I purchased an alarm system 6 years ago from Live Watch Security that uses the IQ panel. It had alarm and zwave automation built in. It was the hub. Brinks then bought Live Watch Security. I could control everything from the Alarm dot com app including Zwave, but it was primitive as far as making scenes, etc. I had to use a remote called a minimote which was a real bear to setup.
Long story short, I went on vacation and my wife stayed home because she is in school. The IQ panel stopped working but some of the automation through the minimote remote still works (1 scene on and off). Other automation not working.
I spent 3 hours on the phone with Brinks and they want me to wait over 2 weeks for a tech to come out and replace the IQ panel that I previously self installed with Live Watch. I will have to reprogram all locks, thermostat, outlets and switches, etc. No way do I want my automation and security to be tied to one device anymore especially without backup. So here I am I just bought the Hubitat from Amazon and am looking forward to converting my home automation to it.
Is there anything I need to do with each device to connect it to the new hub? The IQ panel is a dead stick so there is no way to go into it to remove the devices. What can I expect and what should I do? Thanks. FYI I am leaving Brinks and going to buy an Alarm from a different company. They have really gone down the tubes with service, etc.
With Z-Wave devices you'll likely need most of the devices close to the hub in order to exclude them from the Z-Wave menu. Then you'll want to start with wired devices closest to the hub to include them and work out then on to battery devices. Security devices like the locks may need to be closer to the hub to include but then should be able to work at range after they are included.
I would probably get a couple of repeaters and pair those in an outward pattern first to build a good framework and then do the device migration.
Note: these will in fact pair with the HE even though it says requires Ring Base Station..
One thing you want to be careful of is older Z-Wave devices can be problematic and impact your mesh. You might have to enable polling on some devices in order for them to be responsive, others might force pair with S0 security - a notoriously chatty protocol that can bog down your hub communications.
Most of all have patience.. while HE is very flexible and can handle a wide range of products - not all devices are created equal and there will likely be issues pairing some of them.
Not a problem.. Just when you go to start each device hit exclude on the Hubitat hub first and then trigger the device exclusion.. Then it will be ready for inclusion.
@bcopeland , the issue as I see it is since the set of devices being added are diverse - possibly older Z-Wave etc it might be a good idea to establish a good initial mesh with repeaters before migrating. The thinking is you then have known, established routes back to the Hub.
I guess on the flip side you'd rather have older devices communicating directly with the hub with no hops so as not to clog up communications..
I would like to make sure I am not recommending unnecessary things to this community and to my residential clients..
As @bcopeland mentioned, it also covers excluding old z-wave devices, which can be done from Hubitat even for devices that were paired to another hub. In OP’s case, that could also probably be done with the minimote if it’s still functional, although it’s not really necessary.
