What is the correct procedure to migrate Z-Wave from C5 to C7?

I decided to buy a C7 to upgrade my C5 since my z-wave network hasn't been very reliable.

I upgraded the firmware on the C5, then did a backup/restore onto the C7 in order to maintain the devices and rules. Next, I tried excluding and removing the z-wave devices from the C5.

I was of the understanding that the C7 would recognize a device based on its z-wave address and allow it to be replaced within the devices. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get this to work. Adding a device now has had all sorts of wonky results - as if the process is suffering form a one-off error. Removing and re-adding one of the z-wave thermostats has resulted in child devices that belong to different device!

Is there a proper way to do/fix this?

There is this guide that worked for me many moons ago.

Thanks bobbles, that is in fact the post I was trying to follow. Unfortunately some of it didn't really make sense:
"To move a Z-Wave device, use an external device or the new hub to exclude it from the old hub. DO NOT use the old hub to do this, as this would destroy your automations, that you may want to make reference to. I find either a Minimote or Z-Stick to be a handy way for doing the exclude step, much easier than using the hub to do."

I tried this, but obviously if it wasn't paired to the z-stick or the new hub, there was no way it would accept the exclude command.

Out of necessity, I've had to re-add some of the devices manually as new, after doing a factory reset, and as you can see from the screenshot there are some spectacularly wrong results.

Maybe the add device feature needs to detect when a device is already in the list and give you an option to "replace existing device?"

This is only true for Zigbee, where the MAC address of the device is known to the hub and does not change (the hub assigns a shorter ID on pairing, but the MAC never changes). Z-Wave knows only the node ID (assigned by the hub on pairing--or re-used if you use Replace for a failed node). The trick shared above to swap DNIs, which correspond to Z-Wave node IDs, will work, but nowadays I'd just pair like new and use the Swap Apps Device feature--similar result with less work.

No, a general Z-Wave exclusion will work on any controller for any device, regardless of what network (hub/controller) it may have been joined to in the past. This is different from the node-specific exclusion you get when using "Remove" on the device page.

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The above guide was posted prior to the release of "Swap Apps Device" utility app, which was built to replace the rather tedious process of changing DNIs. The modified guide would be:

  1. Exclude a device from old hub.
  2. Reset the device per its instructions.
  3. Join the device to the new hub and append a "(new)" suffix for the same old name (E.G. if the old device was labeled "Front Door", the newly included device would be "Front Door (new)"
  4. Repeat the process for all Z-Wave devices.
  5. Go to "Settings" and select Swap Apps Device
  6. Select first old device on the left and the new device on the right, then click Swap old device in all apps

  1. Repeat the process for each Z-Wave device.
  2. Remove the old devices.
  3. Remove the "(new)" suffix from the newly added devices.

Same note as the original guide:

  • Some complex Z-Wave devices (those with child devices) will not work with this method.
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