I have Leviton in-wall zone controller and trying to put together a system which the ST hub can recognize but which does not depend on it. Everything to be controlled by the wall switches without hub or cell phone.
I see the Leviton DZMX1 dimmer works well with ST and Wing but Leviton clearly states NOT TO BE USED with Visia RF + systems. Why? Will this work with both my ST and my Leviton Visia RF + 4 Zone Controller (VRCZ4-M0Z)?
The bigger is for me is to understand the difference between this Leviton Visia RF + system and a regular Z-wave system such as supported by ST.
I see the Leviton VRMX1 seems to have the same capability as the DZMX1 but is also Visia RF + & $25 more. What are the differences?
This is one of those things where the people who know assume it’s obvious to the people who don’t, even when it isn’t!
Leviton made zwave switches, but added “enhanced” communication which did “instant updates” between the device and the controller. This was their Vizia RF+ line. You’ll notice all the switches in this line have LEDs which are intended to display the status of the scenes controlled by those buttons.
Lutron has multiple patents regarding two way communication between a light switch and a controller. Starting around 2005 they began suing lighting device manufacturers, including Leviton and Control4 for having infringed on these patents.
Ultimately everything was settled pretty much in Lutron’s favor. Leviton and
Cooper agreed to pay license fees to Lutron, so their controllers still have this update feature. However, this also made their switches more expensive.
So Leviton introduced a new, less expensive line, the DZ line, which did only plain vanilla zwave processing. No “instant status” update, but also no license fee.
These devices are considered “incompatible” with the Vizia RF+ controllers because the instant status can’t be updated.
If you install the devices with a third party zwave certified controller, like ST, you can still use plain vanilla zwave with either, so you can use them in the same installation. You just can’t utilize the instant status feature for Vizia RF+ devices unless both secondary controller and controlled device both have the patent controlled feature.
I think it may also be true that the Vizia RF + devices should only be included in a 3 way or 4 way setup with other Vizia RF+ devices, but I’m not 100% sure on that one.
Anyway, hope that helps.
edited to add Lutron-patent devices, regardless of manufacturer (Cooper, Leviton, Lutron, whoever) use instant status update for one hop only! Intended for a local controller in line of sight to the device.
Thank your for this excellent explanation. I still am in some quandry about how to set up my own system. I want to control some lights from wall switches. The hub and cell phone ability is a frill but the wall switch is mandatory. The feedback for status lights is nice but not mandatory.
Currently I have some devices that are Visia RF + and some not. I have not set the system up yet as I am waiting for the handheld programmer from Leviton which appears to be necessary to set up the Visia RF stuff. The one device I paired with with the ST hub does not work and I can not remove it. It is a Visia RF + plug in dimmer for 300 w. VRPD3-1LW.
I see some threads about the the Leviton scene v. zone controllers. I have the zone but the discussion suggests that the scene works better with the hub. The Enerwave switch may be better for me but it I don’t know it if will operate my Leviton Visia RF + devices.
1 you have to reset up your system
2 reset all your switches and remotes
3 start by connecting one of your switches to the ST controller ( i think this starts a new network)
4 reset your programming remote or usb
5 join the ST system with your leviton programming device
6 you can program the rest of your system with the remote or usb and the ST controller auto populates all the switches that you add using the programming device. you still have to go and include all the controllers and switches.
i did have to spend a day reprogramming my entire system but this made the ST hub work with the leviton vizia RF. you can not program the Controllers with the ST hub you have to use the leviton programming device. but it all appears to work,
It works as a zwave secondary controller for the specific zwave devices it can be associated with.
Unlike button controllers, it can’t change modes, run hello home actions, control ZIgbee devices, or other nonzwave devices.
So if you have a lighting system already installed with these secondaries and you want to fold it into your ST zwave network, you can using the method described.
But I wouldn’t go out and buy new ones, you lose too much of what ST offers.