Connecting VRCZ4-MRZ - not to be confused with VRCS (DTH in post 20)

Devices & Integrations
9

Thanks! Yes, the good news is that you CAN now see both the VRC Z 4-MRZ controller AND its load switch as two separate things in SmartThings - by default, they come up as a “Z-Wave Remote” and a “Z-Wave Switch” accordingly.

The Z-Wave Switch works right away, allowing you to control the load in SmartThings. The Z-Wave Remote’s device handler can be changed to the VRC S 4 scene controller device handler from here - and this will allow you to see “on” button pushes in SmartThings for the 4 controller buttons. You can then use a SmartApp like this one or - for even more lighting control - this one, allowing SmartThings to take action on each of the 4 “on” button pushes.

What we CAN’T yet do is:

  1. See “off” button pushes in SmartThings (although they are generically logged as 2001 commands);
  2. See any pushes of the dimmer buttons at the bottom of the device;
  3. Control the LED indicators in any way (generally, they currently flash once when you push the “on” side of the button, then go off).

One additional note that’s specific to the load bearing variety of this controller (the MRZ): I’ve found that it’s best to stick with the default behavior of button 1 controlling the load. This default seems to be built-in to the controller, and as far as I can tell doesn’t need SmartThings to be used for controlling the load - button 1’s “on” side turns the load on, and button 1’s “off” side turns it off. Trying to override this in SmartThings using a smart app seems to get messy. Fortunately, the on/off state of the load is reported to SmartThings, so the Z-Wave Switch that controls it in SmartThings stays up to date.

@bdahlem - if you have any insight here regarding getting your device handler doing more for the VRCZ4 (like recording the “off” button pushes) I’d love to know if I can help at all!

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