When I first got my HE hub I had all sorts of trouble pairing Z-wave sensors so I set it aside for awhile. Hubitat has come a long way so I figured it was time to try again. I even bought a new C5 hub since mine was one of the first one's they made. I still have it and I have some WiFi things paired to it. Works like a champ.
However, I have had less luck with Zwave. I bought two new GE Zwave switches and a new Ecolink PIR motion sensor, and new Ecolink window/door sensor. I have dozens of these working like gang busters on ST so I figured I would stay with the formula that worked. No such luck.
I spent several hours tonight trying to pair them. I got one Z-Wave switch paired but not the other. The motion sensor paired fine too but not the door sensor. I excluded it and tried again - no cigar. I rebooted hub... updated hub... repaired Zwave mesh, generic unpaired all sensors and tried again. Same result - couldn't get all four paired for anything. I tried real hard, using all the skills and tricks I have learned over the last 5 years twiddling with HA to make this work but just couldn't. I finally gave up and 10 minutes later I had all four paired on ST... sorry guys...
The location of the physical device installs is very close to my new C5 hub and there are not thick walls involved. And my ST hub is all the way on the other side of the house so I was shocked it worked so quickly and so well. It may be a mesh issue but I just don't know.
I really wanted to switch everything over to the two HE hubs that I have but with over 150 zwave devices I can't imagine slogging through this pairing experience that many times. Is it possible that there is just a problem with the GE zwave devices and Ecolink? Is there some setting or option I need to enable to make the Zwave device recognition more robust?
I've also been experiencing issues with adding new Z-Waves devices to HE lately, but not sure if it's the same issues as Kewashi.
For me I had my HE hub for almost two months now, and I've moved all my ST devices over to HE and added new ones too. As of right now, just for Z-Waves devices I have around 62 of them. I have been removing (excluding) older non-plus devices and replacing them with newer Plus devices.
In the last three weeks is when I started noticing issues when trying to add a new Z-Wave device.
On the new Z-wave device I would fist start an Exclusion and it would say "Unknown device removed". Then I would click on Devices Tab again, to close out of that process. The I would go back into Devices > Z-Wave > Inclusion, then I would start the "Inclusion" it would see a device but it would just hang on the "Initializing" and never finish, even waiting an hour.
I would back out of the process, and then do an Exclusion again and it would say "Unknown device removed". I would then close the HE app and go back and start the Inclusion process over again, but would get the same results again. I would then close the app and restart my phone, then I would go into setting in HE and do a reboot on the hub.
After the hub got finished from the reboot, I would then start the process all over again. Usually around the third or fourth time of closing the app and restarting the Inclusion process it would then go into Initializing for about 2 minutes and then finish up.
I have had to do this with 7 of the last 9 Z-Wave devices I have added to my HE hub. As they say a royal PITA. Really not looking forward to adding any more Z-Wave devices unless I have to.
Also I would have the device about 10 feet away from the hub during the Inclusion & Exclusion process. Once it would finish the Initializing, I would install the devices where it would mounted and start a Z-Wave "Repair Network". So I know the distance from the device to the hub during the Inclusion process was never an issue.
@BorrisTheCat
Here is what is listed for my Z-Wave Details, not sure if that is set correctly?
On a side note, I have also noticed now when I do a Z-Wave "Repair Network". Every Z-Wave device keeps having the term " Setting SUC Route" listed during the repair.
It have never had that listed before, this is all started about two weeks ago?
This replicates my experience exactly... and yes, I do one at a time and they are simple zwave plus devices. The dimmer switches are wired into the junction box so pairing them 10 feet away isn't really an option. Anyway, until Hubitat improves this process I won't be moving my devices over.
Zwave pairing in Hubitat has gotten much worse over the last 6 months for me. Luckily, I'm only adding a few devices here and there at this point as I have everything else paired, so I don't mind doing the multiple try/reboot dance to get it done.
But when I started with Hubitat and had to pair 60+ devices, I definitely did not have to do any of the gyrations I have to do now to add a zwave device. Almost every time it either:
finds nothing (and never will until hub is rebooted - sometimes multiple times - and retry the pairing)
finds it and never gets off initializing (for me that is rare, #1 happens almost every time though)
This is on 2 different hubs... One with a lot of zwave devices, one with ~5. Same behavior.
Man, you have described exactly my experience. Tagging a few of the HE and community gurus to see if they can shed any light on this issue. Perhaps we are just missing something. I would even be good knowing what products to buy that pair more easily since mine are getting long in the tooth anyway - I probably need to do a tech refresh. Tag: @bravenel@mike.maxwell@ogiewon@stephack@cwwilson08
My dream is to move over to Hubitat completely since once paired the experience is far superior and my HousePanel works so much better on this hub, but I just can't jump over the pairing hurdle...
Ken - to be honest, I have never been too fond of Z-Wave. I used to have a bunch of GE/Jasco Z-Wave (not the newer plus models) switches and dimmers scattered throughout my house. They worked - most of the time. They liked to become unresponsive from time to time, maybe a bout 1 switch every 2-3 months, requiring them to be re-paired. I was able to get them all paired to my Hubitat hub without too much difficulty...however they were just never 'great' performing/reliable devices.
