GE 45600/45601/45631 Remotes - Need Full Integration to Operate Other Protocols and Items via ST

I burnt a few hours and learned all the basic functions of the remote. For a few bucks on the Internet, this is a must have for remote controlling your Z-Wave devices on you ST Hub, worth it just to easily factory reset a device that is having paring issues. This item needs to get fully integrated into ST, cause as of now you can only control the Z-Wave devices on your Hub. We should be able to get this to be installed on ST’s and program the button on the App to do any on/off/dimmer/variable function. Would be great if the GE Link Bulb (Zigbee protocol) was functional with this unit via the hub. Remote should tell the hub to trigger any device on any protocol, needs some integration…

Note - Much talk about distance, must be close to the Hub… This should not be true, most Z-Wave Network components relay the information if not received by the end item, this helps with some items being in metal electrical boxes and walls.

But here’s my basic setup notes, cause GE’s small handout is cryptic…

+UPDATED - 2/17/2015 - ADDED REMOTE CLONING SECTION

45600 REMOTE - BASIC SMARTTHINGS SETUP

-Ensure Remote is not already on a Z-Wave Network (Reset/Clear) and to clear all devices from it (if already installed in ST, then use Removal procedure below, prior to Resetting/Clearing remote):
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 969, complete when green flashes twice.
-Note that none of the remote on/off buttons flash now (all devices cleared, remote is blank)

-Install (Add) GE 45600 Remote to ST:
-In ST App, +, + Connect New Device, Searching
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 967, flashes green rapidly till connected to App/Hub.
-When App says 1 connected, Select Found Item at the Bottom (Z-Wave Remote)
-Name Device “GE 45600 Remote”, Next, Done.
-Note - the All On/Off feature will not work for all Z-Wave devices currently assigned to the ST Hub, see All On/Off Feature below.

-Remove (Delete) GE 45600 from ST:
-In ST App, Things, Select Remote Setup Icon, Preferences, Remove, Uninstall
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 967, flashes green rapidly till removed from App/Hub.
-When App says Success, Press OK and item is removed from Things page.
-Always good to perform a Remote Reset/Clear (above).

GE 45600 REMOTE - PROGRAM/ASSIGN DEVICES TO BUTTONS

-Remote must already be setup/assigned to the ST Hub per the above procedures.
-You can program up to 18 buttons, use the Setup/Shift button to access buttons 11-18.

-Setup (Add) Device (Light/Switch) to a Remote button:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Press Add (Red Blink), Press Light (Red Blink), Press desired Number (flashes green rapidly)
-Press button on actual device, complete when green flashes twice.

-Setup (Remove) Device (Light/Switch) to a Remote button:
-If you press the Delete button vs the Remove button below, you may Delete (Reset the Device to Factory Settings) the device from your ST Hub; to recover the device you may need to force remove it from the App, then Reinstall it again.
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Press Remove (Red Blink), Press Light (Red Blink).
-Press desired Numbered button on the remote to erase the device from (flashes green twice).
-Note that when an unprogramed number button is selected, it will not flash at all.

GE 45600 REMOTE - ALL DEVICES ON/OFF FEATURE

-Allows you to quickly turn all Z-Wave devices assigned to the ST Hub On/Off with one click.
-Strange, but I’ve noticed this will work all Z-Wave devices setup on the ST Hub, whether they were added to the remote or not. Also, it only works for Z-Wave devices, any Zigbee items (Bulbs will not cycle).

-To Turn all On, select All button, then use any numbered button to turn All Z-Wave devices On/Off.
-Remote will stay in All On/Off mode until you press the Setup/Shift button once to return to normal.

-Remove Devices from the All On/Off feature:
-By factory default, all items are automatically added to the All On/Off control, to delete a device from the All On/Off feature:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Press Delete once (Red Flash), Press All once (Green Flash).
-Press the assigned button of the item you want Removed from the All On/Off Feature (green flashes twice).

-Add Devices from the All On/Off feature:
-By factory default, all items are automatically added to the All On/Off control, to add a device back to the All On/Off feature:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Press Add once (Red Flash), Press All once (Green Flash).
-Press the assigned button of the item you want Added back to the All On/Off Feature (green flashes twice).

GE 45600 REMOTE - FULL DUPLICATE/CLONE (MAKE A COPY OF A REMOTE)

-If you want a true duplicate remote, ensure you clear/reset the new one prior to transfer, else you will may retain any old devices already stored in the new remote. Prior to transfer, Reset/Clear remote by completing the following:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 969, complete when green flashes twice.
-Note that none of the remote on/off buttons flash now (all devices cleared, remote is blank)
-New Remote into Receive Mode:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 967, flashes green rapidly while waiting and during transfer (will flash red if it times out).
-Original/Old (Functional) Remote into Send Mode:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 9661, flashes green rapidly while waiting and during transfer (will flash red if it times out).

