Danalock V3 z-wave - Support rep. confirms the lock will become uncalibrated over time and lock you out of your home

[ThatDude 0]

A few months back I bought two Danalock V3 z-wave electronic door locks, to add to my home automation and put them on the front/back doors of the house.

 

But I've noticed that after a few days of usage, when you have a usual daily mix manual and automated locking/unlocking, the Danalock loses calibration, which means:

• The app no longer shows the correct state, the door is fully locked, but the app still says "unlocked"
• Clicking the "lock" button results in the lock trying to rotate further left with no effect (it's already in the furthest possible left position), and after that it still indicates it's "unlocked"
• Clicking the "unlock" button results in the lock rotating once to the right, while full unlocking should rotate it twice to the right, which means the door stays locked, and the lock indicates it's "unlocked"
• If I click "unlock" one more time it results in no action (no further rotation to the right)
• Running the "Auto Calibration" fixes the issue, and the lock works properly for a few days, and then the issue returns (I've done at least three separate Auto Calibration attempts)
• Running the "Manual Calibration" fixes the issue, and the lock works properly for a few days, and then the issue returns (I've done at least three separate Manual Calibration attempts)
• The issue is present on both the front and back doors, it always comes back, sometimes after a few days, sometimes after a couple of weeks, depends on the actual usage

 

So finally I've reached out to the Danalock support, to ask what to do, and their answer was:

"Kindly check: If key is used to open the lock, there is a possibility that Danalock will lose its calibration points over time. 

Solution: re-calibrate the lock. 

Please also note: If lock has been auto calibrated, lock/unlock point is set in outer positions, hence the lock must be turned in complete lock/unlock every time it's operated. Otherwise it will eventually lose the calibration and must be recalibrated."

 

I don't know if it's me, but this makes the product quite useless. You never know when it will become uncalibrated, and lock you out of your home. Better always have the physical key with you!

Either way, if your considering one, be aware of the above.

[Neo Andersson 65]

20 hours ago, ThatDude said:

A few months back I bought two Danalock V3 z-wave electronic door locks, to add to my home automation and put them on the front/back doors of the house.

 

But I've noticed that after a few days of usage, when you have a usual daily mix manual and automated locking/unlocking, the Danalock loses calibration, which means:

• The app no longer shows the correct state, the door is fully locked, but the app still says "unlocked"
• Clicking the "lock" button results in the lock trying to rotate further left with no effect (it's already in the furthest possible left position), and after that it still indicates it's "unlocked"
• Clicking the "unlock" button results in the lock rotating once to the right, while full unlocking should rotate it twice to the right, which means the door stays locked, and the lock indicates it's "unlocked"
• If I click "unlock" one more time it results in no action (no further rotation to the right)
• Running the "Auto Calibration" fixes the issue, and the lock works properly for a few days, and then the issue returns (I've done at least three separate Auto Calibration attempts)
• Running the "Manual Calibration" fixes the issue, and the lock works properly for a few days, and then the issue returns (I've done at least three separate Manual Calibration attempts)
• The issue is present on both the front and back doors, it always comes back, sometimes after a few days, sometimes after a couple of weeks, depends on the actual usage

 

So finally I've reached out to the Danalock support, to ask what to do, and their answer was:

"Kindly check: If key is used to open the lock, there is a possibility that Danalock will lose its calibration points over time. 

Solution: re-calibrate the lock. 

Please also note: If lock has been auto calibrated, lock/unlock point is set in outer positions, hence the lock must be turned in complete lock/unlock every time it's operated. Otherwise it will eventually lose the calibration and must be recalibrated."

 

I don't know if it's me, but this makes the product quite useless. You never know when it will become uncalibrated, and lock you out of your home. Better always have the physical key with you!

Either way, if your considering one, be aware of the above.

I have started a lot of topics about this, and i went through every single communication chanells with Fibaro, with Danalock and with some developers too. After about 2 years of testing, and using min 30 pcs of Danalocks to test, we came to 

a conclusion that i described in others topics too. Danalock will never work reliably with Fibaro, until the Zwave Engine 3 is not used. In current situation in Fibaro you can use only S0 security protocol, and in this, theres no way to

fix this problem. Danalock will never work with Fibaro. As i said, it can work when its the only Danalock in the system, and it was included as the very first device, but the chances that it won't work are way higher than the opposite.

At this moment i recommend to every new user to avoid using Danalocks with Fibaro. Whos fault is this??? I dont really want to spend my energies for finding out who is to blame..

I had a lot of nightmares over these years, and in a lot of cases we had to refund the Danalock price to customers, or just change it to TEDDE (which is the only option for Fibaro at this moment).

