Best Practice for Zwave pairing

Should you pair next to the hub or in its location (wondering about network heal issues)

This article would be best practice in general:
https://support.smartthings.com/hc/en-us/articles/200867104-My-GE-module-won-t-connect-to-the-SmartThings-Hub
Followed by:

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thanks for that… I appreciate the info

For hardwired devices farther away anyone have any options besides digging out a 50 foot lan cable?

Can you put the hub (v2) in pairing mode then unplug the network and power and let the zwave chip do its thing on battery power then plug it back in for the software to catch up?

You would think so, but running on battery power didn’t work for me to add devices. I didn’t spend much time on it though.

The easiest way is just to get an Aeon minimote It is able to both include and exclude zwave devices to your smartthings network except for some locks and secure mode devices. But the minimote is great for in wall relays, wired light switches, pump controls, etc.

shop around and you should be able to find one for $25. It’s also works as a regular button controller, most people find it well worth the cost. :sunglasses:

www.zwaveproducts.com often has them on sale. The cheaper gen one has the same functionality of the gen two once you do the firmware update so the only real difference is The gen two also comes in black.

Awesome. Thanks for the hint. I happen to have a minimote.

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This might help.

FAQ: Use Aeon Minimote for Inclusion

sadly looks like V2 hub killed that method.

Just since I’m a glutton i also did try to put it in inclusion mode and then pull the plugs and run to the device, but it does not work as posted above.

looks like i need to dig out a 50 foot Ethernet cable…

looks like they do eventually plan to include the ability to pair on battery but not in initial lunch:

(Also I’m not certain but it sure appears the V2 is not currently a SUC/SIS wither and that’s what’s killing the minimote inclusion)

I use the minimote with the v2 hub and so have a lot of other people. You just have to get the minimote included to the v2 hub first otherwise it’s not on the same network.

For more migration help, ask in this topic:

And, yeah, if your V2 have is not a primary nothing is going to work. So get in touch with support on that one. :disappointed_relieved:

hmmmm-

Can you using it to include on the V2?

from the thread you linked looks like at least some also have the problem i have and the minimote wont include devices.

Someone mentioned trying it 5 times to get it to work- i guess i could keep trying…

So far the first time it paired up fine- the v2 hub recognizes it as a minimote and i can use the buttons smartapp with it to control things perfectly but a press of the inclusion button yields a 2 second long red LED which according to the directions signifies it’s acting like a secondary controller and is not able to include z-wave devices.

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PS- I’m not migrating.

I had another brand controller- so i am excluding all my devices from that brand hub and starting from scratch.

If you have relatively modern repeaters that support Network Wide Inclusion, you should always be able to add devices in their target locations.

The unplugging the hub method kind of works, but it has problems I haven’t had a chance to fix yet. If include mode is started (the LED is blinking) when you unplug the hub, and you do the include within 90 seconds of it starting, AND you get the hub plugged back into the network within 8 seconds after that (yep sorry, that’s due to dumb legacy code issues) it should theoretically work. If the switch appeared to join but didn’t show up in SmartThings, you may be able to re-add it without excluding first.

I’ve seen the reports of Minimote inclusion not working with v2, but I haven’t been able to replicate it or figure out what could be going on. We passed the certification tests for working with inclusion controllers. Maybe try it with the minimote halfway between the device and the hub so it can communicate directly with both? Or start include mode on the minimote near the hub then go to the switch, then go back to the hub while the minimote is doing its blink fest?

It might be useful to check if you can use the Minimote to include a device close to the hub, to see if it’s a range/repeaters issue. Note that the hub should not be in include mode when you use the Minimote.

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Sadly, I was using another hub for years and so much of my devices are years old- I even have some of the original ACT stuff- so apparently i’m missing “modern repeaters” :smile:

I dont think the minimote is getting added as an inclusion controller.

When i retried it last night several times - i paired it to the hub then immediately standing next to the hub tried the inclusion mode on the minimote- every time it didn’t enter inclusion mode but rather it just failed out to 2 second red LED that the instructions say signifies it was added as a secondary controller and can’t include devices. It never blinks blue to indicate it is trying to include.

When i look in the IDE for the device it shows:

Raw Description 0 0 0x0101 0 0 0 8 0x86 0x72 0x70 0x9B 0xEF 0x85 0x2B 0x26

from the developer docs seems those include command classes/ indicators of the devices’ abilities? Are those the correct values for an inclusion controller?

should some of these be included in there someplace:
Network Management Basic 0x4D V1
Network Management Inclusion 0x34 V1
Network Management Primary 0x54 V1
Network Management Proxy 0x52 V1

source: https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ide/doc/zwave-utils.html

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I am having this exact issue as well.