Hey Y’all,
I’m moving away from my Nortek HUSBZB-1 Z-Wave stick to a 700 or 800 series, and I’ll be starting fresh with Z-Wave. I’m content to start fresh by excluding/including my Z-Wave devices. I’ve documented my current device names in HA so I can just name everything consistently and start fresh, but I want to do it right.
I’m running Home Assistant on an Intel NUC using HAOS.
I have a couple of pretty basic questions that I would appreciate you help with:
I’m a bit confused with the Z-Wave JS nomenclature. I upgraded/migrated from zwave2mqtt a while back, but now I’m confused on the differences of Z-Wave JS vs Z-Wave JS UI. I’m using UI today and everything is connected to HA via MQTT. I have no Z-Wave integration directly in HA.
Full disclosure: I’m also using ZigBee2MQTT
What USB Adapter is recommended by this community. I recently purchased the Aeotec Z-Stick 7, but saw on here that it’s not recommended because it’s discussed in this forum very regularly, and not for good reasons. Is the Zooz 800 Series Z-Wave Long Range S2 Stick (ZST39 LR) the latest and greatest, or should I stick with a 700 Series?
Basically, I’m looking for the best practices for Z-Wave on Home Assistant in 2023.
Z-Wave JS and Z-WaveJSUI use the exact same driver so if you only use the Z-WaveJS Integration in home assistant then you would get the exact same experience no matter which addon you use.
What makes Z-WaveJSUI better is that it offers a lot more features. Silicon labs is the company that owns the Z-Wave Protocol and on there website you can download the Z-Wave PC Controller Software. This is the gold standard for the functionality a hub should offer because it supports every Z-Wave feature. When I compare hubs this is what I compare them to. Z-Wave JS UI supports most of these features.
Z-Wave JS UI gives you access to the following features.
Associations
Node Map
NVM Backups - if your controller fails you would have to exclude every device and rejoin to a new device. With the nvm backed up you can just restore it to another controller and be up and running in minutes
Ability to Set Manual Z-Wave Routes
MQTT Support for API CALLS. This allows you to automate things like node reinterviews
Smart Start improvements like the ability to disable nodes in the provisioning list as well as back up the list
It has a UI which provides you with alot of visual information such as the property Id and values which are useful when using the Z-Wave: Set Value on a Z-Wave device (Advanced) service.
You can perform a replace failed node. The last time I checked automations are linked to your node IDs so if the node id changes you have to re setup your automation. With this feature you don’t have to redo your automations.
At least 5 different installation options. I personally run the standalone version as a windows service because of how easy it is to install and maintain. To install it you just download the exe file and double click on it to run it.
Websocket Server. This allows you to have your controller in one location and your HA install in another.
The ability to only show logs for a specific node as well as to filter through logs using search.
If you want to see what features the PC Controller Software has there is a document called INS13114.pdf that you can view or you download the software and play around with it.
I have both… ZWave JS shows in my sidebar and ZWave JS UI in Add-ons. When I want to enter ZWave JS UI then I click on “Open web UI”. As a matter of fact, earlier tonight I tried to do that and every time HA would restart. I finally uninstalled ZWave JS UI and installed it again, which resolved that issue.
Should I uninstall ZWave JS if I want to use ZWave JS UI ?
I only have Z-Wave JS UI, I do not have the standard Z-Wave JS integration installed on my Home Assistant instance. Yet, I have the Z-Wave JS on my sidebar.
So it seems I do not need Z-Wave JS if I’m happy with Z-Wave JS UI like I have it now?
I’m hoping someone can provide some additional details. I currently use a Vera Secure as my ZWave radio. It’s getting old now and I’d like to upgrade to Zwave JSUI. I’m thinking I’d order the Zooz 800 series Z stick. Questions:
Is the Zstick connected directly to my RPi4 running Home Assistant?
Do I need an extension USB cable? If so, how long is appropriate and how long is too long?
Any advice on migration?
Additional details to help understand my setup. The RPi4 is centrally located in my open concept first floor. RPi4 had 8gb memory and is running on a 500gb SSD. I have approximately 60 z wave devices, some of which HA can not be recognized via the Vera integration.
All smart home equipment is located in a utility nook behind my primary living room tv. This includes the RPi4, Vera Secure, Ubiquity Network hardware, NVR and Sonos amps. So lots of radio activity in a centralized location. Vera Secure currently only provides ZWave radio and 433 MHz for door window sensors. No Zigby devices and no significant coding on the Vera. I will eventually either replace the 433 MHz door sensors or may add a 433 hub, but for now that will be the only reason to keep the Vera.
If you’ve been down this road or can provide useful information, I’d appreciate any tips. We are VERY dependent on Home Assistant working dependably so this really needs to be well planned and executed.
I’ve been using this extension for my Z-Wave and ZigBee radios, and it’s worked really well. You would connect this to one of the USB ports on your Pi. The extension should provide distance to keep the Pi from interfering with the USB radio.
Did you ever get the Zooz 800 setup and if so how is your experience with it? I have a Z-Stick 7 that I’d like to transition away from as I have been having issues with it but I’m not sure if the Zooz 800 will be any better.
I also got mine set up with very little issue. So far ZWaze JS-UI has been great. I held out on my old Vera Secure for a long time and have been very impressed so far.
I am still not confident about the Zwave backup. I know that I can back up the stick in the Zooz Simplicity Studio software and I believe that a Zwave JS UI should do the same, but I am not sure.
I have another Zooz 800 stick on my old RPi with HA that I keep if ever my HA Yellow Box breaks down, but it has not been tested.
@EndUser@kartcon Do you know what firmware version your sticks are on? I’m getting mine today and want to make sure I use a stable FW. The Z-Stick 7 has been giving me all sorts of problems with delays and devices going off line so I’m hoping the Zooz 800 will bring me back to a stable state.
I too have the Zooz 800 stick. I updated to the latest firmware via the Simplicity Studio software (device not found, had to read a lot of posts/online content to figure out what to install/update). I’m running HAOS as a VM on Proxmox 8 and USB passthrough wasn’t a problem at all. Device found and Z-Wave support installed. But initially no devices were found no matter what I did.
So after more reading, I noticed that a new firmware level was out (v1.20) and updated that. Hoping to use HA firmware update going forward. Then bought a 3 ft. USB extension cable per the support info and did a full shutdown/power off/reboot and then it worked! Got the stick up and aware from the back of my home server (Optiplex 7070 with does have wifi & BT installed, but no Zigbee or anything else).
Hope this helps others save some time. I’m migrating from SmartThings and the amount of detail available for pairing, network status and so far, the overall speed of the actions (mostly Leviton Z-Wave switches hardwired for internal and some external lighing) has been great. Now off to learn about automations and get my internal and external sunset/sunrise lighting automation setup.