[HOWTO] Digital Life Radio Thermostat CT30 / USNAP z-wave module

Devices & Integrations
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I have AT&T digital life, but am moving my devices over from digital life to my smartthings hub for non-security related functions. I found very little information about this while searching, so I hope this helps someone else. Please reply if you have any questions, run into any problems, or even better if this helped you in any way. Thank you!

I’ll start with busting some myths. While searching for info, I ran into some myths about this that seem to be circulating - lets clear those up.

Myths:

-You can not reuse digital life devices on smart things (or other zwave hubs)*
[So far, I’ve successfully transferred my thermostat, Yale front door lock, and both smart plugs]
-The CT30/USNAP zwave module only allows basic control
[See “Swap Device Type” section]
-This thermostat requires power from the “C” wire to work with zwave and/or not being powered causes infrequent or non-existent updates to the temperature in the app
[Not true, my “C” wire has no power and my thermostat is ran by batteries only… it worked fine on the digital life platform, and now it works even better on smart things (battery life is about 10-12 months). The temperature shown in the app is always matching what’s on the thermostat]
-You must have the thermostat right next to the hub to pair it
[Mine is located on a wall 2 rooms away, with lots of physical obstructions]
-This module will “flood” your network
[The user who posted this posted it in many places. I realize that it’s a frustrating problem, but all instances of this happening I’ve found were the same user… flukes can happen]
*Note: Not everything can be reused, for example the sensors and keypad do not appear to be reusable outside of the digital life platform. (If you know otherwise, PLEASE share what you know!)

Exclusion:

Smart Things General Device Exclusion

  1. Open smart things app on your phone
  2. Tap the hamburger menu on the top-left
  3. Tap the name of your hub (should have green dot indicating online)
  4. Tap Z-Wave Utilities
  5. Tap General Device Exclusion
    (ignore any warnings about it taking too long)

Thermostat Exclusion (must be done while hub is in general device exclusion mode)

  1. Tap the front of the thermostat to enter the menu
  2. Tap the radio icon on the left of the screen
  3. If you have multiple modules (not typical), select your module, R1 is on the left side, R2 is on the right. If you only have one module installed, you will not have any option to switch between them
  4. Tap the small “MATE” button under the radio tower icon, it should start flashing (if it is solid, it is not in pairing mode)

If you completed the steps successfully, your phone should indicate a device was successfully excluded, and the word “Link” will disappear from the bottom of the radio tower icon on the thermostat.

Inclusion:

  1. Open smart things app, tap “Add a Thing” (ignore warnings about it taking longer than expected)
  2. Follow the steps for device exclusion again (I’ll re-state them here for clarity)
  3. Tap the front of the thermostat to enter the menu
  4. Tap the radio icon on the left of the screen
  5. If you have multiple modules (not typical), select your module, R1 is on the left side, R2 is on the right. If you only have one module installed, you will not have any option to switch between them
  6. Tap the small “MATE” button under the radio tower icon, it should start flashing (if it is solid, it is not in pairing mode)

Swap Device Type:

Very important, if the device is detected as a “Z-Wave Thermostat” (as was the case with me), no functionality will work until you edit the device type.

  1. Visit IDE website at https://graph.api.smartthings.com/
  2. Click “My Devices”
  3. Click the thermostat you just added
  4. Scroll to the bottom and click “Edit”
  5. Change to “CT100 Thermostat”
  6. Click “Update” on the bottom of the form

If successful, you should now be able to see the current temperature, humidity, battery percentage, independent temperature settings for the heater and AC, a button to toggle between modes (cool/heat/auto/off), and fan control (on/auto).

2 Likes
2

I have the CT-30 and have not had good luck with the CT-100 device handler. In face, after I used it my CT-30 started going unresponsive every 12 or so hours until I reset it. I’ve had to get a new USNAP module.
I have customized my own device handler, based on the generic Z-Wave Thermostat DH, to allow for more precise controls (individual mode buttons, increment buttons, etc.) See below:
https://community.smartthings.com/uploads/short-url/uFspeGc02jZqpeF7RHOxUTpabvY.png

Also, the CT-30 shouldn’t report humidity- does yours? I know there is slight variance of reported commands between CT-30 models, but I thought that was limited to battery reporting. I did not think the CT-30 had a humidity sensor.

1 Like
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Thank you for your well thought out reply…

Regarding your question about humidity, yes, it does report humidity. I think a part of the problem is this particular thermostat was repackaged for AT&T’s digital life platform, so it probably varies from what you would get if you purchased it separately. I actually do not know if this is a CT30, but based on looks and comparison of features it appears to be… now that you’ve made me scrutinize it, i’m thinking perhaps it’s a CT32 based on a manual I found, but it still makes no reference to humidity levels: http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/pdfImages/ac/ac8c0adb-3216-46d3-99f5-cce157ae14c9.pdf

I will say though, the humidity was reported in the digital life control panel as well, but it is not visible anywhere on the actual screen of the thermostat that i can find.

