Bruce could you please go back and edit your previous post to clarify this because Rich isn’t the only one who didn’t get it
Is that better?
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OK, here is my take on this topic
First, and I think Bruce will correct me if I am wrong, zwave devices are different by region correct Bruce? So we should include a region if we are describing our devices.
I am in the U.S.A and I have one of these HUSBZB-1
The link is to an amazon item, I purchased it in Oct. 2018 for about $30 (usd) it is now $50. It is also a zigbee stick
It has worked… well… flawlessly for over two years. It has survived numerous upgrades and testing other OpenHAB configuration changes and crazy experiments and never missed a beat. One caveat… my zwave network is small, only 5 or 6 total devices
I also want to make one observation
I have hung out here in the forum for a couple years and usually read and often try to help troubleshoot other users zwave problems.
The above mentions Aeotec Z-Stick Gen 5 seems to have more then it’s fair share of problems compared to the HUSBZ stick and any others. The main one being not wanting to come online after a simple upgrade or some other trivial change to the system.
Another thread, one of the users asked the user experiencing problems with his Aeotec Z-Stick Gen 5 stick, which had already included replacing the stick why he didn’t just ‘buy a HUSBZ and be done with it’. I kind of silently agreed. Anyhow, lots of guys use them, I’m sure they are good kit but just saying
Only short coming of the HUSBZ stick I think (and again I think Bruce will correct me) the firmware is un-upgradable meaning eventually it will become obsolete
Also, Bruce thanks for clarifying your previous post 
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The radio frequencies are different by location. There are some models available in multiple locations with differing identifiers. We try to group them in the database since they are essentially identical from a binding perspective.
I have a HUBZB-1 that I now use as my testing stick mainly because I was given a Zooz stick, Zooz only makes Z-Wave devices for North America but have amazing support they helps us get their products supported by OH.
I have not seen any upgrades for the HUSBZB-1 sticks.
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It’s also not made any more so getting harder and harder to purchase.
I believe it can be backed up using the Aeotech software but I’ve never done it. My network is small enough I’ll just reset everything if the controller dies.
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Hard to do better than the UZB-3 reference design. Cheap and effective.
All 500 controllers have the same chip. The filter, power and other circuits might vary and the firmware does. The UZB-3 is the reference design and TBH it is hard for anyone to build anything a lot better.
All US 500 series sticks operate at a few dB lower power than the rest of the world but other than that the only difference from one region to the next is in the final circuit. All have the same zwave chip.
Next if you buy a couple it is easy transfer your network by
call them A and B
- add A as a secondary to current network
- promote A to primary
- backing up A
- quick tweak in the hex of the backup
- restore to A
- add B as secondary to A
- promote B to Primary
B now is your new controller with id 1 so you can plug it into openhab with no changes required.
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I’m using the Zooz S2 USB stick, and I’ve had absolutely no problems in the two years since I bought it. I only have four devices though (two sensors, a door lock, and a lightswitch), so I’m not pushing it very hard.
As Bruce notes, Zooz is specific to North America.
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It happens to be $10 off this week too for the US.
https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/products/zooz-usb-z-wave-plus-s2-stick-zst10
I’ve tested everything with the EU versions
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Do you know, why i cant use a Z-Wave Header instead ?
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If you mean a Razberry, people here have used them with the binding, I believe
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I don’t know what the binding is, so is this a temporary software problem in OpenHAB like needing an updated software driver in Windows or is it a more complicated problem?
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The binding is what understands the Z-Wave protocol.
Last I heard SiLabs had not publicly release the standards for Z-Wave Plus 2. IT would likely involve a major rewriting of the binding.
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If you look on GIT there is an unsupported version that has been tweaked to work with 700 but it would be hard to include this in the release version for a few reasons none of which are because it is technically difficult to add support.
When 700 was first released the only supported way to integrate with it was via a Z/IP library written in C rather than the serial connection that the current binding uses.
Early versions of this library had significant shortcomings.
The new library does not support anyone’s current USB stick so everyone would need to rebuild their networks.
Rewriting to use the library is a substantial piece of work and supporting both old 500 and new 700 would be very hard.
It is still not clear if this will remain the only way to interface and be approved on 700 and beyond but possibly it will change now the standards have changed to be managed by https://z-wavealliance.org/ .
For the US z-wave has recently moved forward with a higher power setting and the promise of longer range and higher node counts.
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This is still the case unfortunately.
The serial API is meant to be published. At the developers conference last year I asked about this and it was meant to be released last November, but hasn’t yet been made available. Unfortunately the certification process is considerably more difficult if not using ZIP - and as you rightly point out, ZIP has many shortcomings.
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I started with openHAB a an RaZberry2 + Pi3 some 3 years ago (maybe more)…
Since then, I moved openHAB to a VM in a NUC and I’m still using the Razberry card… Only I converted it to USB using a FTDI serial2usb converter…
So… it’s possible 
I also added a wire instead of the PCB antenna and the range was greatly increased.
Overall, I’m extremely happy with my RaZberry 
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They are not letting it go without a fight. I hope they make the certification less burdensome for the serial interface. I still can’t see anything but you are better plugged into the process.
We can all watch zwave-JS with interest but when someone pointed out how it was reported on HAAS site I did chuckle. Anyone who thinks the grass is greener might find that is not true.
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I just put mine in PC Controller software today and it appears that firmware upgrades are ot supported on this stick as far as I could determine.
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They won’t - this has already been stated that it will be considerably more difficult if not using ZIP as they will impose additional testing that is effectively avoided if using ZIP as it is let’s say pre-certified for some elements.
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I doubt we will see any more updates for 500 serial libraries so I am not sure if any further updates will be coming for any 500 stick.
I run 6.82 which you can probably only get if you are using a UZB3. The firmware might be usable with other sticks as some are basically a UZB3 with a different antenna or case.
TBH I am not sure it is a big advance on 6.81 that zooz has but I can not compare as ZooZ are US only.
The 500 is coming to the end of life some time soon so spending more than 25 £$€ on one is probably not a great investment.
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