sensor problems -- remote reset?

[mwolczko]

My hub recently stopped connecting to all sensors in the house. Every sensor (open/close, door, leak - about a dozen in all) has yellow status (i.e. unknown) in the iOS app (and they all turn yellow at the same time, within seconds of selecting "check in"). All the other devices (switches, camera, etc) function as normal. It's inconceivable they all failed at the same instant, so I'm guessing the problem is in the hub. I suspect this began after a power outage (reported by a Nest thermostat), but I've had several outages before and nothing like this has happened. The house is a vacation home and several hours drive away. Is there a way to reboot/reset the hub remotely? Has anyone encountered this behavior before?

[EVIL Teken]

All battery operated devices go to sleep to conserve power since the HUB II lost power that last known state was also lost. What you see in the smart app is simply the last known state of those sensors. You were never able to query them *Live* to determine a preexisting state. Once the sensor(s) activate that status will be updated in the smart application and will no longer be yellow.

Moving forward I would suggest you purchase a UPS to ensure important circuits have redundant power.

[mwolczko]

Thanks for the reply. This doesn't quite explain the behavior, because I know for sure that the housekeeper has visited the house, doors were opened and closed, motion sensors activated etc., but the status for all sensors is still yellow. But perhaps I misunderstand; I don't quite follow what you mean by "live query".
Also, I do have the hub on a UPS -- but they don't last forever. I have no way to tell whether the UPS battery was drained during the outage. The behavior may be totally unrelated to the outage; I just can't tell.

[stusviews]

Having the Hub on a UPS eliminates the ability to communicate over the powerline. The Hub is no longer dual-band, it's RF only.

[EVIL Teken]

Thanks for the reply. This doesn't quite explain the behavior, because I know for sure that the housekeeper has visited the house, doors were opened and closed, motion sensors activated etc., but the status for all sensors is still yellow. But perhaps I misunderstand; I don't quite follow what you mean by "live query".
Also, I do have the hub on a UPS -- but they don't last forever. I have no way to tell whether the UPS battery was drained during the outage. The behavior may be totally unrelated to the outage; I just can't tell.

I would suspect if the maid came into the home after utility power was restored the HUB may not have connected to the network in a orderly manner. The reality is it takes a large investment of finances, time, and effort to ensure a home is operating 100% when there is a power outage. The most common scenario is failure to calculate the amount of VA for the equipment and operational run time desired.

In a ideal situation critical systems would be on a 24.7.365 UPS -> This would be complimented by a back up generator to transition from UPS to NG / Gas / Propane generation.

Most people don't have such systems in place and even if they do its not designed or employed correctly so that (Systems) will operate as expected. Perfect example is ISP Modem -> Router -> HUB II all three of these devices require a specific amount of time to reboot, complete a POST, then acquire LAN / WAN attributes from each other.

ISP Modem goes down depending upon firmware and hardware design it could take 1-5 minutes for it to properly come up. Router connected to the ISP Modem? Again depending upon brand, model, firmware, etc you could see a router hold on to a previous (Public IP) when the ISP Modem has just obtained another one because you don't pay for a Static IP WAN address. All of these examples are real world conditions which can only be known by testing, validation, and follow up.

You don't have to ask me how I know this because this is what I used to do for a living and at home.

Regardless, my reply was to simply offer some insight as to some of many reasons and conditions which exist and can impact an *Expected* result which doesn't happen.

This is why you always plan for the worse and hope for the best . . . One is none - two is one!

NOTE: Live Query in my example means when you press the smart application to ask the HUB II to provide you with a current status. The system can't because it doesn't really know the real time state only a snap shot in time of the status.

When you see a On-Off that is literally the last state it was in which obviously the HUB II doesn't recall when it loses power.

[mwolczko]

Having the Hub on a UPS eliminates the ability to communicate over the powerline. The Hub is no longer dual-band, it's RF only.

Good point!

[mwolczko]

Thanks for the clarification. It sounds like I was just lucky in previous outages and my luck ran out this time. So, given the existing constraints: am I correct in stating that there is no way to restart the hub remotely using the app?

[stusviews]

None that I'm aware of.

[mwolczko]

The problem is that I'm absolutely certain someone has been in while the system has been in this state, and nothing flipped status. Various door and motion sensors (including associated alerts) should have been triggered. Another question: why is this only for sensors, and not for light switches, bulbs, etc.? Are those actively queried by the hub?

[stusviews]

Wired devices can be actively queried, battery powered devices cannot unless they're put into linking mode.

[mwolczko]

Thanks for the explanations. I'll be able to investigate further in a week or so in person.

[BetaTestCoordinator]

What we would really want to know is, what can cause this issue. Even being physically with the unit, this would be hard to determine from a user's standpoint as we don't know all of the circumstances that created this problem.

Please attempt to disable and re-enable device alerts for all of the battery operated devices that are having this issue. If a file entry for a device is corrupted or lost in the hub, disabling and re-enabling alerts should create a new entry for that device. This would incorrectly appear to affect only battery operated devices as always on devices can be statussed in real time.

[mwolczko]

I already tried changing the alerts -- it made no difference. All the sensors are still "yellow". I'm not hopeful about finding the cause -- but I do hope that restarting/resetting the hub cures the problem.

[mwolczko]

Just to close this thread: rebooting the hub made no difference, nor did a forced reinstallation of firmware. After both of those each sensor would remain yellow, even though I was, e.g., opening and closing doors, or moving in front of a motion sensor. I ended up deleting and re-adding each sensor, and that fixed it.

[EVIL Teken]

Just to close this thread: rebooting the hub made no difference, nor did a forced reinstallation of firmware. After both of those each sensor would remain yellow, even though I was, e.g., opening and closing doors, or moving in front of a motion sensor. I ended up deleting and re-adding each sensor, and that fixed it.

Would you be able to mimic a test for the soul purpose of validation? I ask because you don't want to be in the same place after another power outage. Could you interrupt power to the HUB and see if the status of the sensors offer the same behavior seen before? If not great, if so the developers need to be made aware of this and possibly offer a break fix in the next firmware releases.

Thanks for circling back with the follow up.

[mwolczko]

I've had many power outages in this particular location before and several since, and this problem has only occurred the one time.
(sorry, just saw your post now, apologies for the delay)