Given the issues with the Aeotec Z-stick and the RPi 4, what do people recommend as the next best dongle for Z-Wave that works with the RPi 4?
From what I read people got it working by connecting the stick to a USB 2 Hub and the hub to the Pi. Did you try this already?
Yep, the cheapest USB 2 hub that you can find will make it work.
A USB 3 hub will not work!
Oops, I meant to include that link: https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=245031&p=1580216&hilit=z+wave#p1580216
But yes, I got it to recognize with some hub thing in between, but this isn’t really great. Is the Z-stick so much better than others that this is a worthwhile tradeoff? Seems possible that they all are based on a similar chipset and might also have the same problem.
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Why isn’t it great? It’s not optimal, but it’s great that it works.
The only alternative that I’ve thought about going with is the RaZberry daughter card, but at the end of the day, my Aeotec cost me money and it works just fine through the USB hub, so there’s no need for me to replace it.
Because having another device just to make this work seems silly if a different dongle doesn’t require it.
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I agree that it’s a “shame” that you need a hub inbetween, time for Aeotec to release a new stick. But to be honest an usb 2 hub is sooo cheap nowadays and there are lots of really small ones as well, that I would not care about it if I had the same problem. However a new stick will cost you a multiple of the hub and also time to repair all your device(which can be a huge pain in a big setup.
So anyway if you still want another stick check the docs.
I used a hub too, but that was my plan as I also have a Zigbee stick, so the spacing was much better.
Moving the Z-Wave stick away from your Pi is a good thing. Less radio interference. And you can place the stick in a location that your Pi might not fit (especially if you use an extension cable.)
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I have the aeotec stick but I’ve recently bought a pi 4 (4GB) and I also have an everspring z wave stick.
I’ll be trialing an installation with that configuration soon so I’ll report back.
Deconz Conbee2
Okay, I built a second HA on a Rasberry Pi 4 (4GB though that shouldn’t matter)
I inserted the everspring z wave stick into a USB 2.0 port
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/113772482412?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=113772482412&targetid=854882047627&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9046455&poi=&campaignid=1669190339&mkgroupid=85180525181&rlsatarget=pla-854882047627&abcId=578896&merchantid=113597807&gclid=CjwKCAiA66_xBRBhEiwAhrMuLWadoNR-IqZYllVbLR26PuOw97uKwEArs7WiA6eRQdNKzGhUqDXCdRoC5toQAvD_BwE
Transfered my yaml files across, rebooted and …
Sucess, you don’t need a USB hub with this stick on a Pi 4 
I only have 1 node connected at the moment but I’m transfering my whole setup next week (I will report back any issues)
The stick reports z wave plus: false, but then so does the aeotec stick.
I have connected a z wave plus device and that is reported correctly and performs as such (reporting of manually switched status)
did you add now all your devices without any problem?
I use the nortek dual zwave/zigbee usb stick on my rpi 4 with no issues.
Without a usb hub also?
Correct. Plugged directly into the rpi 4 USB port.
I mainly use the zigbee side, but the couple of zwave devices I added seem to work as expected, too.
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I was having issues with the nortek stick. Zwave would not pair correctly to locks with secure node and zigbee would have heartbeat timeouts. Ended up using a unpowered USB 3.0 hub and all that went away with my rpi4
Good to know. I don’t have any securely paired devices in my hub, so wouldn’t have seen that.
Thanks.
So if I have a aeotec stick with my RP4 - I need to use a unpowered (or powered) USB 2.0 switch?
I have tried to connect the stick directly to my RP4, but I cannot find it, when doing the lsusb in terminal, it doesnt show the stick?