Double-check flow

Questions & Help
1

I am having some reliability issues with my z-wave devices. For instance, my “go to bed” flow disables all lights. After executing that flow, Homey shows them all turned off, but in reality 1 or 2 lights are sometimes still on (random, not always the same).
I replaced all KaKu switches and dimmers with Z-wave (Fibaro) just for the purpose of 2-way communication but it seems that is not working correctly all the time.
I don’t like the feeling of not being able to rely on the status that Homey shows. Of course, I can live with the fact that a light does not turn off when it should, but then Homey should show that it is still on so I can manually turn it off. The unreliable part is that Homey shows a false status sometimes.

I am now thinking of executing all “go to bed”, “turn lights on at dusk” etc flows twice. But I would like to know if there are any downsides to executing flows twice? Or is it possible to create a flow that lets Homey check the real status of a light?

2

I had the same issues. For some flows i made an extra check. Maybe this can help Flow with a working guarantee

3

Thanks Marcel, that looks useful (unfortunately), although the check if the light is on probably won;t always work for me, as sometimes Homey does not seem to have the correct status.
So, for instance: Homey will show that the light is off but in reality it is still on. Maybe I can check if turned off lamps still use power or something.

4

“unfortunately” because I would rather have a reliable system :slight_smile:

5

I too have seen that. I thought ZigBee (and Z-wave) is a 2 way communication, but sometimes a light is on but Homey shows it as off and vice versa.

6

Same here. I also had problems with Sonos. The Play/pause function was not reliable. Therefore had to use a powerplug. As off now i measure if my Sonos plays or not. Works very well.

As for your issue. In my opinion it must be a zwave mesh problem. I always thougt i had a great zwave and zigbee mesh. But sometimes
had stranges problems. After buying additional power plugs and looking(very very very) long for the right position to place it I now have a reasonable mesh. I would invest some time in this.

7

I think we are misunderstanding the “2 way” protocol here.
The 2 way is signal to the device (1), get an “OK I received the signal” back (2).

Any other feedback like sending the current state is not part of this 2 way protocol, and is only added by manufacturers because they can, but usually is only send when current state is being requested by the controller.

So if Homey doesn’t receive the “OK I received the signal” back (in time) it will just assume that the device responded to it, as that usually is the case.
(it does retry 3 times when not the OK signal back immediately)

8

And yet, my garden irrigation Fibaro relay flooded my garden and ever since I have in THEN part three times “turn off” spaced by several seconds each…

9

Thanks for clarifying! If I understand correctly, Homey will retry to turn the device off 3x when it not receives an OK back? Or does it only query 3x for a status update?

10

It wil not ask for the current status, it will only send the off signal 3x (in your example) but this is for all commands.

@danone yeah, the build in 3x is only +/-30 milliseconds (don’t know the exact timing) apart, unlike you are doing it multiple seconds in your flow.

11

Ok, so it sends the (any) signal max 3 times when no OK signal is received in between. And after that, even when no OK signal is received, it assumes that it is OK. Correct?

12

My water heater heavy duty switch often has this issue, because it is at corner of my bath room with weaker mesh so I make a work where it will turn out on once, then 60s later do it again (same flow, set delay). Same for turning off.

Works like a charm. Over a year doing that, seems to have no draw back.