ControlThink Forums

Greetings!

One of my devices has a red circle with a line through it on ThinkEssentials.  I believe this is because the USB stick can not communicate with the device.  The Device does not respond to the All On or All Off commands.  I have moved the USB stick around (it is on the cable) and can't get that device to respond.   ThinkEssentails is the secondary controller and I tried re-copying the setup form the HA07 primary controller and still no luck.  The HA07 primary contoller can control everything with no problems from the same location.  Why can't the USB stick do the same?  Any ideas how to troubleshoot?  I don't have the pro version.

 Thanks,

Pat

Pat,

Two questions:
1. What type of USB stick are you using?
2. Are you sure that the "broken" device is the one you're trying to control?  Or is possible that there's a "phantom" device in there somewhere?

Chris

Thanks for the reply.  It is a Intermatic HA22 USB controller on its extension cable.  I moved it around but still was not able to get it to work.  I am pretty sure it is one of the devices I am trying to control.  It appeared with the other devices when I imported from the HA07.  The HA07 controls all the devices.  ThinkEssentials controls all the devices except the one with a line through it.  The one with the line through it is the furthest away switch.  The switch is an intermatic HA02 600w in wall. 

 I am not sure how to tell if it is a phantom device.  My reasoning that it is not a phantom is:

1) I have accounted for every device I installed.  (New Installation only a couple of devices)

2) I copied the Primary HA07 to ThinkEssentials as the secondary and it made the device appear.

Thanks,

pat

Pat,

If you put the HA22 about a foot away from the device, can it control it?  It may be that your handheld remote can reach the "far" device directly with a stronger antenna, and the USB stick needs to use repeaters (and maybe they can't reach).

Try running the "optimize and repair network" operation and see if that helps.

Chris

Chris,

 That was the issue.  When I move the USB stick close to the switch in question it shows up and works - But then some of the other lights went to a red question mark.  I am still learning about zwave and I suspect I need to add a couple of devices to make the mesh a little stronger.  (I have a couple of long distances) 

I could not find an "optimize and repair network" operation at first glance.  Since ThinkEssentials is not the master controller (the HA07 is) I suspect I need to do this on the HA07.  I will spend some time playing with it again today.   Thanks for your support.

Can you explain the difference between the red question mark and the red circle with the line through it?  I seem to get both at different times but I am not sure why each appears.  Is the question mark missing a response during a poll and the circle with the line missing a response to a click?  Does the software continue to poll devices with the red circle?

pat

 Hi Pat,

I had similar issues and was playing with my network (HA22, 9 devices, HA09 as remote and primary) today when I hit on something you could maybe try.  I backed up my setup, and then reset my adapter.  After the reboot I transferred the data from my HA09 to the TE.  For some reason I now have the "Optimize and repair network" item in my Settings tab.  I used that and seem to have good devices now.  I think it may have made the HA22 as the primary, as I also have a "Transfer primary to another Controller" item in my settings.  Chris, is there any other way to find out if TE thinks it is a primary or not?  If I need to add more devices, I will do the transfer and then try the same trick again, otherwise I will run it as is.  The remote seems to also work fine.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I think you are on the right track - I suspect only the primary can "Optimize and repair network."  I ended up re-building the network from scratch on the HA09.  I hit the off vs. on button during the transfer all config.  Unfortuantely that erases the HA07 by transferring in a configuration.  A quick visit to every switch and I am set to go again.  Once I re-set the HA07 I then transferred the config back to ThinkEssentials (HA22) and I still have the cicle with the red line through it on the SAME device!  I even added a device and then re-sent the config and the circle is not there.  I am now wondering if I should have cleared out the thinkessentials config before I re-sent the config from the HA07.  More to try another day.  The HA07 works well and controls everything - The timers work well.  All is great except for the configuration of the PC.

 pat

I confirmed that when ThinkEssentials is primary it can optimize and repair the network.  So if I choose to use the HA07 as primary I can't do the optimize and repair.  (unless there is a secret way to get the HA07 do to the optimize and repair) 

Does everyone walk around the house adding switches on a regular basis or is it just me ;-)

 pat

Another afternoon of testing. I installed the HA22 Drivers on a new computer I installed the HA22 on the new computer I installed TE 2.1 on a new computer. I used the "Reset USB Adaptor to Factory Defaults" option under settings TE restarted I then selected "Switch to or join another network" I transferred from my HA07 to the HA22 All my devices showed up on the bottom. The one device which had a RED Circle with a line through it had a red question mark. I tried to click it and it changed to the red circle with the line through it. When I use the HA07 in the same place it has no problem with that switch. The Switch is a 600w dimmer. (my only 600w dimmer) My others are 300w. I tried moving the computer next to the device and it still would not be controlled. Argh. It is an intermatic dimmer. I read that next I should de-asspciate the device. Is there a way to do this with the intermatic? pat