Sluggish or unreliable performance

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  • Last Post 29 November 2015
CasualSurveyor posted this 14 November 2015

Running the Aeon Labs Z-stick. I have not added or removed any devices or changed the network.

The system has been getting more unstable and unreliable over the last couple of months. Initially, the iPhone app was sluggish. Then the iPhone app would sometimes not work at all, or work once and then stop working. The scenes still ran automatically and it was possible to opeate devices from the host computer software. Then the software started getting sluggish and sometimes devices could not be operated. Automatic scenes stopped running. I resorted to running Controller Setup, which temporarily restores some functionality but not for long.

I'm getting these error messages:

USB stick did not load devices.

Connection has been established with USB stick. (This message is always delayed by 11-12 seconds after the first message.)

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rscott posted this 14 November 2015

Running the Aeon Labs Z-stick. I have not added or removed any devices or changed the network.

The system has been getting more unstable and unreliable over the last couple of months. Initially, the iPhone app was sluggish. Then the iPhone app would sometimes not work at all, or work once and then stop working. The scenes still ran automatically and it was possible to opeate devices from the host computer software. Then the software started getting sluggish and sometimes devices could not be operated. Automatic scenes stopped running. I resorted to running Controller Setup, which temporarily restores some functionality but not for long.

I'm getting these error messages:

USB stick did not load devices.

Connection has been established with USB stick. (This message is always delayed by 11-12 seconds after the first message.)



Sometimes that "USB stick did not load devices" can be caused by a failing usb stick; sometimes it's just a connection problem that will resolve itself.

You could try out this new version, it hasn't been officially released, but it has some smarter polling logic that can help with the delays: Version 4.0.5795

CasualSurveyor posted this 16 November 2015

How would a hardware problem cause the iPhone app to become unresponsive? The app communicates to the cloud, which communicates to the PC, which communicates to the controller, which communicates to the devices. The phone app is not responsive. This is happening on two iPhones and an Android tablet in our household.

rscott posted this 17 November 2015

How would a hardware problem cause the iPhone app to become unresponsive? The app communicates to the cloud, which communicates to the PC, which communicates to the controller, which communicates to the devices. The phone app is not responsive. This is happening on two iPhones and an Android tablet in our household.


Are you saying the phone app doesn't work at all or that it's sluggish? If it's sluggish, that could still be a result of devices; the command gets held up going out to your devices and it makes your app appear sluggish.

CasualSurveyor posted this 18 November 2015

The response time of the app is slow. It takes several seconds to react to a command, such as turning a light from off to on. It eventually responds but the actual light status doesn't change. The device status indication is inaccurate, for example it will say 0/11 lights when 6/11 are on.

Inside the software under Events, I can see the results of operations on the phone app.

Example (events listed new to oldest):

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module Unknown - Powered User

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

Device status in the software is incorrect. It also shows all devices off when 6/11 are turned on.

weidnerj posted this 18 November 2015

The response time of the app is slow. It takes several seconds to react to a command, such as turning a light from off to on. It eventually responds but the actual light status doesn't change. The device status indication is inaccurate, for example it will say 0/11 lights when 6/11 are on.

Inside the software under Events, I can see the results of operations on the phone app.

Example (events listed new to oldest):

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module Unknown - Powered User

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

Device status in the software is incorrect. It also shows all devices off when 6/11 are turned on.


Not sure if this is the same issue that I had, but I use to have the problem when I clicked on a device the device would turn off or on right away, but ICHA would take 5 or 10 seconds to respond. I couldn't click on anything else while in that mode until the 5 or 10 seconds was up.

The problem wasn't ICHA, it was that I had either a duplicate ID between two ZWAVE devices or a device that was locked up. I ended up removing everything and re-adding it, and sometimes I would still have the same issue. It seemed like I would have one or two devices that did that, but the rest would work as advertised.

Ultimately I ended up killing power to every electrical (outlets/switch) ZWAVE device by turning off the circuit breaker, which basically reset my outlets and switches.



rscott posted this 18 November 2015

The response time of the app is slow. It takes several seconds to react to a command, such as turning a light from off to on. It eventually responds but the actual light status doesn't change. The device status indication is inaccurate, for example it will say 0/11 lights when 6/11 are on.

Inside the software under Events, I can see the results of operations on the phone app.

Example (events listed new to oldest):

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module Unknown - Powered User

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

7:09:55 PM Plug-In Module 20 second delay Warning

Device status in the software is incorrect. It also shows all devices off when 6/11 are turned on.


That module delay is something that could cause slow response in both the app and the server when trying to turn a light on or off.

Do you have any "fail" messages in your logfile? If you see any of those, it's sometimes a good indicator that you've got a bad or failing device. Feel free to submit a ticket with your logfile attached so we can take a closer look for you.

CasualSurveyor posted this 19 November 2015

Where is the log file? Sorry I'm not a power user, just an average user.

rscott posted this 19 November 2015

Where is the log file? Sorry I'm not a power user, just an average user.


If you are on a later version of InControl, you can visit the help menu and choose logfile. If you don't have the later version with that option, then you can find it in your InControl folder.

CasualSurveyor posted this 20 November 2015

Logfile sent in Support ticket - thanks.

CasualSurveyor posted this 29 November 2015

Ryan, wanted to check back in and say "Thank You" for troubleshooting my issue. As you suspected, my controller (Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Stick Series 2) was becoming unstable. I replaced it with a GoControl QuickStick. I had to exclude all devices from the old controller and then include them back to the new controller. The system is working reliably again, and is more responsive than it had been in the past.

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