Aeotec Zwave Controller and Openhab3

[JustinG]

There are many more users here with aeotec sticks working with OH3 (myself among them) than there are people who have had issues. The problem is not the aeotec stick + OH3, the problem is something about your system configuration. In order for us to be able to help you trouble shoot that, we’re going to need many more details.

• What device are you running OH on?
• How did you upgrade/install OH3?
• How did you configure your stick in OH3, files or UI?
• What do you mean by “unable to add all my Zwave devices to openhab”?
  • Is the stick offline?
  • Does it fail to add any devices to the inbox when scanning?
  • Are there any errors in the logs when you try to add devices?
• Were any of your devices previously added securely? (Probably not as you mention mostly having motion sensors, but other have had security key issues when moving setups.)

[jstro (John Strong)]

I’m using the Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 with OH 3.2 on Windows and it works fine. This stick is quite popular among OH users, as far as I can tell. It appears the root issue with the solution you linked to was related to the port settings of the computer, and unrelated to the binding. In any case, I just wanted to chime in that this stick is compatible with OH3, but unfortunately I’m too much of a newbie to help you diagnose what is the exact cause of your trouble. Good luck.

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

Thanks for your answers, I really appreciate (to be fully honest, I am or was about to give up).

OpenHab is installed on a Raspberry Pi4; fresh install of the v3 (the 2.XX is still runing on another Pi).
I tried to configure the usb Aeoteck stick through UI (add new thing :Zwave / Zwave serial controller)
Serial port = /dev/ttyAMA0
And that’s it.

• I changed the line in the change /etc/tmpfiles.d/legacy.conf from
  d /run/lock 0755 root root -
  to
  d /run/lock 0775 root dialout -
  Bridge was still offline.
• Disabled serial console to give room for Hats, moved bluetooth to mini UART
  Bridge was still offline.
• Tried the workaround solution consisting in installing ser2net service but did not find the ser2net.conf
  Bridge was still offline.

I am really sorry to bother you with my problems; I am far from being talented. I am just trying to find a solution but did not find one, even after having read dozens of topics on the same issue.

[JustinG]

@murmeldeier

OpenHab is installed on a Raspberry Pi4

OK, based on this, I think you were on the right track with the USB hub idea. This is a very well known issue between the first generation Aeotec Sticks and RPi4’s. Supposedly, the new generation of Aeotec sticks don’t do this anymore, but if you’ve been using your for a couple of years in OH2 then you almost certainly have the old version that causes this problem. (And you haven’t seen the problem on your OH2 because earlier RPi’s didn’t have this issue either.)

You say you tried a USB hub, already, but there’s a catch: the hub specifically has to be only a USB 2.0 hub, I believe. A hub rated for USB 3.0 will still pass along the error that it caused between the stick and the RPi’s USB controller.

[apella12 (Bob Eckhoff)]

Besides the USB2.0 hub are you sure the zstick is on

@murmeldeier

Serial port = /dev/ttyAMA0

/dev/ttyACM0 is also common. could check dmesg.

Bob

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

Not so old in fact, it is a Gen 5 purchased in 2019; I tried with another Aeotec Gen5 (purchased later in 2021) but the problem is still there. I read in other forums that the compatibility between Raspberry Pi4 and Aeotec Z-Stick Gen 5 was common and they also suggested to try with an externaly powered USB 2 hub. Unfortunately I do not have one but will order it and give it a try.
To answer apella12 question, /dev/ttyACM0 was the only proposed port in UI; I used dmesg and got the following lines for “usb”.

changed the line in the change /etc/tmpfiles.d/legacy.conf from
d /run/lock 0755 root root -
to

