I also want to add my new C7 as a secondary to an IQ2+ panel. I am trying to escape the train wreck that SmartThings has become, but this is an absolute must for me. ST is paired as a secondary to my IQ2+ and its one of the things that has worked reliably,
I am not at all interested in removing the zwave devices from the IQ2+ panel, which is rock solid. I only used ST for a few things that weren't doable in alarm . com, and I want to be able to do the same in Hubitat.
Someone obviously went to the trouble of creating the ZWave Learn Mode docs so if it wasn't intended to work, that wouldn't make any sense.
Perhaps I should way to try this until after the impending firmware update has been released. Supposedly it fixes some zwave issues.
You should be able to do just about anything you can do on the primary controller. As I understand it, the primary controller is responsible for setting the zwave home id whereas a secondary controller gets the home id from the primary.
I was never really clear on this, but it also seems that when you add a device to the primary it shows up on the secondaries without having to initiate any sort of manual refresh on the secondaries. At least, when I add a device to the IQ2+, it (usually) shows up in ST a short time later.
The IQ2+ also has some setting that seems to allow secondaries to add devices, but I've never tried adding a zwave device to ST and looking to see if it showed up in the IQ2+ and alarm . com.
In any case, using ST or Hubitat as a secondary allows you to use Webcore or another rule engine to create more complex rules for zwave devices than you can with alarm . com (conditional logic, for example). You can't, unfortunately, arm or disarm the alarm system or query its mode or the state of any alarm devices though, since none of that runs on zwave.
Well, in theory if its certified then it ought to work correctly, although zwave certification doesn't seem to make any difference when it comes to zwave devices working properly. Perhaps 700 series devices have to go through a more thorough and meaningful certification.
The first thing I did with my brand new Hubitat C-3 on the day it arrived was join it as yet another secondary controller to my existing set of 4 hubs. Many years ago.
That 'feature' got removed, but is back again for the C-7 apparently. The problems are well documented, not necessarily well known. The add of a secondary causes it to get an 'image' of the DB on the primary as of that moment. It never updates again on it's own. There is a command to cause the secondary to ask for a new copy, and that works, but the vast majority of ZWave implementations do not cause that to occur. I vaguely remember someone say that Vera did...
Another problem is "Lifeline" in that a joined device gets one value from the Controller. Modern devices allow multiple values as a Lifeline list, but what Controllers do that extra work to identify a secondary and send the commands?
The result is, a Command from one Controller is invisible to all other Controllers. This is seen most severely with Sensors. A Door Sensor detects open/close and sends a message to it's Lifeline (list) and that's usually only the Primary controller. None of the secondaries get the news. A secondary can tell a Switch to go on or off and it will and report back (ack) to the secondary.
The "problem" is that WE want a secondary to work as a redundancy.. and that is NOT part of the ZWave spec.
I'm almost sure I'm in the top ten people in this Community with direct experience of Secondary ZWave Controllers. I had 5 Controllers in ONE mesh at one time and that does NOT include the Aeon Minimotes that are also secondaries.
I know that I had a finely tuned system that demanded I put Rules and Automations in an exact spot to get it to work reliably.
It does, at least in the case of the IQ2+ panel and ST. Actually, ST also updated automatically with a Simon XTi panel in my previous house as well. Required no action on my part; the new devices just showed up in ST shortly after being added to the alarm panel.
So either ST polls the primary fairly frequently for updated device info, or the primary has some command that tells secondary controllers that something has changed. Whether that's part of the spec or not, I have no idea.
Yeah, my previous set up was a 2Gig GC2 as secondary and ST as primary. The GC2 is an amazing secondary controller. It even auto updated when new zwave devices were added.
Were you using alarm.com for automation? I thought I read somewhere that they require the controller to be the primary. I'll give it a try when I get a few spare minutes. If ST works as a secondary then I'd expect Hubitat to work as well, especially if it's supposed to work as a secondary in order to pass certification.
According to my vendor, the IQ2 won't accept zwave commands from alarm.com unless it is the primary. I'm pretty sure I was also told that many years ago by tech support for my XTi.
Now, this might be specific to these two panels, or a requirement across the board by alarm.com, I really don't know. The zwave daughtercard on the XTi was manufactured by alarm.com. Don't know if that's the case with newer panels, or they just license the alarm.com firmware.
IAC, ST worked pretty well with both of those panels paired as a secondary. I'd expect Hubitat to do so as well. Hope I'm not wrong because it would be a deal breaker in my exodus from ST.
Did any of you ever get this to work? I recently was able to get my C7 to pair and the lights and thermostat work. Still doing some work to get the outlet plug and door lock to work.
I got one C7 to pair with a QolSys IQ2+ and another C7 with same firmware would not pair with another IQ2+ that also had the same firmware. I just gave up on the whole idea. The devs said they would eventually look at the issue, but it's been a couple of years now and probably not even on their radar.
I dunno as I've never tried it.
