I have purchased the veralite lately and paired with two Schlage BE469NX touchscreen lock. The front door one was working fine for a week and then I started getting a “Cannot send command to node” message. The one at the Garage got a different message “Node never responded”. They were both configured successfully a few days ago and were working fine. I do not see a distance issue as they are both about 12 feet away from the veralite. This happened to multiple schlage locks (same model). Anyone know if the Schlage look will go to sleep? Is so, how to wake it up? I tried doing a power cycle - removing the battery and recconect - that does not help solve the problem. Any idea?
Do you have other Z-Wave devices, besides the locks? Do they work?
The next step is to move the Vera closer(very close) to a lock and see if it starts working. Just because you don’t see distance being the issue doesn’t mean that it isn’t. Put Vera within 3 feet of the lock and see what happens.
I have tried rebooting the controller, moving it close to the lock (within 3 feet) and tried again, still no response. Same error. I am starting to think it is micasa issue as this happens to 5 of these locks (similar behaviour) that I have exchanged and installed. Don’t understand why it works for a week and then all of a sudden, it stopped working with nothing changed.
I also have other devices that came with the starter kit. An SD camera and a light switch. They both work fine.
Can you check the firmware version on the back of the lock? The latest 5.8 fixes issues with the Vera. I also have the Schlage unit about 12ft from my Vera with no problems. But I also have other z-wave devices on my network.
Firm ware on Schlage is 5.8. I have been having similar issues with 5 other Schlage lock (same model, same firmware version).
Does the lock start working again if you exclude and include it?
Based on your posts, it sounds like you have locks spread across your home, with only a single or few other powered Z-Wave devices for mesh routing. I suspect that it is a distance related routing issue.
It seems unlikely that Vera’s hardware is the problem, if other Z-Wave devices are working and a newly installed lock works, at least for a time.
I am sure exclude and include will make it work again and as a matter of fact it did work. But I am sure if it will go down after a week or two again. As this is what has happened for the last while. Interesting, the only device that drops are the door locks. The devices that came with the starter kit never have a problem.
Z-Waver. Do you mean if I have more z-wave devices spreading around the house, then it will make the mesh stronger and less chance of device dropping? I don’t understand why distance has to do with it as nothing has changed since the last configuration and things were working fine for a number of days.
How close are all your locks to each other and the switch? I see in that you say you have 4 devices, 2 being a switch and a camera. The Camera is not “z-wave”, it is IP based, so that won’t contribute to the network. The Switch will, but it depends on where it is located. It could be that during installation it works for a while until a heal later on. You’re best bet would be to exclude it, re-include it, and after it is all configured check the “auto route” field in the advanced tab and make a note of what it is. Then after it fails a week later, check that field and see if it is the same value or a different one (you can post the auto route values in the forums and peole can let you know the difference).
I’m not 100% convinced that it’s not your Vera. Locks and other z-wave devices like switches have some major differences. For instance the locks have encrypted communication, so it could be that the Vera is having an issue holding on to that information. I would have to argue that with everyone’s experience with this lock and firmware, and you going through 5 of them, that it is more likely it is your vera (or your network) than it is the locks.
I have a lock that is way less than 12’ from the Vera and still has to route through other devices (I think it’s actually like 7-8’ point to point). Granted, I have a giant central A/C air handler between it which is likely causing some interference. Also the locks themselves seem to have more limited range when compared to other z-wave devices. Almost all my communication is routed through a switch (that supports beaming) sitting right next to the lock. It is near instantaneous, but even at that close range the Vera can’t talk to it directly.
What @Z-waver says about the “mesh” network is a very valid point. In Z-wave, the more devices you have, the better your network is and the further it can be from the controller. And by adding an AC powered device right near the lock (that supports beaming) is a good way to help with your lock communications. I should also note that even with my 7dbi antenna on my vera as opposed to the 2.2dbi internal one, my vera will still not talk to my lock directly where as it will talk to devices on the other side of the house directly.
These types of issues are definitely of the YMMV type. I have two Schlage locks that are at least 20 feet away from the VeraLite (node 0), with intermediate light switches in between capable of secure beaming, but when a heal runs, both locks will auto-route to node 0 (with a signal quality index of 50 to 80, which is not great). Yet both locks operate without any issues.
