Vizia rf+ VRCS2-MR 2-Button Controller

I’ve certainly done pairings away from the hub, but it depends on the version of protocol that the device uses.

I believe I read something that @urman had mentioned about older protocol versions being required to be very close to the hub. He had said that it was previously seen as a security feature. Not knowing anything about these devices and what version they may have, I’m really just guessing at this point. If it were me, I wouldn’t go assuming that for these until all other options had failed.

So, there were enough positive results listed that I went for it. I used @david_daniel_cox most recently listed method first, not moving my hub. I had very bad results where it kind of connected once (the remote) but then nothing else ever really happened. I struggled for about an hour with this, trying to exclude it and readd it, and never even saw it again or had a successful unpairing of whatever ghost remote initially reported found.

I caved and moved my hub to about 5ft from the install site of the switch. I happen to have ran CAT6 in many of the rooms in my house so this wasn’t a huge issue for me. I didn’t attempt trying to find the range of this pairing as I had already wasted enough time and just went for right next to it basically. After doing this, I was able to get everything working based on his method. I did pair 2 remotes (didn’t configure) based on someone else’s suggestion though. One of the local buttons then failed to work, but worked remtoely. I then just removed the local button device only (maybe also excluded it) and then readded it and everything works fine for the most part now.

The only thing that’s a little wonky that I’ve found is a local press doesn’t seem to update the status in the app. Manually selecting refresh does update the status though. Might be worth making a customized device type that polls every couple minutes automatically. Anyone else see this?

(I did move the hub back to it’s home and the switch still works fine)

So to report back after a few days, this is still working pretty fine. I wish the LEDs were blue to match other switches in the area, but it’s not a huge deal.

The only thing that’s a little odd is the top button, only occationally, when off and locally pressed to on, enabling the LED, and then remotely turning it off via the app, doesn’t turn the LED off. The bottom button works fine. Going back and hitting the top button locally, JUST turns off the LED, and doesn’t turn off the load (since it is already off, it doesn’t toggle it back on). Then hitting it again, turns on the LED and turns on the load and it’s back in sync. I don’t really understand it, and it’s still not a huge deal as the only thing that is “broken” is the LED feedback at the device itself.

Just thought I’d mention that, and curious if anyone else has seen this? @david_daniel_cox ?

My LEDs do the right thing, though I do have lingering troubles where the hub gets out of sync with the state of the switches (i.e. it won’t turn on the light because it thinks the light is already on). Sort of frustrating that so much tinkering is required to enable even the most basic and obvious of interactions (e.g. motion detector -> light turns on). Overall, Z-Wave, SmartThings etc. are, and continue to be a giant bag-of-hurt. YMMV.

It’s ironic that Smart Things supposedly has a partnership with Leviton and yet these switches still don’t work flawlessly.
As an FYI, if the lights do get out of sync you can hit the refresh button in the app and that usually fixes things for the moment. It is a pain.

I am able to get the z-wave remote to join and the top button but am having a hard time getting the second button to be included. With just the top button added. I can see the states change when pressing the button. They are also indicating backwards from what is physically happening. The commands from the ST app do not control what I have connected to the top button. This is frustrating.

Doesn’t sound like you are paired correctly. Probably have to start over.

Would you mind just attempting something for me? Turn on the top switch locally by pressing the top button. The LED turns on as it should, as does the switch. Then turn off the item through the app. For me, now reproducible on a second device, the LED remains on (on the top button only). If I press the top button again, the LED turns off, and does not change the state of the unit on the switch. Functionally things are fine, and the app maintains the correct state (using the Pollster SmartApp), but the local LED is wrong if this sequence of actions occurs. The fact that I have it happening on a second device now, makes it feel like more than a coincidence.

Yeah, I can reproduce your LED out-of-sync issue by following your steps. I wonder if any of this stuff will ever get fixed. Now that they’re part of Samsung, they ostensibly have more resources, though in practice they may all be in rest-and-vest mode and the whole thing may remain its current hot-mess state.

Alright, thanks for checking. You saved me several hours of trying to get them to work by pairing over and over again until they do. Other than this though, they really work pretty fine for me. Nothing else to complain about really.

I wouldn’t expect a whole bunch of moment on a device like this, but seeing how it is the only device on the market that offers 2 loads in 1 spot, I kind of which it had more traction. I could care less about the scene capabilities though.

Well, I had my ST hub 3 inches from the switch and I was unsuccessful getting the switch to connect let alone have ST recognize/control them. I will try again later.

Still no luck. I am looking for any help with this. This is getting frustrating that I am having trouble getting this switch to communicate.

Did you just do a force delete for the remotes?

I will modify what you wrote to what I ended up seeing, what pressed, and did. Thanks for the help. After pressing the buttons to reset the switch and then turning off the power and then starting the process over again worked. Now I am debating whether or not to keep the remotes in and put them at the bottom of the Things or just delete them by force deleting them…

Steps:

(all of these steps done with the SmartThings hub only a couple feet away from the device.)

What to do before you include the device to the network:

1.) Exclude the switch by pressing both buttons to be blinking amber and then the individual buttons.

