I have several 3-way switches that I replaced with Eaton 9601 master paired with Eaton 9617 accessory switch. I have the Aeotec hub. I have paired the switches via the SmartThings mobile app, however it’s not intuitive how to create the association between them. Eaton has essentially no tech support for this. The accessory switch is not hard-wired to the light circuit, it only has power. It is supposed to change the state of the light via z-wave communication to the master by the “association”. Again, I can’t see any way to do this on the app. I tried linking the two in a group, which does nothing. Please help. Many thanks.
SmartThings does not provide a built in page for associations, but it’s pretty straightforward to do, just tedious. You will need a custom edge driver that will expose the fields where you can set the associations.
I’m going to give you the instructions for how to do that, but I did also want to mention that there is a much simpler way to synchronize any two switches regardless of protocol by using the smart lighting feature in the smartthings app. So even though that’s not what you asked, I’m going to put a section at the end of this post on how to do that in case you want to try it first.
Back to zwave association for the devices you have…
I don’t think there’s one for that specific switch model, but fortunately, a community member has created a generic zwave configuration tool that can do this for any zwave device. Because the association lists are stored in the firmware of the trigger device, you can temporarily switch to the configuration tool driver, set the association, and then switch back to your everyday driver. And everything should work fine. The one thing to be aware of is that some of your routines that use those devices may be disabled or even deleted when you switch drivers, so you might have to re-create them after you’ve switched back.
So, here are the steps
- you need to get the network IDs for both the trigger switch and the target switch. You can find those at the advanced page of the official web interface to your account. Also note the name of the edge driver that the device is currently using.
- check the conformation statement for the trigger device at the official Z wave alliance products site to see which association groups you will need to use. It’s quite common, for example, that there will be one group used for on/off and a different group used for Dimming.
https://products.z-wavealliance.org/
- follow the subscription link to the confirmation, tool edge driver, subscribe, and download it to your own hub. This usually happens pretty quickly, but sometimes it can take a few hours.
(EDGE Driver-Mc): Z-Wave Device Config Mc
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once it is on your hub, you should then be able to go to the details page for the trigger device in the smartthings app, and change it to the new edge driver
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once you’ve changed it to the new edge Driver, you should be able to open the details page and see the fields where you enter the Target device ID number into the appropriate association group(s).
If you have any questions about using the configuration tool edge Driver, ask in the author thread that I just gave you the link to and someone should be able to help you
- once you have everything entered, switch back to the original driver.
You do NOT need to change edge Drivers for the Target device. It doesn’t care. The purpose of zwave direct association is just to give the trigger device permission to send a command to the Target device without having to go through the hub.
When you have multiple switches controlling the same light, normally the master switch, the one that controls the current to the light, is the target. And the accessory switch is the trigger. So when you press on the accessory switch, it sends a message to the master to Turn the light on.
Hope that helps! Most certified zwave hubs provide setting up associations and zwave scenes as part of their standard interface, but smartthings does not. 
BTW— the only advantage that zwave direct association has is that it will work even if your hub stops working. I do like that for three-way lighting, where there might be a safety feature, like switches at the top and bottom of a staircase. But if you don’t care about that, there is an official smartthings alternative.
THE SMART LIGHTING FEATURE AS AN ALTERNATIVE
SmartThings does provide an official feature which will let you have any two switches “mirror” each other, regardless of their protocol, and it’s quite easy to set up. You will find it under the smart lighting option in the app. So you might prefer to just use that method, it is a lot easier. Just choose the “sync with switch” option when you create a smartlighting Routine.
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