Generic Zwave switch or smart switch driver - does it matter?

[Geoff_T]

I have a load of TKB TZ68 Plug in switches (I'm in the UK where we get much fewer options). Since day 1 with HE I have had them on the Generic Zwave switch driver as they are not specifically recognised. They have worked fine, but on reading up more about drivers, due to problems I was having with their dimmer equivalent (TZ67), I am now thinking they should be using the smart switch driver. As I now understand it if the device is a Zwave plus device (which these are) they should use the "smart" driver.

Firstly, is this true? Secondly, if it is what are the benefits of the Smart switch driver over the standard switch version? I'm reluctant to change them all unless there is some benefit, but would prefer everything to be on the best driver.

[vjv]

Smart driver is for Z-wave plus devices, if your device has 0x5E in the inClusters you can use the smart driver, different handling for non plus and plus devices, that's the difference.

[Geoff_T]

Thanks for the quick reply. Mine does have the 0x5E incluster string so I guess I should switch them all. Does it improve the Zwave mesh behaviour as I understand Plus was meant to improve that ?

[vjv]

It just changes how the devices report to HE, their mesh is already working based their capabilities, but maybe they are not reporting as they should to HE.

[Cobra]

@Geoff_T
If you don't need power reporting (just on/off) then Ikea in the UK has some really cheap switches
I bought a couple yesterday at £9 each!

They pair ok (after a reset) are CE certified and use the "Generic Zigbee Outlet" driver (once you assign it and configure)

They seem to be working well enough

Andy

[Geoff_T]

@Cobra

@Geoff_T
If you don't need power reporting (just on/off) then Ikea in the UK has some really cheap switches
I bought a couple yesterday at £9 each!

They pair ok (after a reset) are CE certified and use the "Generic Zigbee Outlet" driver (once you assign it and configure)

They seem to be working well enough

Andy

Thanks Andy. I did see some posts on them and was tempted when we were in our local Ikea the other day. The thing that stopped me was that I have 100% Zwave at the moment and have no experience of Zigbee. How do you find it compared to Zwave in terms of range/reliability etc?

[Cobra]

I have quite a decent amount of smartthings sockets so my mesh is quite good for zigbee
Range in my home is no problem
I have found out that they also work well as repeaters for the rest of the mesh.
Pleased overall (apart from not having power reporting - but what can you expect for the price?)

[Geoff_T]

So far I have only wanted power reporting for one device, so that's not normally an issue. I might well pick one up next time we are in, as you say, at £9 it's got to be worth a go.

[Geoff_T]

@dash

I'm thinking of jumping from ST to HE and am following the forum at the minute to get to learn more, and to be sure that all will be ok with my existing switches and sensors.

Like you, Geoff, I have TKB (amongst other plug-in switches).

My TKB's are the dimming versions. Can you control dimming using the HE generic driver? You mention problems in your first post. What problems are you experiencing? Are you hoping the 'smart' driver will get round this?

Looking forward to your feedback once you've switched your TKBs to the 'smart' driver

Dave

Hi Dave.

You've picked the perfect time to switch to HE. In the latest firmware the Generic Zwave Smart Dimmer driver has been updated to work with the TKB dimmers. I did have issues with dimming levels prior to that, but now all is good and yes you can control dimming on them. I haven't updated my switches to the smart version yet, but they work fine on the normal one in any case.

I come from Vera not ST, but would recommend HE without hesitation. It gets better and better with every update and the support and community is second to none. Jump in!