Z-Wave Device Firmware Update Requests

Developer Programs
42

which z-wave stick do you recommend and any tutorial to use PC controller, etc…

43

I use the one that @TheSmartestHouse sells. Mine is a couple of years old, not the newer 700 series model www.thesmartesthouse.com

I will note, though, that I’ve had very little luck updating firmware via a secondary controller. The Zooz 500-series devices, in particular, have always needed a reset after a firmware update.

Inovelli has good step-by-step instructions for installing and using the Silicon Labs software as a secondary controller.

44

I’ve used both the z-stick from Homeseer and the reference stick from silicon labs. Both work fine.

For software Homeseer provides an app (to use with the z-stick) but it’s not great.

PC Controller has worked great and I’ve updated many devices. Including Inovelli dimmers which require 2 firmware updates each for the cpus. Most apps can’t handle that.

I’ve done it both as :

  • removing the device from ST and joining it to a primary network created by the stick
  • adding the stick as a secondary controller and updating the device while still joined to ST

I don’t recall any devices (Inovelli, zooz, Leviton, jasco) needing a full reset after. Maybe one or two.

But regardless the whole process is figity enough that doing it on a mobile device/app seems iffy at best.

2 Likes
45

Agree with this!

1 Like
46

I’ve got a Zooz USB stick up and running on Z-Wave PC Controller. My issue is I can’t for the life of me figure out which devices are which. I have a bunch of Jasco/GE switches/dimmers/fans and don’t want to brick them.

The Device ID doesn’t seem to match up to the one displayed on the API Browser. How can I confirm the I’m seeing the proper device and thus updating the correct one!?!?

47

Device ID in the IDE and API browser is in hexadecimal. Device ID in the update software is in decimal.

If you didn’t grow up programming IBM mainframes you might need a calculator to convert. :joy:

48

Aha! Didn’t know a normal number like 65 in hexadecimal is different than decimal. I see now that it’s 101 :slight_smile:

2 Likes
49

Nah - we still needed to do it back in the not-as-ancient times when we used black magic - you know, the Windows Registry… :slight_smile: But these new kids…

1 Like
50

So I’ve managed to update all of my GE/Jasco dimmers and light switches.

I have 3 GE 14287 Fan Controllers (ZW4002) that I’m trying to update to 5.24. They seem to update fine in Z-Wave PC Controller and it says successful at the end. But the device factory resets and then excludes itself from the Hub. When I re-add it, the firmware didn’t change and stays at 5.22.

Anyone have luck upgrading these devices?

51

I haven’t needed to update any firmware in a while. I just had a few GE/Jasco switches die. I’ve replaced them but need to update firmware on new switches.

I booted up Z-Wave PC Controller with my Zooz stick and can see the devices but I can’t get any of the switches to update. They just time-out and say “unable to receive”. I’ve removed the Z-Wave stick from ST, then re-added and tried again. Any ideas? Could something have changed within ST Hub firmware where it is no longer allowing a secondary controller to update firmware?

52

Are you adding the z-wave stick as a secondary controller on the SmartThings mesh?

It’s much less convenient but you can bring up the Z-wave stick as a primary controller or its own mesh. Then you have to

  1. remove devices to be updated from the SmartThings mesh,
  2. add them to the stick’s mesh,
  3. update,
  4. remove from stick’s mesh and
  5. add back to SmartThings as a new device

It breaks all the automations involving the devices that need to be updated but it gets SmartThings out of the process of updating.

3 Likes
53

Thank you!!! That worked!

3 Likes