Zooz Zen58 (or maybe Zen57) Relay: Is this a smaller replacement for the Zen51 or not?

Is the new Zen58 Relay a replacement for the Zen51? I kind of think it is not, but wanted to ask the experts here.
The product page at

states:
** Dry Contact On/off Z-Wave control for 0-240V loads up to 3A*
** Low Voltage power: this relay runs on a 9-40V power supply*
The above make me think I cannot power it off of line voltage, nor can I power it off of Panasonic Whisper Comfort FV-04 ERV control wiring voltage, as that is reported as 100v.

Am I properly understanding this device?

Per the discussion here: Control Panasonic ERV?
(that is now closed so I have to start a new thread) I was able to automate both the standby/on and hi/low controls on a Panasonic Whisper Comfort FV-04 spot ERV. Works great.

I have another Panasonic Whisper Comfort FV-04 spot ERV in another part of the house that runs 24/7 on high. Ideally, this thing should not run when noone is home for several days, but I often forget to turn it off when leaving for a trip, and sometimes forget to turn it back on upon return. So I want to automate only the standby/on switch.

In the above referenced thread, we established that:

  • Panasonic tech support stated the control wiring on this thing would need a dry contact, and that the control wiring runs at approx 100v (not 110/120).
  • The Zen 51 can be used to automate it. Per The Smartest House: "The ZEN51 needs 120VAC to be powered on L and N pigtails, so you would need to power up ZEN51 from [the light switch also in that box but on a different circuit]. Then IN and OUT pigtails is a dry contact relay. Totally isolated from L and N pigtails."

There are 2 new ones -- the Z58 you linked is the low-voltage model.

Even the other (Z57) is still different from the Z51 -- as one example, Zooz explicitly says the Z57 is not for use with fans.

In reality, both of these new models are really geared to use behind (dumb) light switches, as they are significantly smaller than the Z51 and the built-in pigtails are specifically intended for switch use.

I expect Zooz will eventually create a "What's the difference betw/ the old and new models?" kinda guide, but for now, you just have to do your own careful capabilities comparison.

I am torn on the terminal strip of the new module vs pigtail of the prior gen. With four solid AWG14 or sometimes AWG12 wires into the terminal block that puts a lot of stress on the module and then can be difficult to shoehorn into the box with other wire clutter. Pigtails added even more wire (and more wire nuts) but it buffered the stress on the module due to the stranded wire pigtails. Smaller is always better but the new one doesn't seem massively smaller.

I'll willing to buy a couple and give them a go.

Hubitat didnt waste anytime with adding support for both :rofl:

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I ordered a Zen58. If it does what I think it will, it will replace the Zen16 in the garage for signaling the Garage door motor to operate.

Yes it can do exactly that. It has two garage door mode settings but you really don’t need them, you can also just set a 2 second auto off. You could connect the input to one of the old style basic buttons or use it to connect a wired contact sensor (just like ZEN16). Not sure if the system driver supports all that or not, but the device can do it.

The photos do not do justice of how small this thing is. Hopefully the zwave antenna does not suffer from the size.

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When I saw it, I though that will fit at the terminal block under the lights cover. Where as the Zen16 is hanging from a bent paper clip off the supporting steel. If it works, it will really clean up the look of things.

I've been waiting for this to arrive. The folks at Zooz were kind enough to give me a heads up about it a few weeks ago to spare me having to run new wiring to power a Zen17 for a doorbell

Now I'm wondering if I might also be able to use this to flash the lights if the landline phone is ringing.

Anyone able to help me out with wiring a Zen58 into this doorbell charm?

I like how the colors are reversed when it goes from one wire to the other for extra confusion.

I am guessing you just want to know if the doorbell button is pushed?

You need to figure out which wire goes to bell and which one is hot, disconnect both and check with a meter. You also need to know which hot line is + and which is -, you can tell with a meter or check how they are connected to the transformer, probably on the side of the electrical panel.

  • Then connect the hot feed to DC+ and - on the ZEN57, probably with wire nuts (or wagos) and leaders with an additional pig tail on each for the following steps.

  • Connect brown and yellow to the wire going to the bell button, does not matter which is which really.

  • Then on the ZEN58 connect a second line from the DC+ feed to the IN, and connect the OUT side to whatever terminal had the DC+ wired to it originally. Then on the other terminal on the chime connect that back to the DC- feed.

I will see if I can make a diagram quick.


UPDATE

I think this would work?

When you push button it should trip the relay. I think you would want the input type to be the toggle mode option 3 so when button is pressed relay is on and when let go relay shuts down. You could probably also do it as a momentary with an auto off of 3-4 seconds so if people just tap the button it will still kick the relay on for a few seconds and do a full chime.

I'm a little confused with these two new devices.
Question:
I have a simple light switch which controls a chandelier.
Can I use this Zen57 or Zen 58 in the wiring box, connecting to the line/load/neutral wires, and out to a simple dumb decora switch?

Yes same as you could with a ZEN51 but this one is a small profile (slightly thicker though). You would want the ZEN57 so it is powered by 120v.

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Zooz would be wise to get up a bunch of additional wiring diagrams for these things (GDOs, doorbells, gates, etc) -- I'm surprised they didn't have anything but the switch wiring available at launch :person_shrugging:

B2 and W1, separate those two and the light on the bell goes out.

Just to clarify, connect the brown AND the yellow, but polarity doesn't matter, correct?

Thanks for the quick reply. I'd like to get this sorted as it's a 90 minute round trip in a week to fart around with it again.

That does not tell you which wire pair is the hot feed, you would need a multi-meter to check ohms and/or DC voltage.

Yes brown and yellow go to the button and polarity should not matter AFAIK. In fact I am not even sure what voltage it sends there, it might not be enough to light up the button. (Just tested mine connected to 12V and the input lead are 5v DC).

With the current Hubitat built-in driver, the switch leads appear as a button controller, not a normal open/closed type of contact. It will register Pushed, Released, Held and Double tapped on Button 1. A firmware update would probably allow that to be changed to the way the ZEN17 works, if they were so inclined to position the product that way. I would definitely make use of it.

@SteveZed that is possibly due to the driver lacking support for the full features of the device. I have a sample device and already coded a driver for another product where you can separate the input from the output and it works just like a ZEN17 (or newer ZEN16).

Hubitat will be coming and I can prioritize it if Hubitat is not going to support the full features.

Having looked at the list of advanced settings for the ZEN58, it does appear to have identical functionality to the ZEN17 in its ability to use the switch leads as a dry contact sensor. However, when setting it as such (Parameter 5 = 10) with the Basic ZWave tool and reincluding it, the current driver does not create a child device for the sensor. I guess this will need to wait until their advanced driver comes out. Are you going to include these devices in your Zooz Advanced Relay driver?

Yes that is the plan.

@bertabcd1234 do you know if Hubitat plans to supports the advanced features (like zen17) or just the basic relay stuff (similar to a zen51)?

Not sure; that's a Bryan driver. If there's demand, one of us can add something, though!