HAI Omni Pro II UPB & Zwave Issues

[dgreene]

I bought a new home about 3 weeks ago, and took my Omni II Pro with me.  I've had an Omni for about 10 years (granted this current panel is only about 2 years old) Formerly I used legacy x10 and smart home x10 for lighting, but had issues as switches started to fail.  At this groups recommendation, i've now swapped to UPB for all lighting in my new home, zwave for other items, and just use the old x10 lamp modules for xmas lighting.
 
 
My current Configuration:
 
HAI Omni II Pro running firmware 3.15
Hard wired ethernet to panel & to notifier board
Serial Connections:
    x10 PIM - used for xmas lighting only
    UPB PIM
    Z-wave PIM
    HAI Notifier Board
2 Omni Keypads
14 alarm zones
5 outdoor ethernet cameras
 
I have a ton (62) of Leviton UPB switches now and have most of them (51) installed and working fine, 8 Simply automated UPB ceiling fan controllers & 1 (8) button home controller.  I've programmed them all with the Upstart software, and have them set to HLC mode in OMNI for better status reporting (based on a forum post i saw on this site). - 
 
I have (5) Schlage z wave deadbolts (BE469NX), (3) Honeywell (TH8320zw) z-wave thermostats, and (2) Linear (GD00z-4) garage door transceivers.
 
I have 3 different mobile apps on my iPhone linked to the panel - Leviton's snap link, Haiku and Space.  I prefer Space, but have the others for troubleshooting. 
 
Problems:
 
#1. The ALL OFF command (from the keypad 4&0) calls upb link 2 for some reason - there is nothing in my automation blocks in the installer programming that reference that upb link.  I can't seem to figure out why its calling that link.
       a. The All Off command through automation programming cuts the switches off room by room- slowly (as designed apparently)
       b. based on a forum post about the HAI "All off" command, I have changed the automation programming that when "all off" is called, it will activate UPB Link 240 which has all UPB switches in it at 0% (basically turns them all off at the same time)
      c. the automation program does turn off everything as it should by using that UPB link 240 - but 4, 0 on the keypad activates UPB link 2
 
UPDATE - Item 1 has been fixed by changing the Omni back to UPB from HLC.
 
#2. My 2 week old Z-wave PIM died, and I had to replace it.  I had to create an entirely new zwave "network" after installing the PIM.  Now the OMNI is not seeing the correct status of the Schlage locks.  It will lock/unlock them, but not always show the status if the door is manually unlocked.  It did show status before replacing the PIM and creating a new network.
 
#3. two of the thermostats (# 1 & 2 in programming) show "communications failure" in the mobile app - however they respond to commands from the app. 
    a. in my old home I had 2 hardwired HAI omnistat thermostats that were in position 1 & 2 in the omni programming.  Probably unrelated, but wonder if somehow the panel still has something its looking for with the HAI thermostats? (grasping at straws)
UPDATE - Item 3 has been fixed by erasing the eprom, re-uploading and changing the Omni back to UPB from HLC. (go figure)
 
#4. the Linear z-wave garage door controllers do not add correctly in my z-wave network, they show as "unknown devices" and do not respond to commands.
      a. I've researched the issue, found a couple articles about them in general - followed all of those instructions but Leviton's zwave programing tools just don't seem to recognize them.
 
I've reset my panels eprom and wiped the panel, re-uploaded the programming from PC Access, but that still has not corrected any of the issues.
 
 
Any insight into these issues would be appreciated - 

 

[ano]

I would just use a Button for all off. That way you can have it do whatever you want it to.
 
I think the All Off originated in the X-10 days, but doesn't translate well for UPB.  Just create your own link and call it with a Button.

 

[AutomatedOutlet]

I would just use a Button for all off. That way you can have it do whatever you want it to.
 
I think the All Off originated in the X-10 days, but doesn't translate well for UPB.  Just create your own link and call it with a Button.

 
Yes, and stay away from HLC. Upstart gives you many more options. Also make sure all devices are set to transmit status.

 

[ano]

HLC is great, if you use it like it was meant to be used; i.e. room controllers and house controllers with Leviton switches.  The ability to change a scene by just adjusting the light levels and tapping a room controller button is the greatest. (No need for UpStart or a PC)  If you are not going to use that and control your lighting with room controllers, then HLC is not the way to go. 
 
UPB with Upstart can be much more flexible, and as Martin says, turn on status tracking on the switches and they will transmit status when changed, but as discussed, note that when a light is changed via a link, it does not transmit its status.
 
