C7 to C8 Pro Migration Woes: Lost Z-Wave Devices, Cloud Restore Failure, and Misidentified Devices

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1

I had some challenges with my C7 and lost all my Zwave devices AND couldn't restore from a cloud backup (How to restore ZWave Devices from Backup? - #8 by jtp10181).

Well, I took this time to get a C8 Pro and migrated what I could, knowing I was going to have to re-pair all ~25 z-wave devices. But I'm facing another problem. Many devices pair perfectly, but others come in as the wrong device. For example, an On/Off Switch is paired but thinks it's one of my door locks, or another switch thinks it's a fan controller. I change the device type, but then it just stops working. I have to go back and exclude it and try to do it again.

I wonder if there is something cached from my migration that screwed this up. Maybe it's why I couldn't restore my old C7. I want to make sure the cloud backup works correctly and allows me to recover fully in the future.

^ I sent the above to Hubitat support on Dec 15th and got this reply on Dev 16th. But then they went radio silent to all my replies.

Support Agent (Hubitat Support)

Dec 16, 2024, 12:39 PM EST

Hi there,

Thank you for reaching out. The hub matches the driver based on the details provided by the device at the time of inclusion. There is no saved data that can interefere. If the driver assigned is incorrect, please select the correct driver, then save and then hit the "Configure" button to reconfigure the driver. You shouldn't have to exclude/include to get the new device type working. Please let us know if this is not your experience.

Regards,

Customer Support Services
Hubitat Inc.

Email: support@hubitat.com
Twitter: @hubitat_support

I'm still facing this problem, and it's making it hard for me to use my Hubitat.

Here is my Zooz light switch that came in as one of my door locks.

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While I was adding another lightswitch, it came in as a Zooz Sensor (using the Zwave->Brand->Selecting the switch type method)
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Once added, you'll see this is what the device looks like. Already members of "In Used By" items and has an old "Create Time"
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I sent all this to the support ticket on Dec 16th and haven't heard from the team. Should I perform a scorched earth and reset the device? I'm willing to do this, but I worry about it happening again.

Ps. I'd love to hear if anyone has successfully restored their Zwave devices from a cloud backup.

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The driver is usually chosen based on the fingerprint provided by the device. Clues to what happens when you pair can be found if you pair and open a live log at the same time.

This only seems to happening with zooz devices it seems

I've never had an issue doing migrations or just doing a plain restore from cloud. Have done several of them... (I have 60+ z-wave devices)

Can you post your z-wave details page in its entirety? (use windows snip on PC not phone)

How did you submit your ticket?

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I think I know what is going on. Can you confirm this is what you are doing? (please answer each bullet)

  • I believe that you migrated but the Z-wave did not migrate properly.
  • You then took a Z-wave device, and put it into inclusion mode, and got it to pair with the hub.
  • You did NOT pay particular order when doing the inclusion, you just randomly picked a device.
  • You did NOT edit the DNI for these Z-wave devices.
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I do have a lot of Zooz devices!

I'll record the live log later today.

Here's the zwave details page :

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I created a ticket from this page : Subscriptions – Hubitat Support

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You have at least 3 ghosts (the ones with the discover buttons). I would remove those (they will mess up your z-wave mesh) then do a DB rebuild and see if things return to normal.

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  • I believe that you migrated but the Z-wave did not migrate properly.
    Response : I didn't migrate the zwave at all, as the cloud backup didn't get good data (ref old post)
  • You then took a Z-wave device, and put it into inclusion mode, and got it to pair with the hub.
    Response : I excluded them before including them, but yes.
  • You did NOT pay particular order when doing the inclusion, you just randomly picked a device.
    Response : Yes, I added devices over several years and didn't remember the order (also didn't know this mattered)
  • You did NOT edit the DNI for these Z-wave devic
    Response : I didn't edit the DNI
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The hub relies on the relationship between the Z-wave table, and the database. When you include a Z-wave device, it gets assigned a number.

You started from scratch (essentially) with Z-wave, and now the new number that is being assigned to a device in the Z-wave radio is associated with the old Z-wave device number.

In other words, this is what you had originally (generically speaking).

  • Living room light [Z-wave node = 1] [database node = 1]
  • Kitchen light [Z-wave node = 2] [database node = 2]
  • Bedroom light [Z-wave node = 3] [database node = 3]
  • Dining room light [Z-wave node = 4] [database node = 4]

And so on.

But what you have done by randomly pairing devices in a different order, or by not changing the DNI is this:

  • Living room light [Z-wave node = 1] [database node = 4]
  • Kitchen light [Z-wave node = 2] [database node = 3]
  • Bedroom light [Z-wave node = 3] [database node = 1]
  • Dining room light [Z-wave node = 4] [database node = 2]

Or something like that.

To prevent this, you have to break the association between the old device and the new one by changing the DNI.

Steps are as follows. I copied the relevant part of this post.

EDIT I am not sure you can fix this at this point, you might have to re-migrate and do this procedure to start fresh, so to speak.

Link

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8

Yeah I would suggest starting over again. Soft reset and z-wave reset. Restore the backup again and the follow the proper instructions for adding z-wave device back. You probably have made such a mess of things now its going to be hard to unwind it. Might possibly be able to do some DNI swaps but there will be bad data from pairing and who knows what else.

There is also possibly less complicated way to do the swaps now with the "Swap Apps" feature, vs the old instructions from Bruce. I have written up instructions before and posted them on here.

Found a good version of my instructions using Swap Apps
If you z-wave radio is already clear you can skip the "Reset Radio" step.

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