changing the interval seemed to have no effect (I changed some to 600, kept some at 1800). Curious since I have other battery devices that seem to report battery level OK. Specifically I am using Aeon Labs Aeotec DSB029 Second Edition. http://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-Aeotec-Z-Wave-DSB29-ZWUS/dp/B00DJALAIE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1441880071&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=aeon+labs+dsb04100-zwus+z-wave+door+window+sensor
Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help.
Don
Please re-read my previous post.
Did you try the recommended steps?
Did these devices ever work correctly?
If you try my test from above and it still fails, I would suggest calling Vera to see if they can figure anything out.
While failing the above mentioned test would suggest defective devices, I highly doubt multiple defective units. As I have already stated, this problem sounds like a communication issue. I would expect that including the sensor and leaving next to Vera it will work as expected.
[quote=“Z-Waver, post:13, topic:181500”]Please re-read my previous post.
Did you try the recommended steps?
Did these devices ever work correctly?
If you try my test from above and it still fails, I would suggest calling Vera to see if they can figure anything out.
While failing the above mentioned test would suggest defective devices, I highly doubt multiple defective units. As I have already stated, this problem sounds like a communication issue. I would expect that including the sensor and leaving next to Vera it will work as expected.[/quote]
Hi
Sorry..
I have had the door/window sensor installed now for about 2 months. They have continually exhibited the same symptoms (i.e., I exclude and re-include then sensors). 3 days later the black battery and ? appears. I have gone thought he steps you suggest. The devices seem to work fine just are not reporting the battery levels. Since these are from three different purchases from two different companies suspect these are not defective units. Thanks for your help.
Don
UPDATE: Received this from Aeon Labs:
The DSB29 doesn’t have a interval for reporting its sensors. I’ve attached the engineering sheet to this email. The reports should be sent every time that a status change has been triggered (open door, or close door).
I suggest setting parameter 121 [4 byte dec]: to 273 for battery reporting.
Cheers,
Chris Cheng
Field Application Engineer
Aeon Labs
UPDATE: The fix recommended above does not work. The black batter symbol with ? returns after 7 days of inactivity. In otherwords, of you open the door or window every 7 days or more frequently the symbol does not appear.
You tried this and it still failed? - Place one of the problem devices close to Vera. Exclude it and include it again. After it has successfully configured and reported its battery level, leave it close(1 meter) to Vera. Does it fail?
Hi –
I’ll try. Currently the closest door/window switch is about 20 feet away… BUT I have at least 5 GE/JASCO switches between vera and the device…
Thanks
Jack
Hi–
Since these sensors reside at a vacation property it may be another week before I can try this…
Also, please see the note appended above from the Aeon engineer that states “the DSB29 doesn’t have a interval for reporting its sensors… The reports should be sent every time that a status change has been triggered (open door, or close door). I suggest setting parameter 121 [4 byte dec]: to 273 for battery reporting.”
Thanks for your help.
Don
I don’t think many battery devices have a reporting interval for battery, or anything else. They have a wakeup interval where they wake up and sit there. Vera, if she knows the correct wakeup interval, can then poll the device and collect it’s state information including battery levels, at that time.
Parameter 121 on the DSB29 sensor instructs the sensor to report the information when the door is opened/closed. How will this help with your vacation home, where I presume that the door may go for months without being opened? Also, I am not certain that Vera looks for this information, though I don’t know.
I would follow Aeon’s recommendation. It certainly can’t hurt. But I don’t see this fixing your issue. Please do let us know how it turns out.