So, we were recently forced onto the new SmartThings app since SmartThings Classic stopped working entirely. I have a generic multichannel zwave device (well several of them) that has been setup and working for years in the SmartThings Class app. What I have is a Z-Wave relay with 2 channels, connected to a pair of light switches. In the classic app, it would show the main device and the two child devices allowing me to control individually or together. This was using the Generic Z-Wave Multichannel DTH.
In the new SmartThings app, I only see the parent device. When I try to switch it on, nothing happens. In the IDE, it still shows the child devices and the association. I looked through the community threads, but all seemed to be about specific branded devices where the brand provided their own DTHs. I tried reassigning the DTH for the switch, and the IDE just error (the updates were not saved).
This seems to be a general problem with SmartThings platform, but I do not know how to diagnose further. I would appreciate any help with diagnosis, or an updated Generic Z-Wave Multichannel switch DTH.
EDIT: So, more debugging revealed some additional information:
- Turning the parent device on or off did not natively work, In the classic app, I had a SmartApp or a routine or something that made turning the parent device on/off trigger the child devices. Whatever that process was is not visible in the new app. Since, the old app just stopped working, I cant really go back and see what that was. Not sure what happened or where that went or how to recover that functionality.
- One of my child devices on 1 of my generic multichannel devices is visible when setting up new automations, but is not visible in the general device list in the new ST app. Whats unique is that child has a virtual switch setup against it, which was needed in the Classic App to drive any automation against child devices. That virtual switch is visible and working in the new ST app, i.e. it turns that one child device on and off. However, I cannot find the automation that is driving the virtual switch… again, some of the automations seem to be hidden in the new app.
- I changed the DTH on one of my generic multichannel devices to a Z-Wave Relay. Since it already had the child devices attached in the IDE, they remain. In the ST app, when I navigate into that parent device, I am able to control the child devices after updating each the DTH on each of them to “Switch Endpoint”. So, controllable, but not usable in any automation, SmartApps, or otherwise because they are not listed devices.
It is interesting what still works (the virtual switch controlling 1 child on the unmodified generic multichannel device), what works with modification (the updated DTH to relay), and what is just unreachable, i.e. the routine for the virtual switch and the child devices for setting up new routines.
Again, any help is appreciated. This trial and error process is very time consuming as well as potentially destructive to smart routines. On a side note, all of my presence routines based on my phone as a presence sensor have also stopped working
EDIT 2: After poking around the new app, I finally discovered that 1) Mobile phones used for presence no longer show up in devices… its just enabled for presence, 2) Any automation that was dependent on a phone presence was disabled in the new app and 3) Other presence devices were dropped from any automations which used a mix of phone presence and dedicated presence device. I havent had the time to go through all of my presence based automations yet and fix them. This is getting very time consuming. Shame on Samsung