Hi everyone,
I installed a Kwikset lock for our inside door several months ago (we’re in a 2 unit condo so I can’t redo the outside lock… yet). Anyway, it works fine except when I want to remotely open it from the top of the stairs. I have the unlock scene set to unlock the door & turn on a couple lights if it’s dark.
However, the response is really slow sometimes… I’ve seen it take as long as 45 seconds to react. I just upgraded to Vera 3 to see if it would help and it doesn’t really.
When I first got the lock it really wasn’t working at all remotely so I did some digging and learned that there are actually 2 types of Z-wave networks: unsecure and secure. Realizing that, though I had about 15 Z-wave devices in my house already, none were secure except the door and, as a result, weren’t capable of relaying the secure signals. Bummer. So I bought a dimmer unit that is supposed to work on the Secure Z-wave network to boost the signal from my Vera (which is 2 floors above the door lock). It helped get the lock to work but the response time was really slow. So I bought another one & it’s not really much faster. I have tried to place both of the secure dimmers in between the Vera and the door lock to help create a stronger mesh but it’s still really slow.
Any advice for me? If I need to buy a 3rd secure dimmer I will but… it’s getting a bit ridiculous now. I’d rather not move the Vera downstairs as it’s currently plugged into my router with ethernet and I am worried about the response speed & stability of the entire network getting worse if I move the Vera to wi-fi. I’ve tried healing, finding neighbor nodes, etc.
Any recommendations appreciated - thanks!
Does locking and unlocking from the dashboard work reliably and fast? My locks take a couple seconds to react, but not 45.
Also, what is the trigger for unlock scene? A scene controller? Do you mean when you key in a PIN on the door? Or something else?
Sorry - should have mentioned those bits in my initial post.
Locking & unlocking from the dashboard is just as slow as doing it from my dedicated button on scene controller downstairs or via SQ Remote HD on iOS device. So it seems the issue is definitely between Vera 3 & the Kwikset…
When you open with the PIN at the door it opens immediately but I don’t think it’s actually communicating with Vera when that happens. It’s just waaay too fast and makes sense for the Kwikset to store the PINs locally: if your Vera crashed for some reason, it would really suck to not be able to get into your house! Ha.
Thanks
Hi I had exactly the same issue.
Figure out what IDs your secure nodes have, then specify a manual route for the door locks using the dimmers.
It sometimes happens that Vera - although there are some nodes available - “decides” to use a different route.
When dealing with your secure door lock connection, make sure you specify a manual route for the locks thereby forcing Vera to use your dimmers!
Flo
Read more about the Yale lock posts for build 408. Same issue. They gave me 420 for download and slowness went away.
Thanks! I am excited to learn that the solution may well not involve buying anything.
So I am in the “Manual Z-Wave route (advanced)” settings for the lock but when I click on “explain this” link it goes nowhere and the docs don’t actually explain the proper syntax for this field. If my nodes are 31 and 33, do I enter them there as “31,33”? Just curious about syntax & delimiter for the value in this field.
Also searched for Yale and 408 and slowness (in various combos) but didn’t find anything…
Thanks!
Okay, so I figured out after some digging that the delimiter is a period. Kindof weird but hey, whatever works.
Anyway, I entered 30.33 for the 2 secure dimmers I have and… no improvement. I did a full heal and now the lock says “Unable to get any information on node.” The 2 secure dimmers are in between the Vera 3 and the lock so I’m not really sure what else to do.
Would it help to have the secure dimmers force their routes to be the Vera (node 0, I believe) and the lock?
This is the kind of thing, incidentally, that keeps me from recommending Vera to even the most technical of my friends… to call this kind of troubleshooting “unintuitive” would be generous. Far too much wasted time digging through these forums. 
Hi!
Your dimmers wont work as they are not supporting encryption.
Get a evolve dimmer and place it in between Vera and your locks.
Just use one dimmer, not two.
The Yale thing is not an issue for you because you dont use Yale locks.
So just get a secure dimmer and then assign a manual route and you will be fine 
Flo
[quote=“reidspice, post:6, topic:172356”]Thanks! I am excited to learn that the solution may well not involve buying anything.
