If the polling intensity is zero, specifically disable polling for that device/sub device. Have zwave startup wait until the zwave nework is ready (defined by python openzwave docs): https://python-openzwave.googlecode.com SIGNAL_NETWORK_AWAKED : all awake nodes are queried. Some sleeping nodes may be missing. and You can safely ask node informations when state >= STATE_AWAKED This appears to make the polling of nodes a bit more deterministic.