How to make your network more stable and responsive

I sometimes had devices not responding or being delayed by up to a second.

Since Indigo 7 we have a new function in the menu Interfaces - Z-Wave - Optimize Z-Wave Network...

First I ran this command several times - let's say ten times (repeated when finished to optimize).
The response times came down to 9 ms! Now I have an average response time that is below 50 ms.

To prevent a bad network I'm running this Python command every day (when I'm away):

Code: Select all

indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize()


It is important to know that most commercial products run this automatically every day (Vera, Fibaro, ...) The optimization or network heal can make the network slow when running. But it is obviously needed and intended by Z-Wave to maintain a stable mesh network.

Note: Battery operated devices will be optimized when waking up. They aren't as important for your network since they are not routing the signal. But of course their performance and battery life might get better.

I can't guarantee success for anyone, but maybe this helps someone.

If you have other tricks, comments or success stories feel free to add.

Why does running the command multiple times improve the network more than just once?

That is a good question.

This is suggested by many sources. So I did it and the response times came down.

Maybe the routing is iterative, so if a module has a new routing this affects other modules as well.

Perhaps the developers can give more information about this.

What I'm wondering is if the daily use of this command will reduce the battery life. If so can we have an option to exclude battery operated devices? Are there any benefits in doing this for battery operated devices (since they don't route signals)?

Matt, Jay?

Is it possible to optimise the zwave network only for specific devices using a Python script?

Best regards

Bildhauer

Hello,

to optimise the wave network of a specific room I wrote the following script:

import time
varPauseSekunden = 60
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(213) # Aeotec Repeater
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(87) # Zwischestecker Aquarium
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(174) # Zwschenstecker Steckdosenleiste
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(192) # Temeperatursensor
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(204) # Zwischenstecker Heizung
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(207) # Zwischenstecker Entfeuchter
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)
indigo.zwave.startNetworkOptimize(212) # Zwischenstecker Beamer
time.sleep(varPauseSekunden)

I put in the sleep commands to git it the chance to execute the optimisation for the specific device completely,

Running it I'm facing the following:

Optimizing - started network optimization for nodes: 213
Z-Wave received "Zwischenstecker Thunderbolt-Monitor 1 (links)" power load to 30.14 W
Z-Wave received "Zwischenstecker Thunderbolt-Monitor 2 (rechts)" power load to 58.96 W
Z-Wave Optimizing - starting "213 - Aeotec Repeater Gästehaus"
Z-Wave Error no ack/nak/busy reply (213) for sendPingZwaveCommand (re-sending)
Warning because embedded scripts execute sequentially they must complete their execution within 10 seconds.
Stopping embedded script executor host2 (pid 67068)
Z-Wave Error no ack/nak/busy reply (213) for sendPingZwaveCommand (re-sending)
Warning process (pid 67068) failed to quit after polite request -- forcing it to quit now
Stopped "embedded script executor host2"
Z-Wave Optimizing - ping timeout
Z-Wave Optimizing - finding neighbors
Z-Wave Optimizing - stopped
Z-Wave Optimizing - started network optimization for nodes: 87
Error client target com.perceptiveautomation.indigoplugin.scriptexecutor.embedded_blocking_bg not found for message ExecuteAction

Any clue how to get it run?

Best regards

Bildhauer

Bildhauer - I suspect it is just the length of time the script will tale to run is beyond the 10s limit for embedded scripts, run it as a file script and I suspect you should be fine.


Neil

Thx,

what's the format I should save this script? As a text file with suffix ".,txt"?

Best regards

Bildhauer

what's the format I should save this script? As a text file with suffix ".,txt"?

As it is a python script, as a python file with suffix .py

Thx.

Interesting - would love to hear what Jay or Matt think - that command has alway scared me so I don’t mess with it - but thanks for starting the conversation and happy holidays!

[jay (support)]

would love to hear what Jay or Matt think

About what specifically?

What I think would be useful (alt least I am not aware is possible) would be to have an option to optime only powered devices.

Is there a specific recommendation when this should be used or is it recommended to do periodically- daily, weekly, monthly or something else?

[jay (support)]

Is there a specific recommendation when this should be used or is it recommended to do periodically- daily, weekly, monthly or something else?

Honestly, I've only ever sporadically done it. I think if you've moved around several devices it's worth doing it.

OK, thanks - just wanting to make sure it would not cause any problems — worth a try since I have never done it but I also try not to move any ZWave stuff around once I sync them.