  • Complete when green flashes twice on Both Remotes.

GE 45600 REMOTE - TRANSFER NETWORK SETTINGS (COPY NET INFO WITH NO BUTTON/DEVICE DATA)

-Use this procedure if you want to add a remote by transferring the network info from another, but you do not want the button/device info transferred. This will render a new remote that is functional on the same network, but will not have any buttons/devices transferred from the original remote.
-If you want a blank remote, ensure you clear/reset the new one prior to transfer, else you will may retain any old devices already stored in the new remote. Prior to transfer, Reset/Clear remote by completing the following:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 969, complete when green flashes twice.
-Note that none of the remote on/off buttons flash now (all devices cleared, remote is blank)
-New Remote into Receive Mode:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 967, flashes green rapidly while waiting and during transfer (will flash red if it times out).
-Original/Old (Functional) Remote into Send Mode:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Type 9662, flashes green rapidly while waiting and during transfer (will flash red if it times out).

  • Complete when green flashes twice on Both Remotes.

GE 45600 REMOTE - PRIMARY CONTROLLER SHIFTS (NOT APPLICABLE WITH SMARTTHINGS)

-Codes 9681 & 9682 are for transferring full primary control from one remote to another (i.e. replacement). Since the SmartThings Hub is the primary controller, these functions have no purpose and will fail if attempted. These programing codes are only useful if you are using a GE 45600 Remote as a Stand-Alone Primary Controller, then you can transfer the same info similar to functions 9661 & 9662.

FACTORY RESET - ANY Z-WAVE DEVICE

-There is a set of Z-Wave Utilities on the App that offer some capabilities, find it under the Hub Setup screen (Options, Setup Gear, Select Hub, then ZWave Utilites, the Device Exclusion option may help you to reset a device.

-The GE45600 Remote is great tool if you are have a pairing issue to a Hub, this will force reset the device to its factory settings; by far, the remote is the most useful reset tool available.
-It seems like some manufactures may test a device at the factory and then forget to reset or unpair the device, thus the new device will block you from pairing it to a new network.
-Once a Z-Wave device is paired, it will not allow itself to be paired to another item unless you reset, but it you reset it you will have a dead device in you ST Hub/App.
-You should always remove all devices from the Hub via the App Things page prior to removing from your system, failure to do so will leave the device paired and a dead device listed on your Hub, you will then need to Force Remove the device from the ST Hub via the App and Factory reset the device per below (Note the Delete button is used below, not the Remove):

-Factory Reset a Device (Light/Switch) via a GE 45600 Remote:
-Hold Setup till Red/Green flash twice.
-Press Delete (Red Blink), Press Light (flashes green rapidly).
-Press button on actual device, reset is complete when green stops flashing.
-Now you can reinstall the device per normal setup via the ST App.

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Thanks for posting this! I just received a 45601, which will most likely be quite similar.

I too wish there was a way for it to receive a Z-wave command and do something. I like the minimotes, but the GE remotes i have a very nice.

Being new to ST, I’m still learning. But from what I’ve read so far, the Z-Wave standard is used by both the minimote and GE 45600/45601/45631, so really the only diff is the amount of buttons and the device type (driver). It would seem like the minimote device type could be modified to handle the extra buttons of the GE’s.

It would even seem possible if there were 18 virtual devices loaded in ST for the remote, that it could get the command for flipping a virtual light (device) and then turn it into action to drive any normal ST feature. I’ve done a lot of code before, so should be able to tear down the device type code and figure out how the minimote is doing it, cause from all I’ve read, the protocol is the same between them.

I may have to get one in hand and play with it. Gunna forward a few other conversations to this section for follow up. Any one that has anything to add to get the $9 9 x 9 button GE’s fully operational like the other z-wave remotes, please chime in… I personally think we can modify the minimote device type to handle the extra buttons of the GE’s.

Has anyone tried to force setup a GE 45600/45601/45631 with the ST Minimote Device Type?

Would be a great indicator if the first few buttons worked and we could just expand the Device Type to more buttons.

Research says the GE 45600, GE 45601, GE 45631, Aeon Labs DSA03202 and Enerwave ZWN-SC7 all use the standard z-wave protocol.

By using virtual devices within ST, it would seem logical to be able to trick ST into think it’s getting a command to turn a light on, but actually it’s a fake out just to return an on/off to force ST to take an action.

