When I add a single zwave switch, it adds two entities. What is the difference between them and do I need both of them? I’ve highlighted an example on the last switch I added below.
The zwave entity represents the device/node. It has attributes that are related to the node. The entity id can be used in some events and services. It’s mostly informative, but if you disable the zwave entity you won’t see the node in the Z-Wave control panel, and I don’t think scene/node events will work either. So don’t disable it.
The switch entity of course represents some functionality provided by the device.
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Thanks for the explanation!
only two nodes? then you are lucky. Most of the nodes I add create between 4 and 6 entities.
I added a zwave power strip that added around 32 entities. 
But yeah, you won’t need most of them. But also be aware that some motion sensor devices use other entities to signal motion. It won’t always be a binary sensor as you would think it should be.
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I’m glad you brought this up. I have a GE(Jasco) zwave combo switch/motion sensor in the garage. When I pair it, I actually got two devices out of it and each one had six entities. I renamed one Zombie because I thought it was a mistake.
Here is the first device in HA that was created from this switch:
Here is the second device that was created from this switch:
Can someone tell me the difference between the two and why it makes two devices like that? Based on what I am learning, it sounds like I should only get a single device with any number of entities (depending on the device).
UPDATE:
Ahhh… As I look at them closer, I see that one must be the switch and the other one must be the motion portion. Each has it’s own set of entities. Am I right?
Thanks,
-Alli
I don’t have that particular device but I would assume you are correct.
It is interesting that only one of them has a zwave entity in it though. I guess one is a child to the other though so I guess it gets it from the parent.
This GE is a multi-channel device. HA has chosen to represent each instance (endpoint) as separate devices, to never ending confusion. As you suspected, the device for the first instance (often the “root” endpoint) is the one that is assigned the zwave entity.
The endpoints usually have different functionality, which is supposed to be documented, but GE rarely has any useful documentation. OZW and HA create entities for the functionality that the device says each endpoint supports. It may be that it incorrectly reports this and you get entities that don’t appear to be functional. Sometimes the “root” instance and a child instance (endpoint) are mirrors of each other, in that case the HA devices appear to be identical.
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