Seemly dumb question, if I am follow the “Don’t use the OpenZWave control panel (OZWCP), or the physical button on a controller, to add or remove devices.” how am I suppose to add all my existing in wall devices to HA?
you can use OZWCP, or you can use the physical include button on the controller, but it’s recommended to use the Z-Wave control panel built into HA (which is really OZW under the hood).
If you use OZWCP, you’ll have to copy over or link to the zwcfg_XXXXXXXX.xml and options.xml files it created and tell HA where they are.
If you use the physical button on the controller you may not be able to do a secure include and get full functionality on security devices.
If you use the Z-Wave panel under configuration on the left side menu of the frontend, you can secure include and rename and set parameters or config options for all nodes. Basically everything you can do in OZWCP, just from the HA frontend.
Weird since on https://home-assistant.io/docs/z-wave/adding/ it has a huge warning box saying don’t. Maybe that should be updated/clarified. I think my only secure device is a door lock. Ugh that I’d have to take it all apart just to repair it. This $49 smart things sale gets more tempting by the minute. (Just me being grumpy. No offense)
I just found
" if you happen to have an Aeon minimote, this can both include and exclude zwave devices to your smartthings network, so that’s often the easiest way. If you don’t have one, they are typically available for about $25 if you shop around. They are very popular in the community as they can also be used as a button controller with zwave devices, zigbee devices, to change modes, to run routines, etc."
I assume this would hold true for HA/aeon stick pairing too?
I think the minimote acts as a secondary controller and can put the network in inclusion/exclusion mode. Honestly, it’s not hard to use the Z-Wave control panel built into HA and do your node inclusion and configuration there.
That warning is somewhat true. I originally used OZWCP and the physical button to include a bunch of switches to my network. I never had a problem with their functionality. Since then I have switched to just using the control panel built into HA and the functionality between a switch added through OZWCP, through the pairing button, and through HA is still the same.
But old regular z-wave devices can’t long distance pair like that right? Why I’d walk around with the old vera on battery to each device. Or at least I’ve only got one device to pick up so far trying.