Edited December 16, 2022 by Neo Andersson

[ThatDude 0]

I'm not sure how is that an issue between Fibaro and Danalock. The Danalock becomes uncalibrated when you mix manual (grab it with your hand, and turn manually) and automatic lock/unlock. If you do not always turn the lock manually all the way to the end it will lose it's calibration over time. Fibaro or no Fibaro, this is a Danalock issue, and would happen when only using the Danalock app as well.

 

What woul Z-wave 3 change here?

 

All in all, I fully agree that the Tedee is a better product in many respects (smaller, faster, rechargable, reliable)

[Neo Andersson 65]

12 hours ago, ThatDude said:

I'm not sure how is that an issue between Fibaro and Danalock. The Danalock becomes uncalibrated when you mix manual (grab it with your hand, and turn manually) and automatic lock/unlock. If you do not always turn the lock manually all the way to the end it will lose it's calibration over time. Fibaro or no Fibaro, this is a Danalock issue, and would happen when only using the Danalock app as well.

 

What woul Z-wave 3 change here?

 

All in all, I fully agree that the Tedee is a better product in many respects (smaller, faster, rechargable, reliable)

In Zwave 3 engine you can add the lock in S2 security level, and that should solve the problems...(at least thats what they said to me from Fibaro)

[ThatDude 0]

But Fibaro/Z-wave/HomeCenter has nothing to do with the issue I'm describing. Even just using the native Danalock app via BT, if you open your lock manually (as in turning it by hand), and you do not open it all the way, the Danalock will become uncalibrated over time, and at some point will not turn far enough to properly close/open the door. You have to run auto calibration at this point as only solution, but you're outside, then you're out of luch and locked out of your home.

[Neo Andersson 65]

5 hours ago, ThatDude said:

But Fibaro/Z-wave/HomeCenter has nothing to do with the issue I'm describing. Even just using the native Danalock app via BT, if you open your lock manually (as in turning it by hand), and you do not open it all the way, the Danalock will become uncalibrated over time, and at some point will not turn far enough to properly close/open the door. You have to run auto calibration at this point as only solution, but you're outside, then you're out of luch and locked out of your home.

Yeah..this is not related with Fibaro, and i can just guess, that it can be easily a invalid piece of Danalock..In Fibaro it will not work, thats for sure..sooner or later it will stop reporting statuses...However, all the Danalock devices I have, are working flawlessly if only used with thheir own applicatons..maybe you should try to ask for refund or exchange

[ThatDude 0]

I mean, in the first post I've said that the Danalock support employee officially confirmed for me via email, that this if you mix manual/automatic unlocking, the lock will become uncalibrated, and the only solution is to redo the automatic calibration. That's why I created this topic, to warn others, as in my opinion this is a very serious problem, that already left me locked out of my home.

 

On the other hand I have no issue with the Danalock reporting the lock/unlocked status in Fibaro. It works fine until the lock becomes uncalibrated, and than works fine after the auto calibration is repeated.

[Neo Andersson 65]

28 minutes ago, ThatDude said:

I mean, in the first post I've said that the Danalock support employee officially confirmed for me via email, that this if you mix manual/automatic unlocking, the lock will become uncalibrated, and the only solution is to redo the automatic calibration. That's why I created this topic, to warn others, as in my opinion this is a very serious problem, that already left me locked out of my home.

 

On the other hand I have no issue with the Danalock reporting the lock/unlocked status in Fibaro. It works fine until the lock becomes uncalibrated, and than works fine after the auto calibration is repeated.

Ahh okay, understand...anyway..we finished with Danalock..the same goes for Heltun Walli switches and probably for MCO thermostats...slowly but surely wea are running out of devices that can be raliably used in Fibaro installations..

[ThatDude 0]

So far the Gerda Tedee is working out really well for me. It isn't really z-wave, but HomeCenter can controll it via WiFi, so it's good enough.

[Nick Smoleski 0]

16 hours ago, Neo Andersson said:

Ahh okay, understand...anyway..we finished with Danalock..the same goes for Heltun Walli switches and probably for MCO thermostats...slowly but surely wea are running out of devices that can be raliably used in Fibaro installations..

 

May I ask what kind of issues you have with MCO?

[Neo Andersson 65]

Humidity reporting is completely unusable...Values are way off of the actual humidity values 20-30 percent differents..

I got some information that they even plan to completely remove it from the thermostats, so if it happens, i probably will never buy any of them, becuase in lot of situations customers want me to turn on off their purifiers accoding to the humiditiy, and thats why we used them..

If they only give us some parameter for calibration or whateverm but at this moment i have to refund the money to my customers, or change the thermostats completly

[SmartHomeEddy 735]

7 minutes ago, Neo Andersson said:

actual humidity values 20-30 percent differents.

 

That is horrible, how to explain that to your customers.

 

I use the MCO Home CO2 sensor, which does give the right value (I calculate it to absolute humidity to compare it with the humidity in the shower and to turn on the Fan), so somehow it could work in this other device of MCO Home. 