Perhaps I need to update the model listed in the title to something else? Do you have any tips on how I can identify which model this is?

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After a cursory Google search, it does appear that AT&T used the CT-32 with Digital Life, and doesn’t appear that they used the CT-30.
However, you should be able to see the model number on a label on the top side of the thermostat. If nothing else, here are the two detail pages: CT-32 vs. CT-30.

Another tool you can use to find out all sorts of good data about the devices on your network is the Z-Wave Tweaker device handler by codersaur. To use that, you’ll just change the device type temporarily, run the scans on your device, then print the logs to Live Logging in the IDE. Here’s what output looked like for my CT-30. In “Supported Command Classes” in “General Output” you’ll be able to see if your device supports humidity (mine doesn’t). I’m not sure how Digital Life works, but it’s possible that it’s getting humidity from somewhere else, since Humidity is not a supported command class, at least on the Z-Wave page for the CT-32.

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If anyone has more detail to add about how to determine device information, please add it here. This is just what I’ve come across as I started developing for ST.

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Thanks for your help, Ian! I would imagine it probably is the CT32.

I definitely want to give this device handler a try and see what it finds. I dont have time right now, but when I do I’ll report back with what I find and update the post.

Also, I don’t think it visually matches either of the pictures perfectly, which is why I suspect maybe it’s a special OEM/bulk version given to AT&T at a discount, but that’s just speculation. I’ll take some pictures while I’m at it.

This may become handy for anyone who wants to pick up used digital life components to use with smartthings. I would imagine you might be able to find digital life devices inexpensively because with the platform you own your equipment so when people get rid of the service they probably wont bother with re-using their equipment (or know that they can).

1 Like
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Is the CT100 DH good to use with the CT32?

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Chad,

I have digital life but I’m moving and they want
To charge a ridiculous amount to move my services I have purchased a smart hub and have been trying to follow any steps o could find to set up any device and have been unsuccessful. I am not sure if it is because I have not cancelled my digital life yet or because I’m doing something wrong (which is definitely possible) you really seem to know what you are doing and I was wondering if you could help me!

Thanks, Kel

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I’d be glad to help any way I can, just know that only zwave devices can be moved over - and the IP camera. The sensors all appear to be proprietary and can’t be transferred to Smart Things. So, for example the motion detector, smoke/co alarm, glass break sensor can’t be transferred over. Smart plugs, the Yale smart lock, and water sensors can be transferred over though.

Which devices are you having trouble getting to work on your ST hub?

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So glad you answered I was able To get the thermostat to work after reading your instructions a few hundred times!!! Lol (I don’t give up easy) and I was able to find some guides
For the water sensors as well. Now it’s just the door lock, camera, and smart plugs I can’t seem to make sense of!

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Chad

Can you please provide steps on how to make the camera work?

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Great thread. New to smart things, not new to technology.

Just to reaffirm this particular subject (and I may get flack for resurrecting this beast):

I was able to connect my CT32 Radio Thermostat using these exact instructions. (The only variant was I didn’t have to change the name to “CT100” as it was already named CT100. )

I was also able to connect my YALE (YRD120) zwave lock connected first try…

Also 2 GE/Jasco wall outlets with zwave.

Next is my water sensors and the IP camera.

It is now known you can run the door/window sensors and the smoke detector/co2 detectors from AT&T digital Life by running your own server, scripting your own commands and the like. ( I don’t know a lot about that stuff still forgive my wording If it’s incorrect but you can do a quick search and find a few different articles that I’ve run across just in my research explaining how to do it and what’s needed) but it can be done

Hope this helps and I hope to hear back from someone regarding that IP camera and the water sensors although I’m sure I’ll have it figured out before I even get replies because I’m just going to look up the model names find the booklet online and follow the directions like I’ve done everything else…

Thanks in advance!

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Hi I haven’t tried switching my digital life equipment to where I can use it without the service. I’m thinking of cancelling my service soon but I’d like to know if you or anyone knows if the automation for the light switch can be programmed to the on schedule as I have it now? For example at 7:00am my lights outside my house turn off and at 7:00pm they come on. We paid and electrician to do work outside but it’s still being powered by my At&t digital life service. Has anyone been able to successfully integrate this to an app or over the internet? I know it was set once and we don’t even worry about it now. I just don’t know how att powers it if it’s a command through the app or on their end and if I can still manage that after I cancel my service? Thank you for the time and help in advance.

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Hi everybody,

I have a CT-30 with RapidSe USNAP module. When I add it to my ST, for some reason it identifies as “Fibaro door/window sensor”. Any idea why is that and how I can fix this? Thanks!