Problem Pairing Older Leviton Dimmers (VRI06) with C8

[jphare]

I have searched all over (Google and the forums here), but I don't have a definitive answer.

I'm at the end of my rope and need advice.

I received my shiny new Hubitat C8 today to replace my older Vera.

I have unpaired all my Leviton devices from the Vera, and performed factory resets on them.

I am following the inclusion instructions for the Hubitat, however, nothing pairs with it. I've tried several switches/dimmers; no luck

I found a thread that suggested that older Z-Wave devices do not work with the C8. Is there any truth to this? (Seems doubtful to me that you wouldn't support older Z-wave devices.)

If not, can you provide any thoughts on why my dimmer switch won't pair? In the past, I had to have the Vera controller near the device. I didn't think that was the case for the Hubitat. It is currently about 15 feet from the device I'm trying to pair.

Thoughts?

JP Hare
jphare@gmail.com

[woodsby]

Deleted then edited: I loved these dimmers when I had them. I can’t offer much help other than searching the forum.

Pairing older Leviton Devices

I am having trouble trying to pair older Leviton devices with my new Hubitat C8. The switches were previously paired with a Vera and worked fine for years. They continue to function as switches – I just can’t pair them to the Hubitat and thus control them. To date, here is what I have done: Exclude devices in question from the old Vera hub. Powered off the Vera hub to minimize any chance of unexpected z-wave interactions. Excluded the devices using the Hubitat as well Focused on a…

[aaiyar]

What model numbers? Did you check the Device Compatibility List?

Some older 100-series and 300-series z-wave devices will not pair with an 800-series Z-wave radio. This is an inherent limitation in the 800-series z-wave radio. Progress does mean that some things get left behind.

[gta]

@aaiyar

What model numbers? Did you check the Device Compatibility List?

Some older 100-series and 300-series z-wave devices will not pair with an 800-series Z-wave radio. This is an inherent limitation in the 800-series z-wave radio. Progress does mean that some things get left behind.

I've seen the same thing with VRI06 dimmers failing to pair with the C8 (while any that were migrated from the C7 are working fine with the C8),. A slightly newer VRMX1 does pair just fine with the C8.

Do you have any reference for the "inherent limitation in the 800-series z-wave radio"? I've seen some speculation but nothing very concrete so I'm curious to know more. Both of these devices are still on the compatibility list. I do certainly find it believable that it could be related to the 800-series radio, but it would be nice to hear it from Hubitat (and I don't mean to imply any criticism of them here - I'd bet if this is a radio limitation it may be news to them as well).

[aaiyar]

@gta

Do you have any reference for the "inherent limitation in the 800-series z-wave radio"?

Yes, I had issues pairing 100-series devices to ZWaveJS under Home Assistant when I used an 800-series z-wave HAT. And there were a couple others on the HA community who reported similar issues, albeit with different 100-series devices.

There is actually a simple way around this:

1. Pair a 300/500-series secondary controller to your C-8. Even something like an Aeotec Minimote works for this purpose.
2. Pair your 100-series devices to the C-8 using the secondary controller.

[fisher.omega]

I have the old Leviton switches from about 8 years ago. I do know they do function well on the C-8 Pro. They paired okay when I was installing them in my new house, but they have been problematic. They seem to make my Zwave network break periodically and they don't function with automations all the time. I am trying to hold out replacing as many of them as I can until the Inovelli mmWave are released. All my other switches have been replaced to Inovelli's 2-1 switches and have been working nicely.

[gta]

@fisher.omega

I have the old Leviton switches from about 8 years ago. I do know they do function well on the C-8 Pro. They paired okay when I was installing them in my new house, but they have been problematic. They seem to make my Zwave network break periodically and they don't function with automations all the time.

Do you know which old Leviton switches you are using? My experience is the oldest (eg VRI06, 100-series zwave) can't successfully pair but do work fine if migrated from C7->C8, while the less-old ones such as VRMX1 (300-series zwave) pair and work completely successfully for me.

Also worth noting, these work way better with the "Leviton DZ6HD Z-Wave Dimmer" driver rather than the default generic one. This way you get the instant status updates rather than needing to poll.

[gta]

@aaiyar

There is actually a simple way around this:

1. Pair a 300/500-series secondary controller to your C-8. Even something like an Aeotec Minimote works for this purpose.
2. Pair your 100-series devices to the C-8 using the secondary controller

I did actually try this at the time using my UZB stick and PC controller but got into all kinds of mess with incomplete pairings and ghosts. I gave up and left it alone for a while (ghosts and all). I was able to clean it all up after the hubitat update which fixed zwave cloud backups - I have no way to know if it was related, but it seemed like inclusion/exclusion and interaction with PC Controller became way more stable. Maybe it's worth my trying again to pair one of these old dimmers via PC Controller.

[domotiquego]

I am currently in the process of transferring my devices from Vera Edge to C8 pro. I have several Leviton VRI06 dimmers and VRCZ4-MO 4 buttons controllers. From Vera, i unpaired all my devices, deleted them and power off all of them. Disconnected the Vera and now I'm trying to include my devices in Hubitat.

I thing I'm going through the same problems, Dimmers will not pair.

Have you had any luck so far? Any tricks from you or the community will be highly apprecicated.

Thanks!

[jphare]

I had to pull the rip cord and return my C8, and bought a C7 instead. Thats not a good solution, but it was easiest for me.