[Nick Smoleski 0]

19 hours ago, Neo Andersson said:

Humidity reporting is completely unusable...Values are way off of the actual humidity values 20-30 percent differents..

 

Sounds terrible. Have you tested Heltun's humidity sensor accuracy? I had some units installed previously but quite a long time ago, don't remember to have any complaints about them

[Wim Moonen 0]

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Edited January 4 by Wim Moonen

[Neo Andersson 65]

On 1/4/2023 at 1:10 PM, Nick Smoleski said:

 

Sounds terrible. Have you tested Heltun's humidity sensor accuracy? I had some units installed previously but quite a long time ago, don't remember to have any complaints about them

Just ordered a Heltun thermostat..gonna give it a try

[fuser99 6]

On 1/4/2023 at 2:47 PM, Wim Moonen said:

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Hi,

 

How long has it been since your last calibration?

I just removed two danalock v3 and I'm looking to test other locks because Danalock has became very unreliable because of this issue.

 

[fuser99 6]

On 12/31/2022 at 9:27 PM, Neo Andersson said:

Yeah..this is not related with Fibaro, and i can just guess, that it can be easily a invalid piece of Danalock..In Fibaro it will not work, thats for sure..sooner or later it will stop reporting statuses...However, all the Danalock devices I have, are working flawlessly if only used with thheir own applicatons..maybe you should try to ask for refund or exchange

The issue pointed by

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has nothing to do with Fibaro or broken/invalid lock. I think it has to do with the quality of the lock. For normal usage (2-4 locks/unlocks per day), the lock became unreliable just after few months when new.  I also tested the following scenario: use Danapad to lock/unlock when I leave home, and used the 2nd lock (manual lock) to lock the door when I'm home. Even in this scenario, the lock becomes uncalibrated after few days (8-9 days).

[Neo Andersson 65]

15 hours ago, fuser99 said:

The issue pointed by

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has nothing to do with Fibaro or broken/invalid lock. I think it has to do with the quality of the lock. For normal usage (2-4 locks/unlocks per day), the lock became unreliable just after few months when new.  I also tested the following scenario: use Danapad to lock/unlock when I leave home, and used the 2nd lock (manual lock) to lock the door when I'm home. Even in this scenario, the lock becomes uncalibrated after few days (8-9 days).

I really dont want to mark any brand with any negative descriptions, but i have quite a bit of experiences with Danalocks..we just stopped using them in Fibaro installations..we had so many problems, that we had to stop...My advice..dont use it...

[fingusio 12]

Really strange what you wrote here...

 

I'm using Gerdalock/Danalock on HC2 since 2017, I've never had any problem with this. Already have 20-30 units and ~20 scenes.

[Neo Andersson 65]

2 minutes ago, fingusio said:

Really strange what you wrote here...

 

I'm using Gerdalock/Danalock on HC2 since 2017, I've never had any problem with this. Already have 20-30 units and ~20 scenes.

Maybe the HC2 is doing the difference..i dont know. It is not a novelty...Danalock has some state reorting issues with Fibaro...many many times happen.. mostly in systems where more Danalocks are installed...I dont need proof about anything...we experienced this on our skins..I have changed hundreds of mails about this..Also it was confirmed to me from Fibaro, that it will never work reliably..

 

[Neo Andersson 65]

here is a shortcut from an answer from Fibaro developer, explaining why it is not working.../ its because we cant add it to Fibaro in S2 security mode. It is not supported in current Zwave engine. But below is a detailed answer

Some technicalities for interested parties below 

The main issue with including in S0 is that there is specific security timer in specification (10s) which not allow to respond by the end-device (in this case Danalock) with Security Scheme Report frame (after Security Scheme Get) during security bootstrapping - it is done like that for security reasons. I have simplified this a little bit but I am attaching a diagram for more curious persons which will probably will want to learn a little bit more about it.
"Inclusion complete" should start this timer.

Normally this in not an issue but then device start counting this time just after receiving its nodeId (Danalock) it needs to finish requesting neighbors first, send the list to the gateway and then Security Scheme Get from the controller is being sent. 
Controllers Z-Wave chips sends list of all mains powered devices nodeIds to currently including node, it needs to try to send NOP frames (no operation frames) to every one of them (without routing, only direct communication) to check which one is a potential neighbor. We do not have any way to alter this as this is something done by the chip and the SDK.

If there is a 50 other mains powered devices in the network it just won't get enough time to do this, the more devices are not in direct range the longer requesting neighbor procedure is.
In worst case even with only 10-12 devices in network it just won't include property (in case where there is no direct communication with any of the devices).

When device is in range, NOP frame takes few miliseconds (up to maybe 10ms) with ACK response, if not - up to 2-3 seconds. 

 

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