-TC
[quote=“TC1, post:10, topic:181626”]These types of issues are definitely of the YMMV type. I have two Schlage locks that are at least 20 feet away from the VeraLite (node 0), with intermediate light switches in between capable of secure beaming, but when a heal runs, both locks will auto-route to node 0 (with a signal quality index of 50 to 80, which is not great). Yet both locks operate without any issues.
-TC[/quote]
I honestly attribute the air handler to my poor quality at such a close range… it is a giant piece of metal that is in direct line of sight (though the switches have a signal of 5, but they may “just” be missing the air handler). I do have plans to move the Vera around, but I need/want to keep it in that room. Like you said, it’s a YMMV situation. 12’ may not seem like a lot, but if there is a ton of stuff in the way, the range can severely be limited.
Yeah, in your case I could definitely see the air handler acting like a giant radio jammer.
When I have more time I’ll experiment one day with tweaking my Z-wave routing manually to see if I can improve responsiveness. While this is something the average person should not do, I have detailed floor plans I’ve drawn up on the computer with exact distance information from every point in the house. Should be an interesting exercise.
-TC
[quote=“TC1, post:12, topic:181626”]Yeah, in your case I could definitely see the air handler acting like a giant radio jammer.
When I have more time I’ll experiment one day with tweaking my Z-wave routing manually to see if I can improve responsiveness. While this is something the average person should not do, I have detailed floor plans I’ve drawn up on the computer with exact distance information from every point in the house. Should be an interesting exercise.
-TC[/quote]
HA! I just tried some “manual” routing to see if I could do that. For instance my front door went from 74.63 and had a rating in the 70s. 74 (the foyer lights) is lterally right next to the lock (within a foot or so) and has direct communication with the Vera with a rating of 5! 63 is an outlet in my Son’s room that is 15+’ from the foyer light switch and has no direct communication with the Vera. For some reason the vera thinks that it’s smart to go to the foyer, then to the bedroom, then back to the Lock!
Well, I tried setting the manual route to “74” (go through the foyer light switch) and every configuration failed! It just woudln’t configure so I deleted the field and did a heal just on that device and now it says “0-174x” LOL. I don’t think it’s updated that field again yet because the lock is working just fine and responsive. I jsut think it’s funny that it did that.
I also was trying a manual route on my other lock when I realized that it’s in a metal door and the metal door is betwen the Vera and the lock…LOL. We don’t use that lock and the auto route works, so I’m just gonna leave it as is. Just more stuff to think about with these locks.
BTW, when you do a “manual route” is there any way to see the “rating” that vera assigns to auto routes?
I don’t believe so, but I could definitely be wrong. I think it’s an either/or proposition. I would defer to @Z-waver who is more experienced in this area.
To me, this is a strong indicator of a routing issue, rather than a lock or Vera failure.
Yes, more devices should result in a mesh network that provides wider coverage and a more reliable signal. This, hopefully, will result in the selection of a route that is reliable versus your present scenario where a single and presumably unusable route is being selected.
This is my thought too. At inclusion, Vera speaks to the lock directly with no intermediate nodes. I suspect that the sparse Z-Wave network and an erroneous route are causing the communication with the lock to fail after a heal changes the route. Looking at the routing before and after failure is an excellent plan!
If Vera does maintain a metric for manual routes(probably not), it does not display it anywhere in the GUI.
In other routing protocols, manual routes usually have a default metric(artificial) that makes it the most preferable route, so in Vera the metric would probably be 1. But being an artificial value, that would have no basis in reality and there could be zero signal/communication.
Hi SirMeili. I have successfully reconfigured the lock but it does not show a autoroute field in the advanced tab. Both the one at the front door and garage door don’t have this field. However, the light switch does have a field with information (0-5x).
Can all z-wave light switch act as a repeater? How about z-wave thermostat? I am new to z-wave so not sure what is out there. Thanks.
OK. Now I have made one change to the VeraLite system and it seems to have resolved the issue. After I have successfully configured both the door locks and ensured the polling worked, I changed the auto configure setting to “No” on all my devices, including the light switch. So far, the door locks have maintained communication with the controller for over 3 weeks with an issue.