Worthington put together this great guide on HLC which is available here:  http://www.asihome.com/ASIshop/manuals/test/Worthington%20HLC%20Training.pdf
 
I ran UPB in my last house, and HLC in my current one and they both have pros and cons. Learn all you can then pick one or the other, whichever fits your need better.

 

[Desert_AIP]

Link 2 is the OFF command for Room 1.

When you initiate the built in ALL OFF it steps through the rooms one by one.
If you only have Room 1 designated as HLC and set up, you will only see link 2 when you execute ALL OFF.
If you have additional HLC rooms the controller will step through the OFF links, 2, 8, 14, etc.
 
This is normal behavior for HLC
 
 
I would also note, when discussing HLC/UPB and the Omni it is important to make the distinction between technologies and protocols.
 
You can use HLC or UPB (tech) switches in either mode (protocol).  The limitation being non-HLC switches will not auto configure in HLC mode.
 
Even using HLC protocol/mode, you can use UPStart to customize behaviors making a very flexible and customizable system with less programming required than using UPB protocol/mode. 
So I will disagree with Automated Outlet regarding not using HLC.
 
The only reason I would select UPB mode for the controller is if you wanted the lighting system to operate completely independently from the controller with the occasional link being sent by the controller.
If you have no need for status tracking, then you have no need to program tracking routines nor do you need the auto status tracking of HLC.
In pure UPB mode you have to create your own link and unit ID allocation scheme so you aren't saving any effort there.

 

[dgreene]

@desert_aip

I configured UPB link 2 as a UPB scene, so that explains why All off was calling that scene. All off works fine now in UPB mode by calling a link (link 240) in omni automation programming, but doesn't update status' of the switches to off.

I want to have accurate status tracking through the omni since I run some automatic lighting programs. I've noticed since swapping to UPB from HLC in not getting that unless the switch is manually pressed. Any way to fix this without changing back to HLC and redoing my scenes?

I do have 8 simply automated UPB ceiling fan switches, but the rest (61) are leviton switches and (6) lamp modules.

Thanks

 

[Desert_AIP]

If you want status tracking in UPB mode you have to program every action.
Every switch you want and every link and all combinations.
And the Omni can't see individual switch activations in UPB mode because you aren't using the protocol with links 241 and 242 to signal the Omni.

The only reason you see the status change when you push the switch is because you have the switch configured to transmit status. The Omni only sees the status message come in, it had no idea the switch was pressed.

HLC does the status updates automatically.
 
I originally had mine in UPB mode, and installed more than 60 devices.
But the status tracking was extremely problematic (and at the time of initial install I did not understand HLC was simply a protocol and unit/link allocation scheme - I thought you had to use HLC switches with HLC mode).
 
When I converted over I put together a spreadsheet with all of my units and allocated them to their respective rooms and redistributed the links to the HLC scheme.
Once I had that plan to work from, the process was fairly straightforward to switch over.  It took several hours in PCAccess and UPStart to ensure everything was converted correctly.  But that is a one time pain.
Adding new devices is simple.
And the status tracking works now without a lot of programming.
 
The effort was worth it in my opinion.
 
BTW:
You can use all off in HLC mode too.
Define an ALL Lights link in the free links.

And add a program line
WHEN ALL OFF
THEN Deactivate ALL LIGHTS

WHEN ALL ON
THEN Activate ALL LIGHTS

You place those lines early in the program order.

Whenever you tell the Omni to use ALL ON or ALL OFF it transmits these links first because of the UPB delay which delays its status update routine.
So you see all of the lights change simultaneously as you would expect.
Then the OMNI steps through the rooms one by one in the back ground, sending the room on or off as appropriate and then the status requests and receipt to and from each switch, then moving on to the next room.

Since the lights are already on or off, this behavior is transparent to you. A switch that is on that receives an on command doesn't change (as long as you program the link behaviors to be identical).

 

[Desert_AIP]

@desert_aip
I configured UPB link 2 as a UPB scene, so that explains why All off was calling that scene. All off works fine now in UPB mode by calling a link (link 240) in omni automation programming, but doesn't update status' of the switches to off.
I want to have accurate status tracking through the omni since I run some automatic lighting programs. I've noticed since swapping to UPB from HLC in not getting that unless the switch is manually pressed. Any way to fix this without changing back to HLC and redoing my scenes?
I do have 8 simply automated UPB ceiling fan switches, but the rest (61) are leviton switches and (6) lamp modules.
Thanks

I assumed the initial behavior you described in item 1 above is when you were in HLC mode.
If you were, that is why it was calling Link 2 as I described.