How to re-pair ZWave devices after removal

Hello,

I have been using Minoston MP21Z wall plugs for Christmas lights with success. These were paired to a Zoos S2 device which also controls a few GE wall switches. My HA is running the standard VirtualBox image.

I pulled the Minoston plugs out yesterday to use them on another test project but they would not respond to automation. After all the basic checks, I decided to try and remove these from HA and then rediscover them. Problem is, they never show up again.

Is there a place in HA that ignores “removed” devices so they’re not seen again? Any help with where this would be is greatly appreciated.

Mike

Zwave devices must be ‘excluded’ before they can join any network. (including re-joing a previous network)

Did you remove them by excluding them? If not, you need to use any hub/coordinator and run a general exclude on the device before ot will join anywhere.

@NathanCu , thank you for the quick reply. I followed the Z-Wave JS “Remove Failed Device” option in their panel only. These z-wave plugs do not have a formal “exclusion” process from the documentation which is pretty limiting.

Do I need another hub of some kind? I think all I have is the Zoos stick at the moment.

Mike

You have everything you need already - you just need to perform the right procedure.

‘Remove failed device’ is not an exclusion - it just makes your ZWaveJS installation forget the device but does nothing to make the device forget it was already joined to a ZWave network - and thus why you cannot rejoin them. (They still think they’re joined to a network and will not answer another join until they’re first excluded…)

Use Zwave JS to exclude the devices. Once they’ve been done correctly they should then be able to be included.

The instructions are here: Aeotec Smart Switch 6 without USB user guide : Aeotec Help Desk
See the heading titled: Removing your Smart Switch from a Z-Wave network.

Instructions for using ZWaveJS to exclude a device: Z-Wave JS - Home Assistant

Some devices also have a procedure to reset to factory defaults. After that they are ready to join any network again.

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@NathanCu thank you for sharing those links. The documentation for the Minoston plugs is pretty poor with no indication of how to enter pairing or exclusion mode. Through trial and error I found out that a quick three button press action seems to activate an appropriate mode. This allowed HA to successfully process the exclude request and also allowed me to re-pair both buttons.

Thank you for the guidance.

Mike

Hmm…

I did a search for “Minoston MP21Z” and the second link was this:

https://minoston.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/MP21Z-Manual.pdf

which includes in the middle of the second column how to both exclude the device and how to reset to factory defaults.

Thank you, @finity for posting the link. My search results kept bringing up links to manuals.plus and these do not even closely resemble the link you shared above. In my haste, I completely overlooked the yellow user manual link on the Minostron.com site. I guess I need to slow down, re-evaluate my search engine.

Mike