So I am in the “Manual Z-Wave route (advanced)” settings for the lock but when I click on “explain this” link it goes nowhere and the docs don’t actually explain the proper syntax for this field. If my nodes are 31 and 33, do I enter them there as “31,33”? Just curious about syntax & delimiter for the value in this field.
Also searched for Yale and 408 and slowness (in various combos) but didn’t find anything…
Thanks![/quote]
Just to make sure,
Please just use one device in between, not two. Also, you will need to buy a dimmer that supports encryption.
Flo
Okay thanks - I will try it with just one instead of two.
Though I didn’t say specifically, the “secure dimmers” I was referring to are actually the Evolve dimmers. Thanks!
Did you already buy the evolve dimmer?
Edit: Sorry, I am confused
Flo
Yep, no worries! I should have identified the “secure dimmers” I bought in the OP as being the Evolve dimmers.
Will try just using the one most in the middle as my manual route - thanks for the help.
Ok.
Let us know if it works
Flo
Well, I used just one secure, Evolve dimmer as my manual route, did a heal (not sure if this is necessary or not but figured it couldn’t hurt) and… no dice.
The lock now says:
Failed at: Getting the name
and it doesn’t work at all. Bummer. Maybe I should just wait until this new 420 build that was mentioned? Seems like it may help?
The 420 built addresses issues with Yale locks - not Kwikset.
How far away is the door lock from the evolve dimmer and how far away is vera from the dimmer?
What exactly did you put as the manual route?
Flo
The dimmer is about 15 feet from Vera but there are 2 walls in the middle… then the lock is about 20 feet from the dimmer. There aren’t great options for outlets right in between Vera and the lock so that’s why I had gotten 2, hoping they would create a secure mesh. Bummer.
For the manual route I just entered “30” in the “Manual Z-Wave route (advanced)” field. Could I create my own mesh by creating a route from Vera to dimmer 1, then a route from dimmer 1 to dimmer 2, and then a route from dimmer 2 to the lock?
Thanks for your help!
If able, does the lock respond immediately when Vera is next to it (or the lock next to Vera), without any manual routes provisioned?
Also, I believe the manual route option takes nodeIDs, not device#'s. Have you double checked you got the right identifiers?
BTW, where do you read about a secure mesh?
[quote=“reidspice, post:16, topic:172356”]The dimmer is about 15 feet from Vera but there are 2 walls in the middle… then the lock is about 20 feet from the dimmer. There aren’t great options for outlets right in between Vera and the lock so that’s why I had gotten 2, hoping they would create a secure mesh. Bummer.
For the manual route I just entered “30” in the “Manual Z-Wave route (advanced)” field. Could I create my own mesh by creating a route from Vera to dimmer 1, then a route from dimmer 1 to dimmer 2, and then a route from dimmer 2 to the lock?
Thanks for your help![/quote]
Strange…Make sure you are using the nodeID as oTI mentioned.
It sounds like you have done everything correct. Maybe the 20 feet are just too far with wallls in between?
Look at this link for more info on manual routing: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,6898.msg44456.html#msg44456
You can specify the route Vera–>dimmer1–>dimmer2–> lock by putting this info in the manual route section for the lock.
It would look like this: A.B whereas A is the NODEid for dimmer 1, B is the nodeID for dimmer 2.
Dimmer 1 would be the one closer to Vera, Dimmer 2 is the one closer to the lock! Make sure you separate both numbers by using “.” and not “,”.
Crossing my fingers.
Thanks so much for the help. I am about to go to the airport but will test it when I’m back on Friday.
The node is the “ID” listed under “Settings” for the device, correct? That value is not explained in the documentation here, unfortunately (though it is in the screenshot):
http://docs5.mios.com/doc.php?language=1&manual=1&platform=3Pro&page=add_device_zwave_properties_settings
Re: the “secure mesh”, I was assuming that since some devices support secure Z-wave communication and some do not, that having more devices that supported secure communication would strengthen those signals throughout the network (the same way that Z-wave devices all repeat themselves).
So my logic was simply, if more Z-wave devices make your network more robust, more secure Z-wave devices would make that part of the network more robust as well. Evidently not the case!
It would seem that, if Vera knows which devices can route secure signals, it would automatically create routes that utilized these secure devices, right? Seems logical to me, anyway…