SmartenIT ZBWS3 [2014]

If you just want on and off, you can use anything that talks to SmartThings. :sunglasses:

There are several wallmount options for battery powered devices in the button FAQ:

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All this custom code for consumer devices is beyond annoying in my experience. I’m not a programmer though I can set up home automation. There are so many confusing steps and incomplete instructions full of vague abbreviations. In my opinion Samsung needs to take control here and make these operations possible. “Paste in code” and other confusing vagueness is not something consumers should be asked to do.

You are responding to a thread which is over four years old and a lot has changed in that time. In particular, there are now more devices which will work out of the box with smartthings, thus simplifying the process. If you just stick with Devices which have integrations available through the app, you won’t have to go through any of those other steps. :sunglasses:

I have started a new 2021 thread for battery operated Devices, most of which don’t need custom code, in case that’s what you were specifically looking for. :sunglasses:

[2021] Battery Power Switches and Buttons

Thanks. That’s useful. The Zooz looks like it might work and I’ve ordered it.
The GoControl switch code gave me a bunch of errors and it was downhill from there.
It’s great that people like you are so helpful and tolerant but I still think Samsung could take more responsibility.
Why does Zooz need a custom handler? Why can’t they use code that already works with ST?
Duck

The third-party Z wave standard only requires that controllers, like the smartthings hub, support the basic level of zwave commands. (“Basic“ has a very specific meaning in this context.)

There are a whole bunch of additional advanced commandsets.

Typically a hub which only supports Zwave and is trying to compete in that space, such as Homeseer or Fibaro or EzLo vera, Will support most of those additional commandsets and Their user interface will be set up to let you do all kinds of things with that, such as assign actions to central scene commands or create direct associations. or for that matter, just give you a routing table.

Because smartthings from the beginning set out to be a multi protocol platform, they tried to hide all of the protocol specific stuff from the user and raise it up an abstraction level. Consequently they don’t expose stuff which is only available with one protocol like, you know, central scene actions or direct associations. Customers can still get to it, but they have to write their own code (or use code that somebody else wrote) to do so.

What all of that means is that the Z wave Alliance protocol requires that smartthings be able to send a command to turn a switch on and off. Which it can do. but if you want to take advantage of advanced features like double tap, long press, changing the colors of LEDs, supporting panic mode, and other optional stuff, you have to use custom code.

In the case of that Zooz model, its use of central scenes is what allows it to handle double taps and long press. I haven’t looked at the details, it might also be using advanced notifications for low battery alerts.

It’s possible, although again I haven’t verified it, that you could use that device without any custom code, but you’d only be able to do on and off. If you used it with a different Z wave hub, you’d probably get the advanced features straight out of the box, no custom code needed. But with smartthings, if you want those advanced features, you need the custom code. It was a decision smartthings made at the very beginning of their architecture, before they were ever purchased by Samsung, and it continues to shape their development today.

Thanks for the explanation. I’m learning, thanks to generous people like you.

But I can’t get the Zooz to do anything without the custom handler. In fact, now I’ve installed the custom handler and it still won’t do anything, even though it appears in my Device Handlers online and on my phone in the list of devices in the Samsung app. I’ve written to Zooz and they answered me, so maybe this will straighten things out. Just seems like this stuff is harder than it needs to be.
Thanks again,
Dick

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