How to monitor z-wave devices ?

[vinisz]

Hi,

What is the best way to monitor z-wave devices ? I have some battery devices which just “die” sometimes, and I only figur this out later.
In homeseer, there was a great app which looked for devices reporting in (via monitoring device wakeup)
How can zway monitor devices ?

[micky1500]

I don't have a real answer.
I have the same issue.

There are apps that that will inform you before the battery is out of power.
But as they keep asking for the battery level, they consume more power.
I stopped using them, as it reduces battery life considerably.

app. Battery Polling
app. Low Battery Notification

Just change batteries on schedule, yearly if they last that long.

[enbemokel]

Hmm, just using the battery polling app once a week will not really drain the batterys. I think it is usefull, just the 20% isn´t high enough. 50% would be much better. Some devices show 70% and if they are used, they fall to 0% without a warning.

Also you can check the status in expert - device -battery menu once in a month, I assume that there is always something to do in the system.

[piet66]

I agree, you can't rely on the status messages from the battery devices. Some of my devices were over 35% before they died, others have been at 0% for months and are still running.
I've switched to always having a reserve of batteries at home. When a device dies, I replace the battery.
Only, you need to get a notification for failed devices.

If I may recommend my tool MxInfo at this point : It contains a page 'BatteryStates' where you can view the battery level history. Then you may be able to estimate how long the battery will live.

Seems, the battery devices need to be polled regularly. Only a few send their battery status on their own. I'm polling my batteries once a week and haven't recognized drain.

BTW: 0% doesn't really mean empty. The device actually has sent 255 = low warning. Z-Way stores 0% in that case, what's not correct, cause it means low but >0%.

[enbemokel]

I´m using your tool and it´s very helpful. Thanks again for your work. Thumbs Up
And yes, it´s a very good idea to have batteries at home,

[vinisz]

Yeah, I do have the batteries at home, no problem.. but I would just like to know if my sensors are working or not... It's not all about batteries only and I really liked the idea that they build in homeseer to check for device wakeup and warn me if a device did not do a check-in within the configured time (with some tresholds to configure)
Would be great if someone could build that as an app..
Also about batteries, as enbemokel is saying, they sometimes just drop from 70 to 0 in a second, so that is no reliable check and a device with a full battery can also have no connectivity anymore for another reason..

[piet66]

OK, you need a fault alarm system.

I tinkered something like this for myself.
- checks for failed devices
- sends an email
- switches on a lamp (blue for battery, red for mains powered devices)

It's not so great, just for me, but you can try if it's helpful for you.
But you need some Linux knowledge (for the email). Tell me if you have interest.

[vinisz]

Only check for failed devices would be enough (if I can get it via an api, webhook, whatever) , no need to mail, I can just connect it to node-red.
Do note however, that failed battery sensors do not show up as failed device

[vinisz]

I agree, you can't rely on the status messages from the battery devices. Some of my devices were over 35% before they died, others have been at 0% for months and are still running.
I've switched to always having a reserve of batteries at home. When a device dies, I replace the battery.
Only, you need to get a notification for failed devices.

If I may recommend my tool MxInfo at this point : It contains a page 'BatteryStates' where you can view the battery level history. Then you may be able to estimate how long the battery will live.

Seems, the battery devices need to be polled regularly. Only a few send their battery status on their own. I'm polling my batteries once a week and haven't recognized drain.

BTW: 0% doesn't really mean empty. The device actually has sent 255 = low warning. Z-Way stores 0% in that case, what's not correct, cause it means low but >0%.

Tool looks Nice, how to implement on Rpi ?

[piet66]

I will upload my solution to app store. You can decide, whether it is useful for you or not. But it will need some time.
If you need a special API, perhaps you can enhance it by yourself.