Kiwkset Lock - Zwave to Zigbee Conversion

I just did a conversion on one of my Kwikset locks from standard zwave to Zigbee over lunch. I bought the zigbee card off eBay, and it took about 30 seconds to swap out the zwave one.

While I'm primarily a zwave guy, this may convert me. :slight_smile:

It paired in about 3 seconds (20 ft from hub), and reports status EVERY time the lock status changes manually, by code, or digitally (so far :crossed_fingers:).

Not sure how it will impact battery life yet. - I assume it will be somewhat lower, but we'll see.

Time will tell whether it says reliable on reporting/communication, but The initial experience is VERY positive!

SIDE NOTE - Zigbee locks apparently aren't affected by the bug introduced in 2.0.4 where zwave locks don't report lock code used. Codes are reported correct as-is in 2.0.4 with the zigbee lock.

MORE info please! Which model lock was it? I have two Kwikset 910's and a Kwikset 912. All 3 locks are 3-5 years old so are not zwave plus. I've heard they can be switched over but have never seen a module for one. Link to the module you purchased?

Thanks

Was a 914, but a lot of the Home Connect capable locks use the same modules. The documentation I've seen says the same module should work on: Kwikset 909, 910, 911, 912, 913, 914, 915, 916 - but I can't guarantee that. I only have 914s and 916s.

The Zwave modules are MUCH easier to find. You have to keep on the lookout for Zigbee ones.

This is the seller I bought a few from and can report they worked for me. This person keeps posting additional ones on eBay, so if you need one it may be worth just emailing/messaging them directly if they don't have a current auction up... Hope this is the right link, looks weird.

I had the Kwikset 910 up until recently. This lock should have both radios (mine did at least) so you should be disjoin the zwave side and able to enable the zigbee radio. I initially had the zigbee side on ST, but my battery was draining very quickly and ended up switching to zwave. I never tested the zigbee on HE.

That doesn't sound right.

Out of the 11 Kwikset locks I've owned, none I've had have ever had dual radios. The Zigbee and Zwave modules are 100% different on the PCB even.

But maybe I just never had the same model you have?

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Very interesting. I just went and looked again at my Amazon orders and it clearly says z-wave with no mention of zigbee. How would it know to switch radio's? Do you have a pin to move or something?

Well for a minute there I thought I was losing my mind. I brought up the 910 from Amazon and it said "NO Zigbee"...huh?

I search for my sanity I went to the Kwikset website. Apparently if you buy the zwave model you get just that...zwave.

If you buy the zigbee model...guess what...you get both. See excerpt from online manual

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That doesn't mean you get both.

That just means that when they made the Zigbee version they just combined the inclusion/exclusion instructions... I assume. I admit I never tried pairing Zwave with the Zigbee module - so I could be wrong!

That's not fair! lol

I just tried to remove my 912 from the zwave network and add it to the zigbee (4 button pushes vs 1). Didn't work, it just joined using zwave right away. The good news is that the zwave joining went much better than it did months ago.

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Well you can take my word on it or not...but I've used both. :man_shrugging:...or maybe it was connected with zwave the entire time on ST and I assumed it was zigbee. It was very early in my HA days and I "might" not have known the difference...but I'm 95% sure it was on zigbee. When I get home, I'll take it out of the box and test...for the sake of knowledge.

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I have to do another zwave module replacement this weekend, and another next week. I'll try to remember and test it.

That would be pretty cool (and unnecessarily expensive on their part) if they included both!

If you take it out of the box pop out the module (it is right by the battery) and take a pic of it/get the model # from it. If you have time.

:+1:

Since I have mine sitting in my living room right now, I popped the module out. Yup, clearly says z-wave module right on it.

On the back it has REV 3.8

That is the same module I just replaced with a Zigbee module over lunch.

I should have taken a pic of the new zigbee module... :confused: I will later.

I have another Zigbee module arriving tomorrow... And the picture of the module I'm getting tomorrow looks very different than the one I installed today. At least from a PCB layout standpoint.

Will have to get some detailed pics and try to figure out the difference - if they are different (could just be stock photos/photo error).

This lock has never worked reliable for me. It's always hit or miss when put in place on my basement bulkhead door. Going to have to see about switching it out to zigbee and hopefully have better luck with it.

At least I've learned how to do it from this thread. :grin:

I figured for $55, it was a cheap experiment to see if it improved reliability from the standard zwave module that sometimes misses reporting (although not very often on mine).

Not necessary. I have confirmed the answer. As I was saying, this device OBVIOUSLY doesn't have 2 radios. Anyone saying otherwise is just being silly. I can also confirm that my toes tasted terrible after I pulled my foot out of my mouth.

:disappointed: @JasonJoelOld was right . I tried the quadruple tap and it paired as Zwave. I guess because ST never said "Found Zwave/Zigbee Device" like HE does I assumed back then that it paired as zigbee. In my defense, it was ~ 5 years ago and I've learned at least 2 things since then. Today I learned a 3rd.

isn't sure enough.

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That's too bad. I thought that would have been a pretty darn cool undocumented feature!!!

Yum, toe jam.

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I know this is a Kwikset thread but I just did the exact same for my Yale YRD256 - seems to work better. Get Codes is fast and it just works same with Unlock/Lock... This can't be "secured" like Z-Wave though right?