[Tip of the day] What doesn't exclude, it doesn't include!

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Tip of the day!

Backwards Monday: the Golden Rule to a happy Z-Wave mesh:

what doesn't exclude, it doesn't include

Before attempting to include a Z-Wave device, perform a Z-Wave Exclusion from the Z-Wave Discover Devices page, to make sure the hub can exclude the device (you should see the message "unknown device excluded")

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Also Ive found that many battery power devices work better with incluse/exclusion by first removing the batteries and then inserting and then doing the inclusion/exclusion.. In fact some wouldnt work at all till i did that.

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Very good point and one i wish i thought about yesterday, before i eventually did. I also forgot that z-wave devices don't allow joint though them, as that hub only has z-wave devices i was getting very frustrated as to why it wouldn't work when the mesh was good. Once i brought the hub closer it worked 1st time, then repairs and all good :slight_smile:

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Thinking this through it seems like:

  1. A device at one time was included with a Hub.
  2. It will believe it is included in some Hub until told different. It doesn't seem to matter which hub.
  3. One can use any hub or S2 stick to tell the device it is now excluded from any hub(s).
  4. This device will now be happy to be included into a new hub.

Am I close?

John

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Close :slight_smile:

The tip is more about avoiding creating ghosts. Excluding first from Hubitat (not using other means) is a good practice to ensure that device is within range, and can be excluded if a partial inclusion happens, without force removing the device and creating a bunch of ghosts that can have negative impact on the mesh performance.

Note: you can successfully exclude a device even if it isn't associated with a controller.

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Don't mean to drag this on but.

Does your statement suggests a device that has never been included in a hub would have its "inclusion" parameter "not set" and "re"excluding will simple make that same parameter "not set" (so the "extra" exclusion really does nothing)?

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My C4 hub is still on platform 2.2.2.126 - it appears this won't work for my hub and platform.

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This is general z-wave exclusion. It has always been available as it's a function of the z-wave controller. What Bobby is showing is available from Discover Devices. You get feedback from there, but you can also do the exclusion from the Z-Wave Details. Watch the log in another tab to get feedback of what's happening when you perform a general exclusion from there.

https://docs.hubitat.com/index.php?title=How_to_remove_a_Z-Wave_device

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Sure does - just needed to watch the log entries. Thanks for explaining that.

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