Smart?

[Bill15]

Hi all,

Okay, I give up! What is the difference between Device Types Generic Z-Wave Switch and a Generic Z-Wave Smart Switch or between a Generic Z-Wave Dimmer and a Generic Z-Wave Smart Dimmer? I thought all Z-Wave Switches and Dimmers were Smart.

[ogiewon]

The versions with "Smart" in their name are designed to be used with "Z-Wave Plus" devices. Those without "Smart" in their name are for the older, legacy "Z-Wave" devices.

[bertabcd1234]

Rather than remembering it yourself, you can either:

1. Trust that the driver it found on pairing is the correct one, if one was found (this normally happens, though sometimes devices have different "fingerprints" than the one staff had when the driver was written, or things like firmware updates change it, or newer/similar hardware works with the driver but wasn't directly tested with it and also won't match) ... so this can indeed be something to worry about sometimes; or
2. Consult the Compatible Device List to see what driver Hubitat recommends for your device (and that it should have paired with).

But to answer your question, the "Smart" in the name are ones that shouldn't require polling, i.e., that report their state back to the hub when changed physically. This includes most Z-Wave Plus devices (though many of those have their own driver or use the generic "Plus" driver) but also a small number of classic devices that licensed this patent -- this being the reason so many of these old devices have this issue in the first place.