Ok, sure, I blame this on the device (not reporting properly with security disabled), that just makes no sense...
Most repeaters don't report anything, this one is the exception, not the rule...
Mike:
Do you tend to just unselect all the S2/S0 security options when the S2 dialog comes up on the C7 and you're not pairing a lock or some other device that you don't think benefits from security?
Yes, personally I only enable security on locks and other door controllers, that's me, to each his own.
Yes, personally I only enable security on locks and other door controllers,
That sounds like best practice and I'm going to try it myself.
Thanks for clearing up some confusions around the S2 pairing, just because it can doesn't mean it should
Same goes for S0 in my opinion, but S2 is much more efficient than S0 so S2 is less imposing on the hub and the mesh...
Is that a new feature?
I haven't joined any devices to the C7 in a while, but last time I did, there was no way to force it to join without security from the inclusion popup and there's no longer that doors/locks option on the z-wave page...
Depends.
You can select the security level if it is an S2 device (by deselecting all of the security checkboxes it pairs non-secure).
If it is S0 only, you don't get the dialog and can't select non-secure. Which kind of sucks, TBH.
That's why I questioned Mike's comment and was hoping they added that functionality since the last time I checked.
The reduced performance/reliabilty caused by S0 and the inability to disable it on the C7 for a lot of my devices is one of the main reasons I haven't moved any of them off the C5.
This isn't anything we can change, the z-wave stack we are required to use with the 700 series chip doesn't allow this.
Just to clarify, it's possible to disable S2 and S0 for S2 devices, but it's not possible to disable S0 for non-S2 devices?
Would it be possible to raise the issue with SiLabs?
That's not correct. I have 3 Gen2 Range Extenders that happily report status on my C5 hub. (And previously had a Gen 1 that reported power status on the same C5.)
Are the voodoo machinations that one has to go through to get power reporting working on an unsecured RRE crazy? No doubt, but it is possible.
Correct, unless it's a barrier device anyway.
That doesn’t match my testing, they didn’t report power source on my C-5, but they do when paired S2 on my C-7. Perhaps I did something wrong, perhaps you know some trick that I don’t. However, Bryan Copeland (@bcopeland) reported the same in another thread:
Also, I said what I did because @ellomdian, the poster to whom I replied, said their hub was a C-7.
There is a trick, but nobody -AFAIK- knows exactly what it is. Currently, the trick is best described as "mess around with it until it works." My then-current theory was that a certain setting on a no-longer-available driver put it in some mode where it 'woke up' and then worked unauthenticated. That method worked pretty reliably for me, but I believe that others reported it didn't work for them.
That makes sense, and it would be -IMNSHO- foolish to pair on a C7 unauthenticated. But it should work the same unauthenticated on a C7 as it does on a C5.
Maybe you care, maybe you don't, but here are screenshots of one of mine working perfectly with my C5. One of my three has been in use longer than this one, plus the Gen 1 that has since been replaced, but my experience has been that once you get them to report, they will work fine for the duration. (I'm not intending to start a holy war, but I don't want someone with a C5 to think that these won't work as power status reporters (or repeaters, for that matter.) It is indeed a gold-plated-bear to get them to work, but it is possible.) These will eventually be paired (authenticated) on my C7, whenever I decide to move my devices.
Apparently non S2 devices that support S0 work fine when joined without S0 so what you said about not supporting that isn't a limitation of the hub's z-wave stack, unless that's just the inclusion piece of it, but was it a requirement for z-wave certification?
It wasn't specifically part of cert.
It's not clear to me how this is being done via a secondary controller, we can probably look into this though.
It may be why Z-Wave 700 series USB sticks are selling for less than 500 series USB sticks.
These are the options we have when starting node inclusion from the hub.
I wish there was more.. But this is what we are stuck with until they (silabs/z-wave alliance) open up more options
Using a secondary controller, yes, it is possible to prevent S0 bootstrapping, but no option exists from the primary controller.
Those options don't say anything about disabling S0, but Mike and others have confirmed that it's possible for S2 devices...