I bought an Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 in 2022. I decided to purchase a ‘new’ Z-Stick Gen5 as a backup and to safely upgrade the firmware to v1.02. I found a lot of advice in various openHAB forums but some of the information was dated. I also contacted Aeotec Support that confirmed I could backup and restore between all but some very old Gen5 Z-Sticks.
The backup/restore software is available at Z-Stick Gen5 Backup Software : Aeotec Help Desk . I shutdown my openHAB server, successfully followed the instructions at How to use Z-Stick Gen5 backup software (Backup, and Restore). : Aeotec Help Desk, and brought up openHAB with the new Gen5. I did not test backup/restore between a Gen5 and a Gen5+ Z-Stick since the latter seem out of stock.
The backup/restore software appears to be the only way to determine the current firmware - it displays a Ver: number at the top. According to Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 V1.01 firmware update. (Z-Wave SDK version updated to V6.51.10 ) - #11 by Celaeno1 , the mapping is:
- Ver. 3.95 → firmware v1.00
- Ver. 4.54 → firmware v1.01
- Ver. 6.07 → firmware v1.02
The firmware and instructions are available at Z-Stick Gen5+ V1.02 firmware update : Aeotec Help Desk. Getting the drivers to install took multiple tries. I normally run from a non-privileged Windows 10 account. Although the driver install prompted for admin privileges and the install claimed to have been successful, Device Manager reported that I was running the Windows driver.
I continued with the firmware install on the 2022 Gen5 but it failed with either an exception message or the COM port resetting. I logged into my admin account and followed the steps in Troubleshoot 2 of the firmware update instructions (I suspect the original install productions would have worked as well). Windows Device Manager now showed a Sigma Designs driver.
I then switched back to my non-privileged account and completed the firmware upgrade on the 2022 Gen5 to v1.02. The only obvious change was that the LED no longer cycles - yellow means the internal battery is charging, green means the battery is charged. I brought up openHAB with the 2022 Gen5 and verified that Z-Stick was working properly. I then upgraded the firmware on the 2025 Gen5, which is now my backup/test Z-stick.
According to Aeotec: “if you want to take this further, you can use ZWaveJS UI to backup a V1.02 Z-Stick Gen5 and restore it into a Series 700/800 USB Z-Wave Stick (like the Z-Stick 10 Pro) using ZWaveJS UI: https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000279670-z-stick-10-pro-migration-a-guide-coming-from-z-wave-500-700-networks “. I plan to test ZWaveJS UI when I upgrade to openHAB 4.3 and may splurge on a newer Z-Stick then.