Z-Wave JS issues (Controller not ready?) | Home Assistant | Page 1

last shale May 9, 2025, 10:46 AM

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Over the past few weeks I've noticed issues with my Z-Wave, but really haven't had the time to troubleshoot it. I've been using an Aeotec Z-Stick 7 for a few years now without any issues. Z-wave has normally been rock solid for me and not sure what is up.

I'm hoping this is the first place I can start to look for help to see if any experts can quickly see what my problem is. I've attached the Z-Wave JS log files which keeps saying "The controller is not yet ready!" and I also see some suspicious messages like:

"controller is jammed"
"controller is no longer response"
"Soft reset failed: Timeout while waiting for an ACK from the controller (ZW0200)
"Starting the hardware watchdog failed: driver instance destroyed (ZW0102)"

I've also attached a screenshot from the mobile app showing how Z-Wave JS cannot connect to host. I'm also getting the following in the log:
Z-Wave error ZWaveError: The controller is not yet ready! (ZW0103)
at Driver.get controller [as controller] (file:///usr/src/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:1043:10)
at NodeMessageHandler.handle (file:///usr/src/node_modules/@zwave-js/server/dist-esm/lib/node/message_handler.js:17:34)
at Client.receiveMessage (file:///usr/src/node_modules/@zwave-js/server/dist-esm/lib/server.js:134:100)
at WebSocket.<anonymous> (file:///usr/src/node_modules/@zwave-js/server/dist-esm/lib/server.js:55:45)
at WebSocket.emit (node:events:524:28)
at Receiver.receiverOnMessage (/usr/src/node_modules/ws/lib/websocket.js:1220:20)
at Receiver.emit (node:events:524:28)
at Receiver.dataMessage (/usr/src/node_modules/ws/lib/receiver.js:596:14)
at /usr/src/node_modules/ws/lib/receiver.js:530:12
at /usr/src/node_modules/ws/lib/permessage-deflate.js:309:9 {
code: 103,
context: undefined,
transactionSource: undefined
}

Is all this a software problem or is this a hardware problem? I'm running everything on a 1 year old Beelink and everything's been good. Any thoughts?

📎 core_zwave_js_2025-05-09T10-24-39.200Z.log

blazing bear Jun 8, 2025, 6:11 PM

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last shale Over the past few weeks I've noticed issues with my Z-Wave, but really haven't h...

Definitely a software problem. I noticed similar problems in the logs in my HA installation. So I built a local version of the Z-Wave JS add-on, reverting the changes to previous versions. Version 0.10.0 runs with no issues, so I can guess they started with zwave-js driver version 15.x.
When I find some more time to gather more details, I'll raise an issue on zwave-js github.

last shale Jun 8, 2025, 7:31 PM

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blazing bear Definitely a software problem. I noticed similar problems in the logs in my HA i...

Thanks!

deep pond Jun 8, 2025, 8:51 PM

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Did you try updating your add-on?

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Your log shows driver version 15.3.0 but the latest core add-on use 15.3.2

last shale Jun 8, 2025, 10:44 PM

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deep pond Your log shows driver version 15.3.0 but the latest core add-on use 15.3.2

I'll try when I return home. Been out of town the last two weeks!

deep pond Jun 8, 2025, 11:45 PM

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I think your issue was fixed in that version.

blazing bear Jun 9, 2025, 2:39 AM

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I tried the latest add-on, and also built a local one based on the latest zwave-js 15.6, but in both cases it continued to crash within minutes of starting.

deep pond Jun 9, 2025, 3:06 AM

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With the same error?

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Ah, there are quite a few more errors than I noticed initially.