2.) Reset the VRCS2: hold both buttons until they blink red.
This step is important. Just resetting it by pressing the buttons for ~15 sec. is not sufficient.

3.) At this point, it’s not really fully reset – you need to cut the power to the device by tripping the breaker. This step is essential.

4.) When you put the breaker back on press the + sign in the ST app to add devices. Then associate the “controller” by pressing both buttons together until they turn amber, and then adding from the SmartThings app. Wait till you get two remote devices. Once those appear the lights on the switch went out. There were no lights. I did not try to name the two remote devices. I then pressed “Connect New Device” and then “+ Connect New Device”. I then pressed and held the top button till it turned amber and then released it and let it blink. I waited. ST recognized it as a switch and at that point the light turned green. I did not name it but pressed “Connect New Device” and then “+ Connect New Device”. Then pressed and held the bottom button till it turned amber. This time it had timed out on me. I then pressed and held the bottom button again and then it added it as a switch.

5.) After having the two remotes and the two switches I named the bottom switch right after it was added since it was the last thing done. I then pressed the + due to the unconfigured devices needing to be added. I configured them one by one and the the two remotes. i just put the remotes at the very bottom.

7.) After you’re done adding the two buttons, verify that the physical buttons both still control their corresponding loads. And from the ST app.

8.) At this point I am sitting back relaxing and turning off and on the light and fan.

I am finally done and glad it finally works.

Thanks David Cox.

I have noticed that the ST app does not update on the status of the state of the switch. It toggles the device on and off and the relay toggles on the switch when done from the app but when I physically toggle the button the app does not change the status in the app.

There’s a SmartApp out there to help with this. I have mine updating every 1 minute and it’s more than fine for my purposes.

https://github.com/statusbits/smartthings/tree/master/Pollster

Thanks, got it and is installed.

I am using the switch to “arm” my system so I am using the door switch to refresh the switch status.

Open the door, hit the button, and then close the door as you walk out. As soon as the door sensor closes, it issues a refresh to the Vizia switch. That 90% of the time catches ST not seeing that the switch was turned on.

It is not 100%, and yes, that’s still annoying me as well.

ST SUPPORT - What’s the deal with THAT ?

Hello all.

I have to upgrade a Centralite Starlite system with Z-Wave consisting of 42 dimmers (linear WD500Z), 11 4 button controllers (Leviton VRCZ4-M0), a VRCPG remote and a SmartThings Hub.

I decided to test the interaction between these devices at home before going to the customer. after a week of headaches here is what finally works.

Setup the ST hub as primary controller and the VRCPG remote as secondary controller. This sets the VRCPG as an inclusion controller. You then include all non controller devices with the Hub or the Remote. When using the remote for inclusion, the Hub is automatically updated. Use the remote to include the controllers (follow the instructions in the remote manual), they will appear in the Hub as remotes. Update each controller per manual. when all devices are included, proceed with the associations using the remote. Note: I am also using Linear WT00Z-1 auxilliary switch, this can be included with the Hub, it will appear as a Switch in ST and as a Device # x on the remote when doing associations.

All devices work flawlessly. You cannot remove the remotes from the Hub since the remote will update it again. After each controller inclusion, rename it to something meaningful. I use KP-x for KeyPad-(number).

The leds on the 4 button controller will change when using the buttons to control the dimmers but will not update if controlling the dimmers locally or with the WT00Z auxilliary switches or using the iPhone app.

I have tested the scheduling on the Hub and it works fine. All that’s left is to learn SmartApps programming.

Glad you got it working!

We should note that this will only work if the remote was previously set up with a different controller. This goes back to the same old controller replication issue that we have discussed with other secondary controllers. Because smartthings does not support controller replication, it cannot actually initialize the secondary controllers, although it can add them as an on/off device. This includes the VRCZ4, which is treated as a remote from this perspective.

So you were able to make this work because you were upgrading an existing system that had previously been installed, probably with a Vizia controller.

You would not have been able to make this work if you were starting with all new equipment that had never been set up before.

Also, in your current set up, commands from the remote to the light switches do not update the status on the hub, correct?

Finally, I’ve been told, but haven’t tested myself, that if the vizia switches are included by the remote rather than by the primary, that the instant status update will be sent to the remote, not to the hub, so you will lose the instant update feature in terms of the smartthings mobile app tile status. Are you seeing that in this installation? People pay extra to get the instant status update, so it can be frustrating for them when then that appears not to work. It can work in smartthings, but you have to include directly to the hub, not use a secondary for inclusion.

As far as learning smartapps programming, you might also want to take a look at the scheduling FAQ:

And congratulations again, sounds like a really big project.

Any Ideas?

I successfully included the VRCS2-MR into the ST HUB the top button controls a local outlet that has a light attached(plugged) into it … I wanted to use the bottom button for another light in the same room that I would like to trigger to another controlled zwave outlet… I’m puzzled because it all works though the ST app but when I physically touch the buttons I don’t get feed back from the ST hub… Again, nothing works. unless I use the ST app…

thx

John