This add-on serves as a complete Z-Wave network control panel and gateway, offering Z-Wave network connectivity via WebSocket (which Home Assistant utilizes), MQTT or both.
As well as helping with troubleshooting RF issues, device configuration parameters management software offers another tool for troubleshooting issues and configuring devices more effectively.
Add Device
Z-Wave USB Stick is an adapter device that communicates with smart home devices to serve as a bridge, enabling you to control lights, switches, sensors, door locks and thermostats through software or other smart home platforms. Furthermore, its integration can enable automation routines, schedules and scenes in order to automate your home.
To add new devices to your Z-Wave network, a compatible hub that supports Z-Wave is required. These hubs can be found both online and locally at electronics stores; just follow the installation instructions on its package to set it up in your home and connect the USB stick back to your computer in order to access Home Assistant configuration settings.
Once your Z-Wave hub has been connected, open the Home Automation Menu and choose “Open Z-Wave JS.” When the interface loads, click on the hamburger icon (three stacked lines) at the bottom right corner and then “Manage Nodes”, represented by a green infinite symbol icon.
Once in the Manage Nodes page, click “Add a device” located in the upper left corner. This will open a window where you can enter your device’s unique ID as well as set other information like its name and location. After entering this data, click “Include” located at the upper right corner to initiate its inclusion process.
As soon as your device has completed inclusion, it will automatically join your Home Assistant network.
If the device you’ve tried to add doesn’t appear in Home Assistant after an attempt at including it, this may indicate that its communication with Home Assistant hub is having issues. You could try moving it closer to your router, repeating inclusion process again or moving closer. If issues still remain, this could be caused by either bad firmware update or interference issues with wireless technology.
The Zwave Js UI plugin offers various additional services that can be utilized with its user interface (UI), such as:
Exclude Device
If your Z-Wave devices are having difficulty with Home Assistant, this could be caused by any number of factors: incorrect hardware connections, settings in Home Assistant, network range issues, device pairing problems or interference from other devices. Luckily, there are simple solutions available to troubleshoot and reconnect them once again.
Unlock your Home Assistant Interface by pressing the hamburger icon (three stacked lines) in the lower right corner of your screen, selecting Z-Wave JS UI Page, and viewing a list of devices currently connected to Home Assistant network as well as accessing Add Device Page which enables adding new devices.
Once you are on the Add Device Page, follow the on-screen instructions for your specific device to activate inclusion mode. If it requires batteries (see manual for details), this may involve manually pressing on its physical button ( please consult device manual for details).
Once a new device is added to a Z-Wave network, its interview by the hub may take time – especially battery-powered devices – but can be expedited by manually awakening your device.
The Z-Wave Js UI component offers several services to assist with maintaining its network, most importantly include_mode, heal_network and autoheal_network. Include_mode sets the controller to inclusion mode while heal_network and autoheal_network create schedules to run automated Z-Wave network maintenance commands on an automated schedule.
Zwave JS Ui can also show you a range of statistics and diagnostics about your device or network to help identify any root-causes for any issues that arise.
Re-Include Device
Once the Z Wave device exclusion process is complete, you can re-include your device by going into the zwave js integration configuration settings and clicking Configure. This will put the controller into inclusion mode; within moments it should appear in Home Assistant’s list of devices. For best results make sure it’s within 4 – 10 feet from your server before trying to include it again and exclude first to prevent accidental re-inclusions.
If the device you have added does not appear within Home Assistant after a few minutes, it could be asleep. Battery powered devices typically go back into sleep mode after each wake up cycle; to awaken it again (usually by pressing its lower paddle), press manually on it (either manually or via Home Assistant) before trying again to include it.
The ZWave Js integration provides numerous services to assist with maintaining your network, some accessible via its configuration settings and others through device panels. Some examples are:
zwave_js_value_updated – This service listens for value updates on devices connected to Home Assistant, reporting them back for convenient tracking of battery powered device changes as well as potential RF issues.
This command instructs the controller to perform a “soft reset.” Although this should not cause data loss, each device may react differently so this should only be attempted on a small number of devices at one time and with full awareness that this won’t resolve all problems.
zwave_js.bulk_set_partial_config_parameters – With this service, it is easier and more efficient to change multiple configuration parameters on a device in one call rather than using each service individually for every parameter change.
Remove Device
Home Assistant’s Zwave Js integration aims to deliver as much functionality as possible through existing Home Assistant constructs (entities, states, automations, services etc), yet there are certain features which require additional configuration on the controller – for instance resetting factory defaults, reinterviewing devices that had been excluded before being expelled and setting specific device configuration parameters.
To reset a Z-Wave device, first open Home Assistant user interface and locate settings icon in smarthome dashboard. Click cogwheel in Z-Wave integration then “Configure.”
If you own an Aeotec Smart Home Hub, its reset procedure differs slightly; please follow this link for further assistance.
Once activated, this action will put your controller into exclusion mode and start the process of excluding that device from your network. Progress should be visible in the green log window; once complete, an acknowledgement should appear stating: “DONE – Remove Node Operation is Complete.”
When adding new devices to your network, Home Assistant provides a way of exclusion with its user interface and smarthome dashboard settings icon. Once within range of your controller, power on and follow manufacturer’s instructions for pairing. Note: Please allow time for device to appear in devices list before moving forward with pairing process.
Re-interview and rebuild routes options allow you to force devices through an interview process again so Z-Wave-JS can discover all their capabilities, making these features especially helpful if they are acting strangely or experiencing RF issues.
Re-interview and build routes functions can also be integrated into automation scripts to help keep your network operating smoothly. By default, Home Assistant runs a heal_network script at midnight which uses these functions to prevent chksum and tcpdump from interfering with it.