ZWave 5th Gen USB Stick and Upgrade----Thoughts?

So for the past few months I noticed some things in my Automation have been going haywire. Linear Garage Door never got working correctly. Intermittent errors with ,motion triggers acting wonky. My SQL Logger Database showing errors. This got me thinking that maybe after nearly 4 years of adding, deleting, moving and changing things it is starting to take its toll.

I want to purchase the newer Aeon Labs USB Stick (5th Gen) as I currently still use the older black one. I assume if I buy that I would have to add each item in again as the settings aren't transferable, correct? If so, would this be a good time to start from scratch? Dump everything and have a clean brand new setup?

I was debating a few things like maybe buying a new Mac mini as well and setting up the system on that but taking the old system off line and use it as a guid on building out the triggers, schedules etc. Once completed just dumping it and keeping the new System in place all together.

Anyone here do an upgrade? Or a complete start over? What worked best for you and / or how would you go about it?

[jay (support)]

There isn't an automated way to move your network from stick to stick so you'll have to exclude/include each device on the new one.

I'm looking to move to a gen 5 stick also. Assume there's no issue with losing devices in indigo if you remove and re add the device immediately?
Can you have both sticks plugged in at any one time?


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[jay (support)]

No, but you don't need to because you can use either stick to exclude. Plug in the new stick, start exclusion mode, exclude a device, open the device's config dialog, include and sync it. Repeat.

No, but you don't need to because you can use either stick to exclude. Plug in the new stick, start exclusion mode, exclude a device, open the device's config dialog, include and sync it. Repeat.

Good to know Jay. I've purchased a new Gen 5 stick but haven't attempted the transition because of the daunting task of excluding/including the devices. I was thinking I had to exclude on the old stick, include on the new one; requiring lots of swapping. With ~20 Z-wave devices I've just been putting that off. But I've got several new Z-wave devices to deploy and have been delaying that because I didn't want to add more devices until I switched.

If I exclude the old device let say "kitchen Light" and then include it again both with the new stick, won't it generate a new Device ID? Also won't that break any actions, triggers or schedules the old ID was in?

[jay (support)]

It will get a new Z-Wave node id - but when you edit the existing device in Indigo, the new node/device should show up on the popup at the bottom. Essentially, you're specifying the new node ID in that popup. The Indigo device will retain it's ID so all your triggers/schedules, etc., will continue to work correctly.

Jay, just checking here before I crack on with it - Assuming I can't do this in bits, it needs to be everything all at once to migrate them over?

Disconnect old USB
Connect new USB
Exclude the device
Include the device from the new USB stick (via the devices properties in Indigo)

Rinse and repeat for all devices. If you don't then those devices won't work.

I have a few hard to reach devices (one that's secured away in a waterproof box in the garden!) so I need to make sure I can get to all of the Z-wave devices and have enough time to run around the whole house to do this...

[jay (support)]

Yep, I think that should work. Start with the devices closest to the Mac and work your way outward.

Ok so I did this today and no issues, except for the life of me, I can't get the sensitive strips to exclude / include properly !!!

Also a point of note, any custom z-wave parameters get lost so I still need to go through all my dimmers setting them as on/off, toggle etc... a little annoying !


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Also just to report that things that were linked to the Z-Wave devices have had to be re-configured. Like the LED Light Manager plugin for my RGBW's had to be re-pointed at the 'new' Z-wave devices.

[jay (support)]

Also just to report that things that were linked to the Z-Wave devices have had to be re-configured. Like the LED Light Manager plugin for my RGBW's had to be re-pointed at the 'new' Z-wave devices.

Interesting. I wouldn't have expected that since the plugin should be storing the Indigo ID for the device and that wouldn't have changed...

I read all the posts here, but just to be sure I go this right, I would do the migration to 5 as follows:

1. Insert the new stick and create the z-wave network in Indigo. Just unplug the old stick? Disable it first?
2. Remove the new stick and press and hold button to put it into exclusion mode.
3. Go to each device and exclude it
4. To to devices list and add each device back

Is that right?

Is that right?

HI John.

I just went through this exercise. Here is how I did it.

Print out a list of all your Z-Wave devices.

1. Disable Z-Wave communication in Indigo.
2. Pull the Gen2 Z-Stick and put it in a drawer.
3. Go to the first Z-Wave device. I recommend the one physically closest to where the stick will reside. Be sure to have some devices with relay capability included when doing your battery-powered devices.
4. Long-press the Gen5 Z-Stick to put it in exclusion mode and exclude the device (you can exclude with any controller)..
5. Short press the Gen5 Z-Stick to put it in inclusion mode and include the device.
6. Take the stick back to Indigo, enable Z-Wave communication and assign the device its new ID (mine became ID 2).
7. Go into the device configuration and resync it.
8. Go back to step 1 and repeat for each device, working outward by distance.

Although Indigo supports network-wide inclusion, not all of my devices do, so I chose to do each manually via sneaker net. My way was labor intensive, but effective.

I only had trouble with a couple devices that had a hard time syncing. The sync process would time out almost instantly. One was a thermostat where I ultimately cycled power (pulled from the wall and replaced) which then synced. The other device was a Sensative Strips door/window sensor that had real trouble syncing. Once I got that device synced it has been rock solid.

The only issue I've seen is one of my thermostats doesn't want to clear the cooling status icon in the Indigo UI. It's the same one that I had to pull power on. It was working fine with the Gen2 stick, and I suspect that the Gen5 sync was not quite perfect. I plan to look into that this weekend.

Hit me up if you have questions.

I should add that I think it's worthwhile to do a network optimization once all devices have been added. Although I think I included them in the most logical order, what's important is that they know who they can talk to. There a hop limit on Z-Wave relays, and this will help ensure the shortest route to the server.