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Have you tried physically unplugging and re-plugging your USB stick?

blazing bear Jun 9, 2025, 2:40 PM

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Sadly no - will try re-plugging the stick (Aeotec z-stick 7) next weekend. I updated the firmware to 7.21.6 as that is now supported, but the driver still crashes with the current zwave-js add-on. The exact error varies, but is most often ZW0202.

deep pond Jun 9, 2025, 3:00 PM

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I would set debug log level in the meantime, especially if you end up needing to submit an issue

blazing bear Jun 10, 2025, 1:05 PM

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I just switched to Z-Wave-JS UI and found this in the logs:

2025-06-10 08:53:02.032 ERROR APP: Unhandled Rejection, reason: ZWaveError: The node did not acknowledge the command (ZW0204) ZWaveError: The node did not acknowledge the command (ZW0204) at Driver.sendMessage (/opt/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:7057:23) at Driver.sendCommandInternal (/opt/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:7253:28) at Driver.sendCommand (/opt/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:7371:29) at advanceTransportServiceSession (/opt/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:5054:17) at Timeout._onTimeout (/opt/node_modules/zwave-js/src/lib/driver/Driver.ts:5108:10) at listOnTimeout (node:internal/timers:588:17)

Seems exceptions that were once caught by the driver are rising up to the application. Z-Wave JS UI catches, logs the error and continues, but the official add-on does not. This basically forces everyone to switch to the community add-on. The only question is whether the issue should be fixed or official add-on deprecated.

deep pond Jun 10, 2025, 1:39 PM

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How did you confirm that?

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Deprecate the official add-on? Getting a little ahead there.

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How about submitting an issue to the official add-on if you believe that's what's happening?

deep pond Jun 10, 2025, 2:49 PM

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I looked at the ZUI code where the message comes from, it's a handler for uncaughtException so seems likely your assessment is correct. However, simply ignoring exceptions is not necessarily the correct action. The core add-on (or perhaps zwave-js-server) should at least log it. Anyways, it seems possible this is a driver bug, that kind of error shouldn't bubble up to the application as an exception. Submitting an issue (with driver debug logs) will let the devs figure out the correct steps to fix it.

blazing bear Jun 10, 2025, 2:49 PM

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Haven't confirmed TBH (I assume you're referring to point about exception handling), just my initial assessment based on what I've seen. I'm not seriously suggesting the official add-on needs to be deprecated, but recent (15.x) changes to the driver make it unusable for the users with z-wave networks that cause certain exceptions to be raised.
Since I'm not familiar with the stack, and just debugging the issues I've encountered, it's not very clear where the problem lies and where to report it (add-on, driver, or server). From looking at the add-on, it seems to bundle the server and driver as stand-alone process, so I don't see any exception handling as there is with Z-Wave JS UI.
I'd definitely like to get this raised to in the appropriate place, appreciate your input @deep pond.

deep pond Jun 10, 2025, 2:54 PM

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I the exception handler in ZUI was added (or modified) for this issue: https://github.com/zwave-js/zwave-js-ui/issues/4098. It sounds like it was more of a debugging step to find the cause of an unknown exception and the cause was never actually found. Ignoring exceptions can keep the application in a bad state, so it's not always the best idea. Your log is pretty clear with the error captured though so that would help find a solution.

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I would recommend starting with an issue at https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/issues/new/choose since it's the core add-on where you're seeing the failure. The devs can then figure out which components in the stack need to address it.

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Do you have any experience with typescript/javascript projects? Seems you're able to create your own local add-on, you could try adding the top-level exception handler to the zwave-js-server server application to log the error.

blazing bear Jun 10, 2025, 3:03 PM

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I'm more of a pythonista than ts/js, but maybe Claude can help me with this 😄

deep pond Jun 10, 2025, 3:17 PM

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Totally optional of course, depends on how much time you have to debug it on your own.

blazing bear Jun 10, 2025, 4:25 PM

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@deep pond https://github.com/home-assistant/addons/issues/4039

GitHub

Z-Wave JS add-on crashing · Issue #4039 · home-assistant/addons

Describe the issue you are experiencing Z-Wave JS crashes frequently with my z-wave network. My hub is an Aeotec ZWA010 Z-Stick 7, and there are 11 other devices in the network. The issue started w...

#Z-Wave JS issues (Controller not ready?)