I actually have my Gen5+ connected to my Pi 3 anyway, and connect my Home Assistant to it via WebSockets. The Pi 3 is my DNS, DHCP and LDAP host, so I figured it had some cycles to spare. It’s in a slightly more central spot in the home than my Home Assistant Pi, so it’s not a bad setup.
It looks like that the GEN5+ will not be available in retailers in Europe anytime soon 
Popp.to delivers…
Yes, but they ship from China. This means high shipping costs, duty fees that aren’t surely included on the price, and eventually a heck of a delay now with that cargo ship stuck on the Suez canal 
Actually they ship from germany or fance.
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Ok, thank you. I saw contradicting information, but that clears that out.
Nonetheless, it is still 18$ for the shipping alone, plus 60$ for the z-stick itself… it would be nice to have this available on Amazon, where I purchased my GEN5 z-stick for less than 50EUR.
Should they also bring it with a red bow around it 
Hi guys!
There’s someone that was able to do a gen5-gen7 stick comparison about real range?
Looking to tech specs, especially for the EU version, seems that gen7 are not able to reach the same area coverage of gen5.
But this appear to be not so clear… so… any direct experience?
For me the coverage is so important, because I’ve some far devices outdoor that I’m able to reach (at limit) with my actual controller (zipato zipabox that I want to abandon to move to HA that now is running in parallel), and a less coverage area could risk to create issues.
Gen7 features are not available I don’t believe are available until Z-Wave JS suppports S2. S2 has far lower overhead in transmission packet size.
The security protocol is downgraded to the original Z wave plus version (S0), which has far greater overhead, and the range is likely influenced as well. (See the silicon labs white paper on Z-Wave security)
https://zwave-js.github.io/node-zwave-js/#/getting-started/sponsoring?id=roadmap
Someone correct me if I’m wrong please, but that’s my understanding of it. Consequently, it doesn’t matter what stick you get if you’re using Z-Wave JS.
@FreelancerJ : out of curiosity, what controller software are you running that you have HA connect to via WebSockets?
Z-WaveJS now, since I’ve not got anything too complex going on. Working well all this time
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Update:
Besides being less efficient and more congested with network latency, Z-Wave networks Running on controller software not utilizing a S2 controller’s S2 capability are susceptible to network joining key theft which is rather trivial to implement (“Key Reset” attack).
Described in detail at my post:
Gen 7 / 700 series z-wave chip has far, far greater range if the controller is gen 700, The controller software running a gen 7 chip controller is supporting S2 v2 (so definitely not Z-Wave JS or openzwave-based controller software), and most or all of the devices in the Z-wave network are gen 7 as well.
That’s my understanding of it
Nice. Doing it separately from Home Assistant seems like it has its advantages.
Out of curiosity have you looked into doing the same but from a Z-Ware box / Pi so you can have S2 support with all the speed / reduced network latency advantages that that brings (+ security vulnerability fixes)?
I think if you’re willing to share a tutorial on how to do so, this would be advantageous to a lot of folks.
Hi, I was thinking to buy one from popp.to mid of August, but was a little bit afraid about customs to France…
I have been able to buy one directly from Domotique-Store (I’m not sure I can put the link) in France an received it in few days, through Colissiomo (La Poste).
Hope it can help …
Regards
FYI, Z-Wave JS now supports S2 and enables it by default on new installations if you set a security key.
Support for S2 is still very new in ZWave JS and each release after v8.1.0 has contained S2 bug-fixes:
Z-Wave JS also support Z-Wave 700 Controller like Silabs UZB-7 stick, Aeotec Z-Stick 7 and Z-Pi 7:
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I might do this, if I get around to setting up from scratch to include everything with S2. Won’t be super soon though, sorry. Too much else on (as shown by the lateness of toy reply here 
This, all of this is goodly news to me. Thank you!
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Aeotec now posted a ‘how-to’ upgrade firmware and they also provide direct download links with a copy of unmodified Silabs GBL FW files used for OTW firmware upgade that comes with Simplicity Studio:
https://help.aeotec.com/support/solutions/articles/6000252296-update-z-stick-7-sdk-7-15
FYI; blhoward2 also confirmed OTW FW upgrade bootloader + xmodem procedure in Linux on Silabs UZB-7 stick reference HW as posted here [Feature Request] Ability for Z-Wave JS to perform OTW firmware updates of Z-Wave 700 series USB sticks like the Silabs UZB-7, Aeotec Z-Stick 7, and Zooz USB 700 Series Z-Wave Plus S2 Stick · Issue #2545 · zwave-js/node-zwave-js · GitHub
Confirmed manual process to upgrade working in Linux. Credit to cpw:
- installed minicom
- figured out where device was (/dev/ttyUSB0 for me)
- unplugged/plugged in device
- in a shell: stty 115200 cs8 -cstopb -F /dev/ttyUSB0
- then in same shell: printf ‘\x01\x03\x00\x27\xDB’ >/dev/ttyUSB0
- configure minicom: minicom -s important: turn hw flow control OFF here, set baud etc
- run minicom: minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0
- press enter a bunch of times, you’ll see menu as demoed. (may need to replug stick to get this to happen)
- select 1 in menu to flash. in minicom, use ctrl shift S, select xmodem, and specify path to file. Upload should proceed (it’ll take a minute)
- press 2 once upload is complete in minicom to “run” the new firmware.
Again, more discussion available here → Aeotec Z-Stick 7 USB stick (ZWA010) and Aeotec Z-Pi 7 Raspberry Pi HAT/Shield (ZWA025) Z-Wave 700 Controllers with Z-Wave JS · zwave-js/node-zwave-js · Discussion #2549 · GitHub
is the upgrade to FW 7.15 mandatory?
Also the controller itself is shown with secure: no per default. is that a problem?