I then discovered what everyone was talking about with respect to Lutron ClearConnect devices. I have now replaced almost every single wall switch in my home with Caseta switches, dimmers, fan controllers, and pico remotes. I am blown away at just how robust and reliable these devices are. And, with Hubitat LAN-based local integration, everything "just works" the way it is supposed to. I also like that these Lutron Caseta devices have native integration with Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple Homekit, Logitech Harmony, and even SmartThings. I find it somewhat reassuring that my investment in a dedicated Lutron lighting system will be useful for many, many frustration-free years to come.
My system is now down to just one Z-Wave Aeon HEM v1 energy meter used to monitor my washer and dryer and send notifications. I do also have ~6 Iris 3210-L outlets that are Z-Wave Plus repeaters...just in case I ever have a requirement that only a Z-Wave solution can fulfill. Otherwise, I am loving my Zigbee devices (Sengled bulbs, Iris v2 Motion sensors, SmartThings and Iris v2 contact sensors, Iris v2 water/leak sensors, etc...)
I will say that trying to Z-Wave Exclude my old GE Z-Wave switches and dimmers did require me to move them into the same room as my Hubitat Hub. Otherwise, they would never exclude, and I did not want to force-remove these devices as their remnants might be left behind on the Z-Wave radio/stick. I also wanted them to be ready to be paired if I decide to sell them to another user.
In order for me to setup my Z-wave wall dimmers with in the same room with the HE hub. I have a 3-wire power cord that came off an old fan that I wired to my Z-wave dimmers and plug it into an outlet in the same room as the hub. After they get setup in HE I then remove the fan power cord from the dimmer and wire the dimmer up in the junction box in the room it's going to.
My view is pretty much what @ogiewon described. Unluckily/Luckily for me when I moved a few years ago, my new home did not have neutral wiring at the light switches. This pushed my hand to invest in Caseta before I had my HE hub. The Lutron integration was THE primary reason I bought this hub and it has not disappointed in the least with regard to that.
Shortly after moving in to my new home we renovated the master bath and I installed one of my old GE zwave switches there...the experience was not great and I ultimately bought a zwave plus switch that has been very solid. However, my other zwave devices like motion sensors locks and garage controllers were quite a pain to get going. I have added a bunch of repeaters and they have settled in nicely but I do not plan on purchasing any more zwave devices unless there is no other option. For instance, I plan to purchase zigbee locks as soon the price drops and more importantly, as soon as HE brings their lock code functionality on par with the zwave version. Zigbee has just been a more reliable and responsive platform for my wireless sensors. For switches...get Lutron...get happy. They just work.
@kewashi. I have not had to pair any zwave devices in awhile. It was my experience I was doing the dance of exclude include more than I like. Everything has been rock solid since inclusion. Including my two zwave locks and thermostat.
I will echo nthe impressiveness of the lutron integration. It is sweet. I could see it be costly to replace 150 devices though.
I would suggest using the hubconnect app and slowly start moving things over and be patient.
There are those on the community who swear by the aeotec zwave range extenders. There are several threads around that discuss them. I believe @waynespringer79 could speak better to this.
I have 3 of the Aetoec devices joined to my hub and do not regret getting these. I actually have one right next to the hub and I think this one made the biggest difference. The nice thing about these devices is that they repeat and amplify the signal compared to just repeating by mains powered devices.
Going back to when I started, I think the first 3 or 4 z-wave devices were probably the hardest to join. After that, it became smoother and more straight forward. I didn’t have the Aeotecs at that point. I have 22 z-wave devices (mostly switches and a few outlets) left, however, I am in the process of migrating these to Lutron switches. I can only repeat what everyone says, the Lutron ClearConnect is just superior.
My z-wave mesh has been pretty solid in this setup, just “mass commands” (as in good night routines) can make it slow to react here and there
Thanks everyone for all the great advice and suggestions. I am so grateful for this community. Looks like Caseta is in my future. And @bravenel thanks for the tip about the conflicting ST radio. I hadn’t considered that. The aeon repeater is also a great tip. Will explore and come back to the community with results. Thanks again so much.
I had the same issue when migrating from ST. After about an hour I disabled the Z-Wave radio on ST and my problems went away. My thinking at the time was that the ST radio is probably stronger and blocking HE. I don't know if that was it, but it worked.
Will agree totally. By far the best investment I've made to my zwave mesh, and surprisingly assume it would be a waste. By adding these now my zwave radio operates (signal strength/distance) almost identical to that of Smartthings and Vera.
Hi all. Thought I would report back. I installed two of the Aeotech repeaters and tried again. Oh my goodness what a difference. Everything paired almost immediately. I have my basement now converted over to Hubitat. Will let it soak for awhile before expanding upstairs. Thanks all for the tip. By the way I didn’t have to unplug the ST hub. The repeaters on their own made a big enough difference to make everything work.
