Since going a bit off topic in another Zwave topic and having created a few help topics, I figured that maybe its good to make a more general and complete topic on my Zwave journey, hoping it will help others.
My goal in the end is having a functional alarm system, sensor system en control over the water level in our horse track.
What I have done so far. I made the decision to use Aeotec controller and sensors, based on advice from some friends and topics I read. Starting with a Zwave 7 controller and Zwave JS. Adding 2 range extenders to cover most of the terrain, door sensor, motion sensor, temp sensor, power switch and two water sensors. Hoping to expand.
Since adding the sensor I have continuously had problems with dead sensors, missing entities and other issues. While asking for help I learned that it’s sometimes easier to control nodes and the controller using Zwave JS UI which is another Add-on. In the beginning I mixed up the two, not realizing UI was a really different add-on. So I made the switch from Zwave JS to Zwave JS UI.
Still having issues I also decided to switch from a 7 stick to a gen 5+ stick. Still from Aeotec. That also brings us to the point where I am now at. Zwave JS UI installed, running a 5+ stick. Not all nodes added and working as you can see in the image below:
Now I want to go step by step, trying to get all nodes working properly. Working top down, controller is working. First sensor, the temp sensor, works fine. Sensor 003 and 005 are range extenders from Aeotec, which seem to work otherwise my temp sensor would not have been connected to the network. However as you can see in the image they remain unknown product and unknown manufacturer. This is where my first question rises, because in Zwave JS they were labeled with what they are, range extenders. Now in UI I can’t seem to get that working. I tried reinterview, rebuild routes and ping. All works no errors, but labeling does not change. Anyone with a tip to get this further?
Second question. Both my door sensor and motion sensor are in the network, sleeping. I seem to not be able to ping these devices. Is that because they are sleeping? The battery indicators are showing dead batteries, but from what I understand that’s a common problem. As these batteries almost cannot be empty.
Last but not least I want to thank @wimjanse @freshcoast @NathanCu on helping me on this journey so far!