Aeon Labs Z-Stick Plus Gen5 (ZW090)

I "grew up" on X-10 and Insteon which was always able to upload/download. Is there nothing similar?
Do I have to "define and Sync" for every device? That's over thirty z-wave devices.
Do they have to be excluded from the current Z-stick?
How do I know which current address matches? For example, I have close to twenty "Outdoor Appliance Module".
When something grows over a long time, it's impossible to remember all the relationships.

[matt (support)]

Indigo doesn't support uploading logic or schedules to any controllers except the old (and no longer available) X10-only PowerLinc 1132CU and 2414U.

Yes, you have to define/sync for every device.

Yes, you have to exclude from the current Z-Stick.

For a new Z-Stick the addresses are added sequentially, so I would suggest using a pencil and paper to record the order in which you include them.

I never imagined z-wave would be so intolerant.
I can't save/restore my network.
When my z-stick fails, I have no way of performing the exclusion process and thus can't include them in a replacement.
What a sick joke.

Check out this short video. HomeSeer saves the network and restores to new device.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS-YWPV ... e=youtu.be
Simple interface.
Is this a hoax?

[matt (support)]

You can exclude modules with any interface, even a new interface that wasn't used for the initial inclusion.

Indigo doesn't support the backup/restore functionality yet. If that is critical for you, then I would recommend using another application.

I am trying to get this device set up on my Mac, but it doesn't seem to be recognizing it. I am not getting any error messages to tell me what the problem is either, Indigo just doesn't seem to see it. I have the new Gen 5 stick, and I tested on my Windows machine using a trial version of Homeseer. The device is working, so I am stuck. I can't figure out what to do to get it to work with Indigo.

Thanks,
Rusty

[matt (support)]

Did you follow all the steps here? Note you need to download the driver from the link on the Wiki. The last time I checked the Aeotec website had an older version of the driver that doesn't work. Also try different USB ports on your Mac to see if that makes any difference.

If that doesn't help then copy/paste the Event Log window contents into a reply so we can see exactly what is occurring.

I don't think that any drivers are needed for the Gen 5.

From the help page....
Once you have your interface plugged into a USB port, you can enable and configure Z-Wave in Indigo:

Choose the Interfaces→Z-Wave→Enable menu item. This should cause the Configure Z-Wave dialog to open automatically (but only the first time you enable Z-Wave - you can select the Interfaces→Z-Wave→Configure… menu item to get back to the configuration dialog later):

The default Connection Type of Local (physical) is correct (assuming you've plugged your Z-Stick directly into your Mac).

On the Serial Port popup, you should select the serial port that starts with usbmodemfd (for Z-Stick Gen5)

Save the Configure Z-Wave dialog.

I've got a new one not yet installed, just tried that and it worked fine....

[matt (support)]

I don't think that any drivers are needed for the Gen 5.

Ah, yes I overlooked we were talking about Gen 5. For Gen 5 Apple's built-in modem serial driver is used, so it should show up in the serial port list without any driver installation.

no-one is perfect....

Just a warning to others though. Trying to be helpful I had plugged in the Gen 5 and enabled it and it looked fine. I then plugged back in my old Z-stick and it all looked good the Z-Wave icon went green, but no commands were being sent / received over Z-wave and nothing was working. I have to admit, rather then fault find too much (I did check the obvious things) I just bailed and reverted back to yesterdays backup of the whole folder and its now working fine, but in case others try this, there is a risk involved......

[matt (support)]

Indigo will disable communication with devices if it thinks the interface has been changed/swapped (and thus the modules included in the interface don't match what Indigo thinks they should). It does not automatically re-enable if you revert back to the previous interface, but you can manually re-enable the devices by right-clicking on them in the main window (via the contextual menu).

Matt,

Thanks, I cannot test anything now as its all working again, but the Z-Wave icon at the bottom left was green, not red so it led me to believe that the interface was working (and the log didn't report a problem), so I guess it was working, just with no devices? So do you mean the individual device 'comms enable' tick box? Sounds likely I must admit I did not notice this, so it may well have been unticked. If so then at least that solves it and is an easy fix.
Thanks,
Gareth

Hi,

Sorry if this is answered elsewhere:
a. Can you have two Z-Wave sticks running at the same time (different meshes of course)
b. Does the Gen5 allow its configuration to be backed up and restored to another Gen5 stick? I remember reading that this was coming.
c. What is the recommended procedure to move a device from one stick to another?

Basically I have the older stick and am looking to migrate to a new stick if the new stick gives me a higher level of fail safe - I dont want to ever have a dead stick and a pile of wired devices (relays etc) that all have to be urgently visited to get my house resurrected.

But if the G5 does not allow backup restore, I will just stay with my existing trusty stick.

Regards

[jay (support)]

a. No
b. Not at the moment
c. Exclude it then include it into the new stick.

Mac Mini i7 Quad Core
8 GB RAM
1TB Conventional hard drive
El Capitan (OSX 10.11.1)
Indigo 6.1.4

In my old house, I bought the previous Aeon Labs Z-stick and plugged it into a powered USB hub. It was not recognized as a USBMODEM, but as a USB Serial Port. At that time, I had no available port in my Mac Mini i7, so I sent back the Z-stick. Since I've moved and Aeon has introduced the Gen5 Z-Stick, I just picked one of those up. I had the same problem when plugging it into a powered hub. Fortunately, I now have an open port directly into my Mac. The USB MODEM port appeared as an option and I was able to initialize the Z-Stick.

I noticed that in the Indigo documentation for Z-Wave interfaces, there was mention of acquiring a powered USB hub to allow the Z-Stick to be plugged in vertically, to allow for possible greater range. Unfortunately, as I said above, plugging the Z-Stick into the USB hub was not recognized properly by Indigo. USB hubs should generally work with any device that is designed to USB specifications, but neither generation of the Z-Stick has worked with ANY of my USB2 or USB3 powered hubs with either Yosemite or previously with Mavericks. I'd like to know who might be using either generation of Z-Stick with a powered USB hub. If you have gotten this to work, which Mac did you use, and did you need to use a particular USB hub, OS version, or???

I can now accept this limitation, but what I would like to know is what is the technical issue with using the Z-Stick in a powered USB hub? I've tried several different hubs that everything else I use works with, but neither generation of the Z-Stick and Indigo 6. Since all Macs are made by Apple, which Macs actually will allow the Z-Sticks to be connected via a powered USB hub, as the Indigo documentation suggests has worked relatively well for the developers?

Thanks for reading this lengthy post.