Bought a house with lots of these switches, but can’t seem to associate these with the app. The hub doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Any tips or walkthroughs?
Have you done a general exclude on these switches before joining to your hub?
1 Like
I have no idea what that means, despite reading multiple PDF’s on these switches. Also, references to the controller = the smart things hub?
Correct. You put the hub in exclusion mode via the mobile app. In the Classic app, it’s found by going to your hub in the top left menu and navigating to Zwave Utilities. I’m not sure how the new app does it.
This means you need to go to each switch and exclude it. Like I mentioned above, get the hub in exclusion mode, and then at each switch turn it on/off until the mobile app says it excluded a device.
There are several discussions about that in detail on this Community, so just do a quick search. ST’s support site also has good documentation to reference.
So first up, thanks for the patience in explaining this stuff. Still new, and despite surfing the ST help areas, it’s not super clear how to accomplish these things. Adding to that is Linear possibly being GoControl, and not seeing light switches listed under either name.
Another couple questions:
-
Exclusion seems to infer it’s excluding devices that were part of the controllers network previously. Since these weren’t (new hub, existing devices) is this still necessary? Going to every switch in the house will take time.
-
I took a peek in the classic app for Linear switches and am not seeing them. Any advice?
No problem @Chamaile0n,
Let’s address your questions so you can get up and running. We all started new at this stuff at one point, and you’ll find a lot of people willing to help.
That may be the case, but ST will be able to find almost any manufacturer (well, kind of) and properly associate the device type handler (DTH), which in your case with the Linear would be Z-Wave Switch. We’ll discuss this in a bit, but you’re going to want to to do a general Include vs. specifying and brand. Typically that works, but I’ve been most successful using the Classic app, and going to Things, and just tapping the “+” sign in the upper right hand corner. If you opt for the new app, navigate to Devices, tap on the “+”, and then Auto Detect. GoControl is also listed, but I recommend auto.
Although the hub is new, what about the switches? If they came with your house, did the previous owner have an automation system? If so, you will have to exclude them before they can join your ST hub. Regardless, it is good practice to exclude devices that you can’t verify are brand new and have never been included to any other controller in the past. Even then, I’ve had to exclude brand new devices.
I know builders that have joined switches to a temporary hub to verify connectivity and that the device works, but most of the time they forget to exclude the device for the new homeowner.
I know going to each device will take time, but that will be required anyway. You have to join the device by physically being there and tapping on or off at the switch during the Inclusion process; so if you’re there already, exclude it first, and then turn around and include it.
Some advice on joining your devices - start at a device closest to where your hub is, and work out toward the furthest device. The further out from the hub you go, the longer the join process takes. In some cases, you may need to take the hub to the device for it to join (depending on the size of your house, distance from the hub, and any interference). If you have the wireless hub, that will be relatively easy; but if you have a v2 hub like I do, I needed a 100ft network cable to drag around. Be very patient during the join process. If it doesn’t work the first time, exclude the device again, and try again, and/or move the hub to the switch. Do not force remove/delete a device. You will likely end up with ghost devices.
They’re also probably GoControl in the Classic app too, but I recommend not doing a lookup by brand. Auto detect will do the trick. The inclusion process will be able to determine the brand/model and associate the correct DTH for it (most of the time). I’ve literally done this hundreds of times.
Moral of the story is to exclude your devices if you aren’t sure they’ve never been joined to another controller, work out from the hub when joining devices, be patient, and have a cold beverage of your choice handy. 
1 Like
This helped a ton, thank you! I think we’re all up and running now.
1 Like
You are very welcome, glad to hear that!
In addition to the gray above from @johnconstantelo it is also recommended that you run zwave repair at least once after adding the switches to ensure optimum routing.
1 Like
I hate to be that guy but is there any new info on this? My SM hub can’t see the device to exclude it nor can it find it any way I search or manually try to add it.
Sad, my ancient Veralite had no issues but this new hub doesn’t want to find it.