[498219.686575] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=1a40, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.11
[498219.686597] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[498219.686616] usb 1-1.3: Product: USB 2.0 Hub
[498219.697107] hub 1-1.3:1.0: USB hub found
[498219.697881] hub 1-1.3:1.0: 4 ports detected
[498222.365946] usb 1-1.3.2: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[498222.602990] usb 1-1.3.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
[498222.603013] usb 1-1.3.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[498222.670154] cdc_acm 1-1.3.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[498222.673539] usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
[498222.673548] cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
[498246.313605] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 3
[498246.313629] usb 1-1.3.2: USB disconnect, device number 4
[498248.145949] usb 1-1.4: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci_hcd
[498248.276627] usb 1-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=1a40, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.11
[498248.276650] usb 1-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[498248.276668] usb 1-1.4: Product: USB 2.0 Hub
[498248.278352] hub 1-1.4:1.0: USB hub found
[498248.278495] hub 1-1.4:1.0: 4 ports detected
[498248.695960] usb 1-1.4.2: new full-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd
[498248.942964] usb 1-1.4.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
[498248.942987] usb 1-1.4.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[498248.950395] cdc_acm 1-1.4.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[498257.009173] usb 1-1.4: USB disconnect, device number 5
[498257.009201] usb 1-1.4.2: USB disconnect, device number 6
[498258.255957] usb 1-1.1: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[498258.386550] usb 1-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=1a40, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.11
[498258.386572] usb 1-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[498258.386591] usb 1-1.1: Product: USB 2.0 Hub
[498258.388235] hub 1-1.1:1.0: USB hub found
[498258.388384] hub 1-1.1:1.0: 4 ports detected
[498258.805967] usb 1-1.1.2: new full-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[498259.043013] usb 1-1.1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
[498259.043036] usb 1-1.1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[498259.050272] cdc_acm 1-1.1.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[498269.679848] usb 1-1.1: USB disconnect, device number 7
[498269.679876] usb 1-1.1.2: USB disconnect, device number 8
[498271.455936] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
[498271.586638] usb 1-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1a40, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 1.11
[498271.586661] usb 1-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=1, SerialNumber=0
[498271.586680] usb 1-1.2: Product: USB 2.0 Hub
[498271.591156] hub 1-1.2:1.0: USB hub found
[498271.591306] hub 1-1.2:1.0: 4 ports detected
[498272.005953] usb 1-1.2.2: new full-speed USB device number 10 using xhci_hcd
[498272.243003] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0658, idProduct=0200, bcdDevice= 0.00
[498272.243026] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
[498272.247912] cdc_acm 1-1.2.2:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device
[498279.807372] usb 1-1.2: USB disconnect, device number 9
[498279.807400] usb 1-1.2.2: USB disconnect, device number 10

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

Ok, good news, I finally managed to get in online.
After having tried the ser2net workaround (in fact, the .conf file is the .yaml file if I understood well) which did not really work, I rebooted the raspberry, ticked the 2 options (disable serial console to give room for Hats and move bluetooth to mini UART), rebooted once again, created a new thing with zwave binding and /dev/ttyACM0 as serial port and, miracle, it showed online.

Thanks once again for your patience and your assistance !!!

Have a nice week-end !

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

After more than 15 days, the z-wave stick switched to offline.
I did not do anything special, appart perhaps installed a reboot-shutdown-switch following rpwong clear explanations.

Beginner's guide to an openHABian reboot/shutdown switch

UPDATE, February 2, 2021: I’ve made a few edits to this tutorial so that it works for OH2 and OH3. It’s still written with text-based items and DSL rules that work in both versions. If you prefer to build your system in OH3’s UI, it should be pretty easy to convert the items and rules. As I get deeper into openHAB, I’m finding that I have to reboot or shutdown my Raspberry Pi reasonably often. It seemed like a good idea to set up a switch on my sitemap for that purpose, but was not nearly as e…

I think that it stopped working when I rebooted the raspberry.

Option 1 and 2 are ticked on the raspberry config “prepare serial port” page; serial port of the stick is set to /dev/ACM0

Any idea of what could have happened ? And suggestion to solve my problem ?

Honestly, I am fed up with this Zwave stick problems …

Thanks for your assistance.

Sam.

[apella12 (Bob Eckhoff)]

I’m not an expert on this (or any other area for that matter), but my philosophy is to never reboot I think it is disruptive and have on an UPS, so a power loss doesn’t cause one. Also I thought I read somewhere that the correct command is shutdown -r, not reboot. Anyway I would check the dmesg to see if anything happened during the restart. Usually the errors are in red.

Bob

[KlingsporC (Christian Klingspor)]

I have been fighting quite a bit with Raspberry Pi 4 and Z-wave but I just installed a fresh openhabian 3.2 (stable) and a Aeotec Gen5+ and it was up and running without any problems. If you have a Gen5, I would suggest replacing it with a Gen5+.

From Aeotec: Z-Wave USB stick & antenna • Z-Stick Gen5+ • Aeotec

New Pi from Raspberry, new Z-Stick from Aeotec. As it was built upon an older Z-Wave stack, the non-plus model of Z-Stick Gen5 isn’t compatible with Raspberry 4. But Z-Stick Gen5+ is. That opens up your home automation software to Raspberry’s new architecture, including 8GB of RAM and an ARM v8 1.5GHz CPU.

[jswim788 (John Schmitz)]

Very likely there is a clue in your OH log file. Have you scanned it to look for issues, particularly just before and after your reboot?

[Andrew_Rowe]

@murmeldeier

After more than 15 days, the z-wave stick switched to offline.
I did not do anything special, appart perhaps installed a reboot-shutdown-switch

ah… yeah… nothing special except rebooting the machine (probably multiple time testing perhaps?)

@apella12

never reboot I think it is disruptive and have on an UPS, so a power loss doesn’t cause one.

exactly, openHAB is very stable… once its running and everything is good.
Zwave takes time to establish the mesh and stabilize. Reboots create havoc

[rpwong (Russ)]

@apella12

Also I thought I read somewhere that the correct command is shutdown -r, not reboot.

sudo reboot is a shortcut to sudo shutdown -r. You can also use sudo poweroff as a shortcut for sudo shutdown -h. In both cases, Linux will run a proper shutdown routine.

