How to physically add zwave 500 devices to a wired Mini PC config

Configuration Z-Wave
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Hi -
Long time user, first time poster. I used to have the old Aeotec 5 stick that was battery powered and you could walk around with it and add/remove zwave devices near the device. Ages ago I had a Vera that came with a battery, you could walk around and add/remove devices with that. Up until last night, my config was a ZST39 800 Series Zooz stick on an extension cable, with a Raspberry Pi 3b+, I could run that off a battery and walk around and add/exclude devices.

Last night I moved to a KVM Fedora VM on a Mini PC, due to hardware (power?) stability with the old Pi 3b+ and the new ZST39 stick. I got the VM all up and running, I love that setup, it’s very fast. But, its 120v AC and wired ethernet. Now, I do have Ryobi inverters for 120v and I could set up wifi I guess, but running around the house with a Frankenstein rig in a backpack gets a bit silly, so what’s the best practice for adding/removing 500 series zwave devices from a system that’s less than portable?

Even the AI Google struggles to get to the heart of the issue, but this problem has to have been solved, right?

Thanks

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Build from the inside of your network out forming a solid mesh. If you device cannot join it’s too far away form a repeating node.

The only exception is old whisper mode ZWave s0 security devices like the schlage locks and some of the old Linear GDOs where you physically need to be within 6" you pull the device to the antenna or move your box temporarily. (ask me why I have a 50’ cat 6 patch in a closet.)

But the short version is they can join through the mesh if it can’t, there’s a signal issue - you need to rethink your range and routing.

The button you speak of while handy let people build less than strong meshes.

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As Nathan stated there’s no good reason to walk around anymore to each device for inclusion. I too had a Vera hub controller a long time ago and the only reason they told customers to walk around with the unit was because back then there were lots of 100-series Z-wave devices. 100-series devices did not have network-wide inclusion (NWI), instant status feedback, etc.

So my advice is that if you still have 100-series devices, replace them. They are over 10 years old now and will start failing. Within the past couple of years I’ve had a bunch of old Linear wall switches start to overheat and fail. Plus I had to constantly poll them since they didn’t give instant status if someone operated the switch locally.

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Ah I didn’t think devices could join first time through the mesh, that you had to be near for the first include, then the mesh is added. I’ll try it. I’ve got a lot of repeater devices (30+) in a pretty large place, and it all worked great up until the old Aeotec stick gave up the ghost. New stuff I’ll use the 800 series, but I’m heavily invested in the legacy 500 series devices. I put the Zooz 800 stick on a tether cable, not sure how far you can extend that and get signal. The old Aeotec didn’t need it, just plug right into the metal Pi. But you can back up the 800 series so that’s progress I guess.

Things that were rock solid for years on the Aeotec are borderline on the ZST39, or theres more interference around coincidentally or both. I even got one of the HA paper towel holder sticks (ZWA-2 I had to look it up) to test with, but after seeing reviews that it was marginal improvement at best over the ZST39, and I don’t want to test on a live system I need working, I decided to send it back. Plus it’s kinda pricey.

Thanks a lot for the input. I’ll see if it picks up the fringe devices, and they are the first ones to migrate to 800 long range when I get to that.

Appreciate!

Edit: Most of my powered devices are 500 series Zooz built-ins circa 2020 and 12 honeywell thermostats around the same. A bunch of battery sensors I haven’t migrated yet too. I have a few of the really old GE outside plugs and aeotec plugs, and I put some as-yet unused zooz relays I want to try running my well pump with, put them around to fill in any gaps. I can’t break that well pump yet I’ll get murdered :slight_smile: have to get this thing back to stable before I break things again. I bought a bunch of zooz back in covid, they had great sales, and I was stuck at home :slight_smile: