Looking for a C5 as well for the same reason
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Would you pay C7 price? My Dad has a C5 I bought him. Don’t think he’s ever opened the package.
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They did.
But at least re-pairing zigbee devices is generally simpler and doesn’t disrupt apps that were using the device in the same way having to re-pair z-wave devices would.
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hhmm think you misunderstood .... this is about using the external USB radio(s) from earlier Hubitat C3 / C4 models on the C7. That way you can just move the USB's over and restore a backup.
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ah. you're asking for an external USB stick to be usable as the C7 hub's zigbee radio?
Yes, you could move the Nortek stick from a C4 to a C5 and it would override the internal radios there (which is why the OP was asking if anybody has a spare C5).
If that would work on the C7 too it would be useful ..... and would likely mean a few more sales of new hubs.
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Probably not but I appreciate the offer
I would guess it’s also a technical limitation that prevents a C7 hub from using an external stick via USB OTG cable, like a C5 could.
But that’s just a guess 
.
So you desperately want a C5, but paying full price for a brand new, never used hub is out of the question. 
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I gave $100USD for a used C5 on eBay about a month ago. Seemed to be the going rate.
Unless you have literally hundreds of Zigbee devices, this is really such a non issue. You move the database and re-pair each device. Done. All rules are fine and you go on with life. It's a one time deal.
Zigbee radio performance is the same between the stick and the internal. No Zigbee device joined to my earlier C3 and C4 with the Nortek stick is any better or worse on the C7. Complete lateral move where Zigbee is concerned. And as far as Z-Wave, for me, it's better than the old Z-Wave 500 radio. Even my old Aeon v1 HEMs (300 series) are better. Used to drop occasionally from the Nortek, but they don't ever drop now with the C7.
Never said I was desperate and I'm sorry if I offended you. As I said thank you in my previous post. I'm sure eventually I will spring for a c7 and do the migration just wanted to see if there was a bargain out there to prevent a little work. Just me being lazy(and cheap)
Cheers
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Not offended. Don't care either way. Thought my Dad would be interested. He isn't. It's just sitting at his place in Oregon. I have four C-7s and they're great. All my Z-Wave stuff (which isn't much) works great on C-7. My Zigbee stuff works identical to what it did before. No interest in a C-5 for myself either. 
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Yea the zigbee stuff I'm not worried about I am heavy in the zigbee side but I have a house full of inovelli zwave plus switches and dimmers that I don't look forward to migrating to c7
I think it's really up to each individual to decide how much of an issue is. It might not be for you or others, but it is for me.
I've got two C4's each with about 70 ZigBee devices on. Neither run any logic, all of that is in Node-Red so the only App on each is Maker API. There's very little load on either hub, based on the runtime statistics they're idle, something like 0.2% in 25 days.
Both suffer from memory exhaustion after a period of time and need rebooting, usually 3 - 4 weeks or so. After about a week on each, the JVM memory space has deteriorated so much that I can't even save a driver in the editor as I get Metaspace errors (admittedly it's a large driver).
Moving from the C4 to a C5 or C7 would be an easy fix for me, due to those running 32-bit JVM and less prone to memory issues (if at all).
My ZigBee networks are great, perform fantastic, all devices configured and working well. I'd rather not have to build them from scratch (which is essentially what factory resetting and repairing does) because:
- Many devices are in hard to reach places, such as behind wall switches, in the loft, etc
- Many battery devices (such as Sonoff & Nyce) have really short pairing windows. When reset and paired, all configuration needs to be carried out again. If there's a lot of configuration, some devices go back to sleep too soon and miss the configuration, which means it needs to be repeated. Again and again. These took a lot of time and effort to get configured and setup how I want them.
- Depending on the driver, during pairing "configure" is usually called, which mostly sets defaults only. To set actual preferences you usually have to "save preferences" on each device. Again, more time to sort out, especially on devices like Sonoff battery sensors where they don't periodically wake up themselves and need to be manually woken up. Can take many attempts to get the timing right.
So ultimately I choose not to manually migrate to a C7, that's my choice because to me, it's an issue doing so as it's too much hassle. So for now I will just live with it.
But, if the C7 could use the external Nortek for ZigBee then I would order two C7 immediately and move across as it would be a super simple migration, just like it would have been on a C5.
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??
Their switches and dimmers work great on C-7 is my understanding from others. Are they old? I have two LZW36 fan/light controllers and I've had no problems with them joining or responding to commands from the hub.
Oh I'm sure they will be great just not looking forward to the migration process from c4 to c7 specifically zwave. Mine are the first gen zwave plus from inovelli
Can't do anything about #1
but...
Have you ever joined a previously joined Zigbee device to the hub? Zigbee parameters are stored in the hub database, not the radio like Z-Wave. When you move the database and to another hub and rejoin the device (factory reset is the same for Zigbee), then it will show "Found Previously Joined Device" just as shown here in step 11 of Migration. That it. The device works again, and the rules on the hub are intact and fully functional with device as stored in that database.
If there's special on-device configuration (pretty rare with most Zigbee actually) then there's also often a separate procedure for pairing vs factory reset. But most of them don't have any on-device configuration, so "factory reset" and paring mode are the same.
It took me about 2 days because I chose to rebuild a lot of stuff. Migrate wasn't quite ready for Beta at the time, but when my C-3 was killed by a rapid up/down power fluctuation that occurred after a tree branch took out power lines nearby, it was time.
I don't regret the work for a minute. C-7 is faster and more stable than any before it. I used to need to do a reboot to keep things stable, but when I made the transition, I got rid of any code or devices that was causing or I suspected of causing issues. Everything has been smooth sailing ever since.
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Re-pairing isn't the issue.
If you factory reset a ZigBee device it loses all its configuration and as I said, some battery powered devices will take multiple manual "configure" commands to configure properly if they don't configure fully the first time during pairing. I know how many attempts it took me to get some of these devices configured and working properly, it's not a process that I'd like to repeat if I can help it.
And, depending on the driver, that initial "configure" might carry out some initial cluster bindings and only set the defaults as written in the driver. Your chosen preferences aren't usually sent to the device until you hit "save preferences". So that's another round of attempts to get any preferences to be sent to the devices fully.
Again, IMO that's all hassle I'd like to avoid, but for others maybe it's not, each to their own.