Note that my tutorial wasn’t written with the idea that people would regularly reboot or power off their systems, but to provide an easy way to do so when it’s necessary. For example, if you’re going to unplug your RPi for some reason or other. I use it when I periodically clone my SD card, but that’s about it.

@apella12

my philosophy is to never reboot I think it is disruptive and have on an UPS

Reboots are going to happen, if only due to power outages. A system should be able to handle a proper shutdown and subsequent boot without throwing up errors.

That being said, I agree with having a UPS to avoid SD corruption.

Beginner's Guide to Network UPS Tools (NUT) on a Raspberry Pi

UPDATE (February 15, 2022): Updated with instructions for adding a second UPS Since I don’t want my OH installation to be corrupted by a power failure, I purchased a CyberPower UPS, and connected it to my Raspberry Pi using Network UPS Tools (NUT). There are various topics in the community about NUT, and this one was the most helpful for my purposes. With everything I’ve learned, here are some instructions to help others get started. Note that this guide is for is a simple setup with the UP…

Let’s not overlook what @KlingsporC quoted from the Aeotec website:

@KlingsporC

the non-plus model of Z-Stick Gen5 isn’t compatible with Raspberry 4

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

Thanks everybody for taking the time to read my post and for your answers and suggestions.
Just a quick precision, I just “rebooted” once for the installation of the “reboot-shutdown” switch (which I did never used as I just installed it yesterday).

I will have a look at the log and also follow KlingsporC’s suggestion to purchase the + version of the stick.

I will try to keep you informed of course.

Thanks once again for your patience.

Have a nice day.

Sam.

[Wolfgang_S]

@rpwong

Let’s not overlook what @KlingsporC quoted from the Aeotec website:

the non-plus model of Z-Stick Gen5 isn’t compatible with Raspberry 4

but the system was up and running. My understanding is it never should have worked if this would be the root cause ?

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

I confirm, the binding has been woking for more than 15 days without any problem (of course, I initially encountered a lot of problems to make it work but finally managed to do it, with the help of some of you).

I checked today using dmesg and (contrary to what was displayed 15 days ago, see my first posts), I cannot find any trace of ACM0.

[apella12 (Bob Eckhoff)]

I would not recommend this if the zstick was working, but disconnect the stick from the PI and reinstall. Then check the dmesg for messages. Might provide a clue.

Bob

[rpwong (Russ)]

@Wolfgang_S

but the system was up and running. My understanding is it never should have worked if this would be the root cause ?

My take is that it’s just extremely unreliable, and those 15 days were the result of everything lining up perfectly. Since others have reported that they can’t get the Gen5 sticks working with RPi4s consistently, I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that it will ever be reliable.

This thread that started in July 2019 suggests that it’s a hardware problem, and thus not fixable with firmware. Lots of people describing similar behaviour to what @murmeldeier has experienced.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=245031

For what it’s worth, I have a Zooz ZST10 S2 stick that has never given me any problems.

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

I disconnected the stick, uninstalled/reinstalled the binding and tried to add the stick but nothing happened.

openhabian@openhabian:~ $ dmesg | grep tty
[    0.000000] Kernel command line: coherent_pool=1M 8250.nr_uarts=1 snd_bcm2835          .enable_compat_alsa=0 snd_bcm2835.enable_hdmi=1 bcm2708_fb.fbwidth=0 bcm2708_fb.          fbheight=0 bcm2708_fb.fbdepth=16 bcm2708_fb.fbswap=1 smsc95xx.macaddr=DC:A6:32:8          3:47:B7 vc_mem.mem_base=0x3f000000 vc_mem.mem_size=0x3f600000  console=tty1 root          =PARTUUID=dfb82978-02 rootfstype=ext4 fsck.repair=yes rootwait
[    0.001796] printk: console [tty1] enabled
[    1.398096] fe201000.serial: ttyAMA0 at MMIO 0xfe201000 (irq = 36, base_baud           = 0) is a PL011 rev2
[    1.406633] fe215040.serial: ttyS0 at MMIO 0xfe215040 (irq = 37, base_baud =           62500000) is a 16550
[    3.114472] systemd[1]: Created slice system-getty.slice.

Still no trace of ACM0

I ordered the + version of the AEOTEC and will receive it next week; I will keep you informed.

I really wanted to thank you all for your assistance !! I really appreciate !!

[murmeldeier (Samuel Parmentier)]

I just received the Gen5+ version of the Stick, plugged it in the Raspberry, gone crazy as it did not show online, reboot the raspberry, did a dmesg which showed something on ACM0, reinstalled a new thing and … it is now online !!
I now have to reinstall all my zwave devices but I do not care as the stick is online and that’s the most important !!

Thanks, really thanks for your patience with a pain in the neck like me and for your assistance !

Have a nice evening and a great week-end !!

Sam.