Please post any ideas in this thead, I’m going to try and force a GE to a Aeon Device Type and see what happens…

I have a ge45631 and tried applying the mini mote device type and no luck.

Same issue with the GE 45600, says new device added, but not the correct type, so the the Device Type is not matching up. I need to learn how to create/modify device types and see if we can build up a match for the affordable GE’s units…

I got the 45600, and was able to have ST pair using Setup 967, but the device type has no functionality. I was hoping to use this to control my zigbee wink lights by having the hub process the button presses (as opposed to direct link to zwave switch), but I’ve been reading that the buttons don’t become active unless they are paired directly with a zwave device.

So @jimmay3, it seems your suggestion of a virtual zwave device is the only real chance of getting it done. I’ve also read here that zwave licensing doesn’'t allow virtual devices, so this might be a dead end as well. I will play a bit, but will probably get a minimote in the meantime, which does send the button presses to the hub. (Who thought that 4 buttons would be enough!)

If you don’t mind pressing multiple buttons, I have a SmartApp in Beta that uses sequences of button presses, and another in consideration that would use say, the 4th button, as an “Enter” key, thus allowing arbitrary “codes” to control / activate any number of SmartThing triggers.

Appreciate your testing, thoughts, questions, etc, on:

Drop me a private message if you would like to collaborate on this. I have a 45601 and a 45600, and some limited Device Type experience (but learning quickly!).

I wonder if a Z-Wave sniffer would be helpful, though hopefully we can get a log of all the packets the SmartHub is able to see (which, may not be many, if it’s hard-coded somehow).

…CP / Terry.

@martinnyc, if both are talking the same protocol, then all we should have to do is trick ST to use the minimotes device driver for the GE, whatever workaround they are using must already be approved. We should only have to tweak the device ID section of the minimote to match the generic zwave remote so it pops up as an option during setup/install, then we’d gain the extra functionality. Once we get that we should be able to expand on the extra buttons. Look at the device code, pull the minimote up ad a template, seems easy. I tried to publish, but still don’t show up on the list during install/setup. When you make a custom device type, how do you select it during device setup/install?

Rough explanation: (experimentation and research of Z-Wave and SmartThings protocols recommended)

The device sends a signature during network join, and this signature is used to select the Device Type and Handler.

Once the device is in your network, you can override the Device Type (and, thus, force it to use different handler code). However, Z-Wave devices probably need to be sent a configuration string which tells it how chatty it should be.

I mean after publishing a custom device signature, where does it show up on the list of avaliable devices?

I published my device code, but need to pick it instead of the standard z-wave remote that pops up during setup.

Read the minimote and 7 button documentation again. If you note there are not on/off switches light the GE, they are scene controlers (GE is also, just need to hit the scene button first). So they don’t assign virtual devices, they assign a button to a group of lights (multiple lights) that is setup on the primary controller (ST). Nothing saying a scene has to have more than one device, so you can assign one light to a scene (protcolor then don’t matter on a scene, thus a Zigbee could be assigned to a scene) and get the same effect as turning it on/off from the remote.

Do you mean the list of Devices on your Hub, or the list of your custom Device Types?
Once you have any Device associated with your hub, you can edit / change the assigned Device Type to your custom one.

Check under: https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ide/devices

Thanks, will have to try that.

I don’t think that is the distinctive difference here, unfortunately. The GE is a Z-Wave master and is able to store scenes directly in itself (and share these scenes with slave controllers). The GE remote is permitted to live on the Z-Wave network with SmartThings, but they don’t share information, even for scene activation.

Please refer to this response from Duncan at SmartThings:

I read you can only have one primary controller on a network (ST), not seeing a limit on secondaries (GE Remote), but the data is all stored on the primary and can be transferred and even replicated. Although it sure seems like the “Lights”, when designated to the remote button, are resident in the remote, so… The Minimote and 7-button documentation is very careful to mention they are scenes controllers, not much time to play the next few days, but will keep studying and keep this on the burner…

Hey, @jimmay3, @thrash99er, @MartinNYC, @tgauchat, @bravenel and others,
I wrote a custom device handler to enable GE 45600 to send scene activation commands to the hub. All 9 buttons are functioning the same way as Aeon Labs Minimote.

Theoretically, it should work with GE 45601 too, but I don’t have one to try it. Would be interested to hear your feedback.

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This is great, I knew it could be done… GE 45600’s will shoot up in price now, better grab one now…

@geko, can you bump up the device type to handle all 18 (9 + 9) button options? Note that when you press Setup button once, it acts like a Shift button to give your the upper 9…

Guess we can move all future conversations over to @geko thread at:

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