I have had a schedule setup to turn ON a table lamp an hour before sunset and OFF at 11:00pm for about 6 months and it’s been working fine. Now within the last month or so the Vera3 schedule is having problems turning ON the lamp before sunset and sometimes after 11:00pm.
The duplex outlet (not Leviton) seems to work fine via the GE 45601 hand remote and the Samsung Galaxy Tab2 tablet but fails to operate correctly by the Vera3 schedules.
I have cycled Vera3 power, reloaded Vera3 from backup and maunally altered the Vera3 schedule times then saved it again and it still fails.
Any recommendations to remedy the problem would be appreciated.
bigdogbro1, can you elaborate on “fails”? Does it happen at the wrong times, or does it just skip the on/off action completely? How often does it fail? Is there any pattern to it, perhaps environmental (think about day of week, or temperature, or whether another nearby appliance is on or not)? Does rebooting the Vera have any effect on reliability over the next couple of days? Have you tried operating a different Z-Wave device in your network using the same scene, to rule out a problem with the outlet?
At this stage it’s hard to decide if it’s RF interference, or a dodgy switch, or a software problem.
[quote=“futzle, post:3, topic:172599”]bigdogbro1, can you elaborate on “fails”? Does it happen at the wrong times, or does it just skip the on/off action completely? How often does it fail? Is there any pattern to it, perhaps environmental (think about day of week, or temperature, or whether another nearby appliance is on or not)? Does rebooting the Vera have any effect on reliability over the next couple of days? Have you tried operating a different Z-Wave device in your network using the same scene, to rule out a problem with the outlet?
At this stage it’s hard to decide if it’s RF interference, or a dodgy switch, or a software problem.[/quote]
It fails to turn ON at the scheduled 1 hour before sunset almost every day now. Have not noticed any pattern. The recycle power seems not to correct the problem, but weeks ago it did seem to correct it one time. Have not tried another Z-wave device at this time.
The outlet is not being affected by any outside sources I can see.
The outlet does work using the GE 45601 hand remote and Samsung tablet anytime and reliably so I would think the Vera3 is talking to the outlet assuming the GE remote doesn’t talk directly to the outlet.
As futzle stated we need to rule things out. Software being maybe wrong time or time zone, etc. Hardware being interference, a dodgy zwave device, etc. Open the Vera Web interface and turn the device on and off to make sure it functions correctly. You mentioned it runs ok on your Samsung tablet, what app are you running? Obviously this interfaces with Vera.
[quote=“garrettwp, post:6, topic:172599”]As futzle stated we need to rule things out. Software being maybe wrong time or time zone, etc. Hardware being interference, a dodgy zwave device, etc. Open the Vera Web interface and turn the device on and off to make sure it functions correctly. You mentioned it runs ok on your Samsung tablet, what app are you running? Obviously this interfaces with Vera.
Garrett[/quote]
I can access the Vera3 via my desktop PC over my network and control the outlet just fine.
I’m using your GREAT AutHomation and the other Home Buddy Android tablet APPs.
The Time zone is correct and has not been altered since originally setup. The schedule that turns OFF the outlet at 11:00pm seems to be working and worked again last night just fine.
The schedule was working just fine weeks ago.
Is there any problems with the Lights ON, one hour before sunset calcs in the Vera3 since the summer solstice?
Did you move your vera unit away from the switch? I had similar problem with my door locks. It was not reliably working (20% failures). Once I moved my VeraLite little closer to the locks I got 100% success.
I haven’t tried to manually trigger the scene but I will try that today. Thanks
The Vera3 location has not been changed since its installation back in May. As a straight line distance, it’s only 20ft to the outlet but the RF signal has to go through one frame wall.
After all your great input I did some more investigation and found that the Samsung tablet was communicating with Vera3 but the Z-Wave link was having great difficulty communicating with the devices. I checked a few things from the desktop PC and Mios Dashboard with similar results and thought it would be worth a try relocating the Vera3, so I did. The Vera3 NOW communicates with good responses and is now controllable via the tablet.
The scenes seem to be working again and did work last night both ON 1 hour before sunset and OFF at 11:00pm.
I remembered the Vera3 was moved about three weeks ago from the left side of my desktop PC flat panel monitor to the right side. I moved the Vera3 again to on top of the printer and further to the right of the monitor last night. This small change was enough to regain Vera3 Z-Wave communication.
So at this point Vera3 is operating normally.
Seems the Z-Wave comm link is weaker than thought in the Vera3 or the flat panel monitor was interfering with the link.
I want to thank the forum members for their help and advice.
Rob, thanks for posting a resolution to the thread. Now it’s useful for users who find it while searching.
You could perhaps boost the Z-Wave signal range by taking advantage of the protocol’s mesh networking feature. Add another Z-Wave device between the Vera and the existing Z-Wave devices in your house. It will act as a repeater and shore up the signal.
I am curious to know if the monitor is emitting enough noise to cause the signal to degrade? But the more devices you add the better the reliability and communication becomes between devices.
I have no options to install additional devices as the Vera3 is 20ft. away from the floor outlet with one interior wall seperation. No other wall outlets / switches nearby to place another device to hop from.
