What's the cheapest Z Wave anything?

Configuration Z-Wave
1

I have a door lock (August) that's supposed to respond to Bluetooth, WiFi and ZWave commands.

I really want to add this device to HA.

The device does respond to Bluetooth. Running the August app, the lock opens and closes as expected. This is of course a manual process, so not what I'm looking for.

WiFi should work for me, except that it requires a "bridge". I have such a bridge .. it was included with the lock .. but the bridge is clearly defective, as evidenced by the lack of LEDs lighting up.

However, the lock internally supports ZWave! (I suspect the bridge is a WiFi to ZWave convertor.)

So I bought the HA recommended ZWave controller, added it to HA and then attempted to add the lock as a new device.

The instructions that came with the lock for doing so are pretty simple and actually include Home Assistant specifics!

Sadly, no joy. The ZWave device is never discovered.

Maybe the lock is bad. However, it responds to Bluetooth, so that seems unlikely.

Maybe there's "flavours" of ZWave and my two ZWave devices won't ever work. But that's not what I've heard about ZWave.

Or maybe my ZWave/HA install has a problem.

This third option seems possible (even though I followed all the steps) but it occurs to me that a good way to check is to try another ZWave device and see what happens.

However, I'm leery of throwing too much good money after bad. I'm already into this for four hundred dollars! (Like I say, I really want to make this work.)

And I can't think of a single ZWave home automation item that I need to buy; my home is automated.

So, if I don't buy something necessary, I should buy something cheap.

But nothing ZWave seems to be cheap ...

Any thoughts appreciated.

Alan

2

August locks no longer work with Z-Wave. I decommissioned one at my old place and in the process of commissioning at the new place an update was required to proceed. This update effectively made Z-Wave useless (can't pair).

Yale/August locks sent me this email:

Hello ,

Thank you for reaching out to us!

We sincerely apologize for the inconveniences you're experiencing while trying to setup your Smart Lock with your Z-Wave hubs, we understand this may result frustrating for you, I'll be happy to provide you with the necessary guidance on this matter,

Unfortunately, as of right now, Z-Wave connectivity for August Smart Locks has been discontinued and is no longer supported; existing connections with other devices that were already setup may stop working with no way to re-pair them. Now these devices are only operable through Bluetooth and Wi-Fi via the August app, We understand your concern and once again we sincerely apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.

If you need further assistance, you can reach out to us anytime!

Warm regards,

Thank you,

Alain Baeza

North America Smart Residential

In addition, the August Lock is put into Whisper mode meaning that the lock has to be within a meter or so of the Z-Wave controller (for me, the dongle). But it never connected, period. You must use WiFi mode and the Yale/August integration (cloud) to be able to use your lock with HA

That said, the one thing I don't think I tried was, when you get to the security S2/S0, leave the S2 checked and uncheck S0. I haven't done this because I would have to take the lock off the door to take it to the controller. (can't bring controller to door) Let me know if this works so I can ditch the cloud.

The sad truth of it is, August stole this feature from us and they don't care because you'd have to file suit in San Francisco because that's their mailing address and the suit would be a federal suit, costing you much much more than the $250 you paid for the lock. Sumus Fututus.