I have 4 GE zwave switches that are in plenty of rules, and zwave+ replacement switches ready to go. What's a good strategy for the replacement? I was planning to:
Sounds ok?
I usually
It may not be a big deal but I didn't want other devices to switch to using that new switch as a repeater before I moved it into place
I would personally just exclude an old switch then replace with new, pair then edit the rules etc. Next switch. But I'm not you. I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with what you have other than the pair-in-place suggestions. If you have enough Zwave devices, either way should work well.
@aaiyar Here is what I have done in the past.
@aaiyar I would do it the way you described. I’m worried that removing the switch from the hub will break the rule and make it uneditable. I’ve had this happen in the past and now always pair the new device and swap it with the old one in all of the rules before removing the old device. In your case, if not using the switch for anything else, couldn’t you just swap out the switches in place and then force remove and do a z-wave repair after changing the rules? I have done this with a couple old z-wave dimmers that I replaced with plus versions. It’s what happens if a switch dies.
Agree. Same reason. This is why I’m leery of adding too many Z-Wave devices to my network. Other than my door lock, all the Z-Wave devices I have added are unavailable in a Zigbee version.
Light switches and dimmers are still limited, but they do exist. I just ordered a Sinope Zigbee dimmer to try out as a example.
@Ken_Fraleigh @SmartHomePrimer Are we all saying the same thing here or am I missing something?
This should only take half an hour. Let us know when you are done. 
Thanks all! I'm going to go with @razorwing/@Ken_Fraleigh/@SmartHomePrimer because that's the most convenient for my lazy â– â– â– 
As for this son-of-a-gun. I got the new switches unboxed. Why don't come on over and take care of the rest of it? I'll just step out to my local for a couple brewskis.
Sadist. 
Love to! I have a bunch of electrical wiring to do next week, adding lighting to some small closets. It shouldn't take much time so could fit that in.
Half an hour since you’re replacing your own installed smart switches, not trying to make since of some jacked up wiring job the previous homeowners did when they installed dimmer switches and thought they were “handy”.
This is of course assuming the brewskies come after the work is done
So that went very smoothly. I made myself a little doo-hickey with an old bit of appliance cord and a couple spade terminals that made the inclusion/exclusion go quickly. Wish I'd made one a long time ago.
So do you just connect hot and neutral with nothing connected to load?
Yup. Just for pairing/unpairing ....
I may do that. I was corresponding with Bobby earlier today about a GE Z-Wave toggle switch that I removed a few days ago - I was not able to get it to exclude and I was in a hurry to get the Lutron dimmer installed. He led me to believe there might be some bad consequences by not excluding it. It sounds like it will eventually clean up the mesh but I don't want to take chances if I can avoid them.
That seems to have done it. I made a similar cord and was able to bring the whole assembly to my office where it could be within a few feet of the hub. The log showed "Unknown Z-Wave device excluded" and I didn't zap myself.
In my Old ST days (sigh) There was an option to replace a device. Why does this not exist in HE yet?
Would also be nice, if you could bulk change a device to a Virtual device and then move back so all the rules don't break.
I feel that I am going to be replacing a switch pretty soon that has failed, and I am not looking forward to it.
Download the Hubitat app
