Remove device and include later without reprogrammeing?

Devices & Integrations
1

Hi
So I have several Aeon Multisensor 6 devices, and I want to upgrade it’s firmware.

For that I need to remove it from my ST network, to include it to a usb stick z-wave controller, do the firmware upgrade, and then I need to of course include it in the ST network again.

BUT of course I want to avoid, if possible, not to have to program all my Pistons again. Meaning going though all Pistons and other rules where that multisensor was a trigger, and add it again.

Any way to do this? Or is it the hard way of excluding (remove device in the mobile app), do formware upgrade, include to ST again, and then correct all SmartApps?

2

The replace feature can help…

Exclude the multisensor using the Zwave stick, that will leave the device in ST with all the automations linked. Upgrade the firmware and exclude via stick again. Back in ST pull up the device in the app, click the gear and use the replace button. This will put the hub in pairing mode again and push the button on the multisensor to pair again. This will reassociate that device to all the automations.

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3

Does this replace all ST automations or all webcore piston automations?

4

Thanks,

but I cannot tell how to exclude the multisensor using the zwave stick. I have a “cheap” stick from zwave.me. It does not have any buttons. I have downloaded the software to the zwave stick, and set it to inclusion mode, so it’s searching for devices, but nomatter howw I pushes the button on the multisensor, it does not seem to get excluded from ST.
Any ideas how to exlude it?

5

This is really CRAP!

First I found out by presssing the action button on the multisensor, that it then got excluded, and I could then upgrade it’s firmware. I excluded it from the zwave stick.

BUT I then noticed that SmartThings had complete removed the device! I couldn’t find it in my phone’s App and not in the webgui.
I then included it as a new device, ST didn’t see it as the old device. I thought it would do that when it has the same ID as before.

And what is really CRAP is that now I see that the Pistons I have where the multisensor is the trigger, has deleted ALL CONTENT in the Piston. I had a big Piston that set my house lights depending on Lux levels, which worked really well. But that has been A LOT of manual programming, and that is just hell, having to do that again, and trying to remember all the values again.

Any good ideas what I should do differently on the next one?

Pressing down the action button on the multisensor for 30 seconds apperently removed the device, and not just excluded it.

6

Hmmm, I wonder if excluding with another coordinator causes the device to send some kind of exclusion message to the current coordinator? @JDRoberts may know if this is part of the z-wave spec.

7

It does not. Only an end device put into exclusion mode will pay attention to the general exclude command. The whole purpose of that command is to let you deal with a situation where the original controller is either broken or missing. So any new controller can issue a general exclude. :sunglasses:

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8

And if I’m following what you were trying to do, you don’t want to manually include it back to smartthings: That would cause exactly the result that you saw, which is that it would be given an entirely new device ID.

Instead, once you’re finished working with the device on the other network, you should only use the “replace” utility to bring it back. Not add a device.

Here’s how the Z wave replace works.

Say you have device 10 which is the sensor. Don’t do anything with it on smartthings.

Use a different Z wave controller which is not on your smartthings network. This is very important. If you have added the other Z wave controller to smartthings as a secondary, you are not going to get the results you want. It has to be acting as a standalone separate zwave network.

  1. Take the sensor over next to the other Z wave controller and issue a general exclude from that controller And do whatever physical manipulation is required on the sensor to get it to accept it.

  2. Then add it to the other controller, update the firmware, and exclude it again from that controller.

Now from a network point of view it’s the same as if the sensor had broken and you bought a new one to replace it.

We do not want the new sensor to get its own ID. Instead, we want smartthings to reuse the old device ID for this “new” device. That’s what “replace” means in this context.

  1. So now, issue the “replace” command from smartthings Using the old device ID.

  2. Smartthings will first attempt to contact the “old” device. It won’t get a response, because you cleared the ID information out of the sensor when you had it on the other network.

So it will then automatically use that old ID for whatever the next zwave device is that gets added to the network. So the hub will automatically issue its own include command at this point. Note that you never use the “add a device” option yourself to get it back to smartthings – – that would give it the wrong ID. You just wait for the hub to issue it on its own as part of the replace utility.

  1. Do whatever physical manipulation is required on the end device to get it to accept the include that the hub has issued as part of the replace.

At the end of all of that you will have a new device with the same device ID as the old device. Or in your case, you will have replaced the device with itself.

Unfortunately, if at anytime you excluded the device yourself from smartthings then smartthings will remove the device information from your account and the replace will not work.

This is also why there can be a problem if you try to exclude it from a device which is a secondary on your smartthings network.

You want to exclude it from a device on an entirely different zwave network precisely because that other controller will not tell smartthings that anything has been done.

Unfortunately, it sounds like it’s too late for this particular device, but at least you’ll know what happened.

9

Hi
I did want to use the “Replace”-function, but my problem was that the device disappeared in ST, a few minutes after I pushed the button on the multisensor for 30 seconds.

So when the device was gone from ST, I could use the Replace button.

PS: About step 1 of taking the device close to the other controller and do the general exclude, I will try that next time.

10

If it’s convenient, you could take the smartthings hub itself off power Before using the other controller to issue an exclude. And leave it off power until you are ready to bring the device back to smartthings again. That would avoid any accidental remove from the smartthings system.

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