I attempted to transition from Lowes IRIS to Samsung Smartthings. I have 2 Lowes IRIS z-wave thermostats (CT-101 I belive) and setting up automation to change temperatures each day was very cumbersome. In addition the automation sometimes does not run with no alerts or warnings. I am considering returning the SmartThings hub for Hubitat but want to ensure I can automate these 2 thermostats. Does anyone have experience with these? or will I need to get new thermostats?
Sure you can, we have thermostat scheduler app and the ct101 works, I have one.
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Good to hear about your success with the CT-101. When I migrated over from the IRIS hub last earlier this week, the Hubitat hub found the CT-101 but would not initialize. No idea how the radio wave technology works and I'm assuming I'm doing the process incorrectly. Any help will be appreciated. Have a nice day.
The CT101 works. I have one in my basement which I reconnected to Hubitat a few days ago. If your CT101 is not connecting, chances are it still thinks it's connected to Iris. This can even occur after you properly remove the device from Iris.
To fix that condition, you first need to put the hub into Z-Wave Exclusion (settings -> Z-Wave Details). Then on the CT101, press menu, then press the antenna icon. The "Mate" indicator should flash and with any luck the thermostat will clear its former association with Iris in a few seconds.
Try the pairing steps again after completing Exclusion.
Good luck!
Does your CT-101 update it's thermostatOperatingState correctly? I had to create a rule to refresh every 30 seconds as I use the thermostatOperatingState (heating, cooling) to drive fans in my house.
I transitioned from Iris also. I was able to exclude 5 CT101 thermostats and successfully add them to Hubitat. The exclude sometimes took a few tries and I would suggest resetting the thermostat after each exclude session by holding down the rest button for a few seconds.
The to include it again, put the hub in discovery mode then hit menu button then mate twice on the display.
The thermostat scheduler seems to work much better on habitat than it was working on Iris.
Greg
Would someone mind making a video of the exclusion? I've tried a dozen times and can't get it to exclude. The Iris Hub couldn't get it done and asked me to force exclude it, which I did. But the thermostat doesn't seem to agree. Naturally it won't pair either.
Thanks in advance.
It might help to think of the ZWave Join in three components: 1) The hub itself has a Database of devices that it knows about. You can see a lot of what it knows on a hub's device info page, be it Iris, SmartThings or Hubitat. 2) The ZWave radio 'stick'* has it's own Database of Node IDs in use and routing info, along with the NodeIDs that are in use. 3) The device itself has tiny processor and memory and it stores the HomeNetwork Number as well as it's assigned NodeID. There's a few slots for routing info and then some memory slots for Parameters, which include 'Lifeline Association' and usually several more Associations.
An Exclude wants to clear all three!! The hub gets placed into Exclude and then you 'do the dance' the manufacturer has prescribed for us. 3 clicks up, Air Gap and press up and then push in the air gap, Click 10 times in 3 seconds while standing on one foot, facing east. The 'dance' causes the physical device say "OH... ME, I want to be excluded" so that the controller knows. It can't just exclude the next device it hears, because someone opening a door or window would cause THAT to be excluded.
The Hub then tells the Device "OK, clear your self." And then tells the 'stick' to clear that NodeID from the DB. And finally, it clears that NodeID from the Hub's DB too.
But what if the physical device died? There has to be a way to clear the Hub and the 'stick' even when the device is never coming back.. that's called a force remove. No attempt is made to ask the physical to clear it's memory. As far as the physical device is concerned, it's Joined.
The cure for THAT is to use what's called General Exclude or in some cases a Factory Reset. All ZWave Controllers will perform a General Exclude. And Hubitat is no exception. Begin by right clicking on the Log menu item and selecting Open in new Tab. It will be blank, no surprise. Go back to the previous tab and navigate to Settings:ZWave Details and you'll see the Exclude button at the top. You will still need to know the details of the 'dance', but click the Exclude button and then watch the Live Logs page while you do the 'dance.' The Logs will say: "Unknown Device Excluded" when successful. If not, check your 'dance instructions' and try again. Only when the success message is shown is the device ready to Join.
- 'stick' the Hubitat C-4 Hubs have external ZWave and Zigbee radios in a USB stick, while the C-5 has them built in. However, either way, they are tiny processors with memory that run their own firmware.
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CSteele, thanks for editing the post to include helpful information and deleting what you'd originally written. I appreciate the attention to detail and the background. I'll give it a shot when I return home tonight.
This response was written to the original message which is no longer posted:
Apologies if those of us migrating from Iris have inconveniently hijacked a zigbee thread to get our thermostats working with Hubitat. I've read everything I could find about this in this forum and still can't get it working. Gotta be honest, this isn't the type of response I would expect from the developer of a new platform in a help forum. All other responses have been helpful, thoughtful, and appreciated. This one, not so much.
Then start your own thread on the exact exclude issues you’re having, exactly what you tried, etc.
I honestly don’t think the response you got was not good, in fact they provides good information, csteele just didn’t give you an “easy button” solution you wanted.
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That's not what he posted originally. He edited it (you can tell by the little pencil next to the post). He originally posted that this was a Zigbee thread and had been hijacked by z wave discussion and that his head was bleeding from banging his head over this. The current response above is exactly what I would hope a developer would write and I thank him for the helpful, thoughtful response.
Here was the original message:
I wrote a ton about ZWAVE and this is a Zigbee thread 
{my forehead is sore now.}
@csteele is a developer "ON" this platform and an avid community contributor, but not a developer of "THE" platform...
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Good to know, thank you for the clarification. The response I wrote was not in reference to what is posted now. His current response is extremely helpful and much appreciated.
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My "original" response is the one currently posted. Then, for some unknown reason, I decided that THIS was an Iris thread and therefore MUST be about Zigbee. So I "removed" the post, leaving an explanation, and then smacking myself (palm to forehead).
THEN, I read it all again and (smacking forehead a 2nd time) realized that a Iris Thermostat is ZWave. What a bonehead, I said to myself, and put back the original.
My words were all about myself, nothing to do with anyone else in this thread. Probably should have simply deleted the post.
Anyway, it's back to what I originally posted before I completely tangled up my feet.
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I'd hate to be your forehead. 
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Some days I hate being my forehead too. 
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