Best Practice Device Name/Label

[PunchCardPgmr]

OK, on same topic kinda.

Let's say I have ZigBee device "A" used in Rules and the device itself is giving me problems...i.e. needs to be retired.

Can I pair a new device "B" , NOT the same exact model but same function (contact using ZigBee Generic Contact Driver)

....then take battery out of device "A" to pull it from the mesh and STEAL it's Device Network ID and replace device "B's" Network ID with "A's" in order to get all Rules to just carry on

...since just replicating device "A's" name in/for device "B" is not going to achieve this due to the relationships previously established between device "A", it's Network ID, and the respective Rules.

[ritchierich]

Yes take a backup just in case. I’ve done this with several devices, mostly Zwave and outlined the instructions in this thread:

Replacing Devices Without Breaking Rules?

We had a power outage the other day due to a thunderstorm and 2 of my 2017 vintage GE switches failed with constant blue light blinking. Fortunately with GE/Jasco's 5 year warranty they are being replaced for free. To keep my rules and hub mesh in tact (YMMV so be careful and make a backup prior to doing this) I paired the replacement switch and gave it a similar name plus "temp" Then pulled up the old device and new "temp" device in two separate browser tabs. I updated the old device's Devi…

With Zigbee make sure you copy the Zigbee ID too

[PunchCardPgmr]

Perfect, THANK YOU !

One question tho....

So the ZigBee ID is not like a MAC Addr of a device? e.g. fixed and assigned at manufacturing? That actually gets assigned by the hub upon discovery????

[ritchierich]

@PunchCardPgmr

So the ZigBee ID is not like a MAC Addr of a device? e.g. fixed and assigned at manufacturing? That actually gets assigned by the hub upon discovery????

Honestly cannot remember. I did this with a Zigbee motion sensor a while back and I recall either the device network ID or the Zigbee ID changing when I reset the device and repaired it. So pair the new device and collect those bits and then copy then into your old device, change the driver and save. Then remove the new device, reset device and pair again and it should realize it’s been paired before and then make sure you click configure once paired since it’s a different driver.

[PunchCardPgmr]

Leaving this here for future reference on the topic. ST but I'm sure it applies just the same:

""
When a “Works with SmartThings” ZigBee device is added to SmartThings, two unique identifiers are assigned to it during the pairing / joining process, which you can view in the list of Devices on your hub’s IDE webpage:

1. Zigbee Id - a 16 hexidecimal digit (8 byte) string that is unique only to that ZigBee device, assigned by its manufacturer
2. Device Network Id - a 4 hexidecimal digit (2 byte) string that uniquely identifies the ZigBee device on your hub’s network that is assigned by your SmartThings hub
   ""

Is a ZigBee Id needed for a ZigBee device to work properly with SmartThings?

[conrad4]

A few days into my conversion from VeraPlus to Hubitat and glad I found this thread. In my experience, people understimate the importance of a good taxonomy, especially the re-work saved by starting with a good one.

Thanks @igor.lehotan for the emoji idea! @fegriffith didn't see it stated here how to add them. Maybe it's possible to do it directly if you know the unicode, but the easiest way I found was to first add the device from the web interface then rename it from a mobile (worked from android phone and apple ipad).

I use Alexa -- she speaks the emojis regardless of brackets For example, she calls device

outdoor plug

"light bulb outdoor plug". But I never hear this unless there is a problem, like device unresponsive, because my Alexa is in brief mode.

[kania]

Enjoy this thread and the ideas people are sharing. Agree with avoiding abbreviations if possible.

That being said, anyone know if there is a documented character limit for names? Not really a big deal for my devices as much as variable names used in connectors for rules.