Replacing Devices Without Breaking Rules?

I too, would really like to see this process greatly improved.

Was under the impression that this method would not keep the rules intact but I tested and things seem to work fine. Thanks for the nudge. Had to do a factory reset on a flakey switch and this did the trick. Of course, the key step was to not exclude it first.

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Clone the rule. It lets you substitute devices

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Thanks. This looks like a handy way to eliminate most of the grunt work.

Hoped that I could use this method to switch a device from S0 to S2 but no luck. It will "replace" with the same security protocol, just fyi to whoever.

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We had a power outage the other day due to a thunderstorm and 2 of my 2017 vintage GE switches failed with constant blue light blinking. Fortunately with GE/Jasco's 5 year warranty they are being replaced for free.

To keep my rules and hub mesh in tact (YMMV so be careful and make a backup prior to doing this)

  • I paired the replacement switch and gave it a similar name plus "temp"
  • Then pulled up the old device and new "temp" device in two separate browser tabs.
  • I updated the old device's Device Network Id to the new Device Network Id but don't click Save Device just yet.
  • Then updated the new "temp" switch to the old Device Network Id plus a extra temporary character since this must be unique and saved this device. Take note of this Device ID so you can use it second to last step below.
  • Then save click Save Device on the old device with rules that now has the new ID
  • You can test to ensure that the switch does turn on via commands
  • Then back on the "temp" device that has the old device network ID with the extra character, remove that extra character and Save Device
  • Click Remove Device and force remove
  • In Settings \ Zwave Details, find the old device (it won't have a device listed) and click refresh or repair to make it fail.
  • Click Remove once that button appears and you should be good.
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Thanks. This worked and allowed me to switch the device to S2.

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At this step with the arow should I Remove the temp device?

This step is when you are on the temp device and clicking the Remove button will remove the temp device. You will still need to go back to the zwave settings to remove the "ghost" entry.

perfect. Thanks

will this steps work if I have a unresposive decice, and I wanto re include it and then replace the original entry device at my system?

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.

I did this procedure last week for a switch that after a firmware flash I could not get back in using "replace", someone else had posted it before and I remembered and tried it out. Worked great.

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Done and worked excelent, I just dont have any idea why I did NOT have to do the last step. "Click Remove once that button appears and you should be good"

The old device as is now the hub with the NEW Network ID is controling the newly included device, as spected. And the temp device dose not show any more, since it was delated just afew steps before.

Great, thanks. Works for me.

BUT ONE CAVEAT AND EDIT:
IF you are replacing a device with a NON-IDENTICAL DEVICE, you must also change the driver "Type".

For example, I just used your instructions to replace a EvaLogik Smart Plug with a GE Enbrighten smart plug...and the plug didn't work upon testing. Of course it didn't, because the driver Type was different!

Right before your step that says "You can test...." add:
b-make a note of the drivers for your temp device, and your old device
c-switch the driver types from each device to the other.
d-you may want to also update the "Device Name" to the correct kind of device.
e-Save Device settings.
f-click "Configure at the top of each Device page"

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One additional step, anytime you change the driver you need to click Configure at the top.

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Thanks. Edited.

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Newbie here.
Is this still the best method to replace a device?

I'm setting up a new system and so far had to exclude then re-include a few devices that stopped working properly to get them back online. Having to update all the app-code isnt a pleasant job and easy to miss an occurrence. Is there a way to check and/or find "broken" code when a device has been removed?

Welcome to Hubitat. Functionality has been added to help you with this since the posts above:
https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=Swap_Apps_Device

thanks for that! That could save me!

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