You can build out items and rules, etc. without the zwave binding.
After you have shut down your old system you can add the zwave binding & then discover your nodes and link to the items.
That is basically what I did with my small network. You likely need to wake up battery devices to get them fully recognized.
I recommend using the latest snapshot binding for best device recognition.
I would think it would be incredibly difficult (not to mention tedious) to build and test the OH system without having the Z-Wave devices in first.
To me it would be like trying to build a house in reverse… How could I think about re-arranging the furniture when we haven’t even poured the foundation yet?
It could very well just be a limitation of my own head.
For everything I build, I make sure that the basic I/O is working reliably, before I add more complicated automation. Setting up the rules in OH and using simulated devices and testing without any actual hardware… I don’t know man, I don’t think I could make that work.
But, if you can do it, great! Bruce has obviously had a different experience than my own. 
It can absolutely be a matter of me having a trouble with abstract thinking. I often have to do it (being a programmer and all) but that doesn’t mean it comes easy to me, maybe that’s why I try to avoid it when I can and go for practicality first. In my case that would mean accepting some downtime and accepting manual control of some things for the few days I would estimate would be required to get things running right.
Hi David,
I would suggest looking into MQTT on both OH and Zipamicro/Zipabox. This will allow you to have all Z-wave devices on Zipamicro and interact with them by using the MQTT binding from OH.
Once you are familiar and very happy with OH, you can start migrating your Z-wave devices to OH. I work with Zipabox/Zipamicro’s using OH, I believe it’s a more flexible solution. Let me know if you know help.
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What about my initial idea - adding RPi as a secondary controller for Z-Wave devices, testing everything, and then switching it over to being a primary controller and taking the Zipabox offline?
I have no idea how the coding in OH works, but since you’re actually writing code, I imagine you can create the rules with placeholders for the devices before actually adding them, but I’d prefer not to commit myself to adding the devices, testing everything and going straight to “production” all in one go, with home automation offline in the meantime. I just don’t have the time to commit myself to all of that.
I also understand that, if you add a secondary controller, the Z-Wave devices are copied over from the primary to your Z-Wave stick. That sounds like a considerable saving in effort.
Hi Alejo,
I know MQTT is supported on the Zipabox but I have no idea how it works. I was going to look into it for controlling the Roomba, but I simply haven’t had the time.
Your suggestion is an interesting possibility. I have no idea how that would work or whether there are any drawbacks. If I had no other option to maintain both systems in parallel I’d definitely look into it.
I’m still not clear on whether you can have your devices on a secondary controller and use that with OH while testing - if so, it seems like a much easier solution.
Your initial idea it’s possible. Take a look at Z-Wave Stick Migration (via Z-Wave "Controller Shift" feature).
Since you are starting to work with OH, using MQTT, will allow you start understanding OH and keep running your current Zipabox in parallel without “breaking” anything.
You can run rules in OH and have all your Z-wave devices paired to Zipabox.
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OK, so I have at least a couple of options. I think that’s all I need to know to take the plunge. Thanks everyone.
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You can at least initially build your rules, translating them to OH. That helps minimize downtime because you only need to test & repair rather than design from scratch.
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Hi I also try to gradually migrate from zipabox =). Did anyone fin a way to control s0 security devices? I managed to get openhab as a secondary controller into the Zipabox. All unsecured devices work properly, but the secured ones don’t. I also extracted the s0 security key and wrote it to the binding…any other ideas?
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Hi
I don’t have any of those those security devices, so I can’t help you with that, sorry.
What did you need to do to get the OpenHab as a secondary controller into the Zipabox? I started looking at this a few months ago but I didn’t have time to get very far.
Hi, hanks for the Help, but I gave up on this matter…I was able to integrate as secondary controller, but I never was able to controll all security devices…also does openhab not support s2 security, what makes this evenen more difficult…zipaboy doesn’t work at all, so openhab is the way better choice! I’m currently workink to reinclude all deviceses to openhab…thanks for the help!
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How did you set up OH as a secondary controller?
I used the pc controller-software from silicon labs for that task…https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/z-wave
- I inserted aeotec-z-stick it to windows pc and installed the silab software
- I configured the stick into learning-mode
- I included it to zipabox with inclusion mode
- I plugged the stick to openhab
- all devices in z-wave network showed up as things
- added them and started controlling
hope that helped…
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Brilliant. I’ll try that. I have the Silicon Labs software so I should be all set.
Okay cool =) let me know if you need help =)
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I got as far as point 3 and wrote out the steps as I went. I’ll post them here in case they help anyone:
- Plug Z-Stick Gen5 into any USB port
- Open Z-Wave PC Controller v5.39
- Click the gear button (settings). Click the row showing the COM port, then detect, then OK
- Click network management
- Click Select learn mode and NWI (Classic may also work if the Zipabox is close)
- Go to the Zipabox and add device, Z-Wave. Zipabox says “starting exclusion…”. Don’t press anything on the Z-Stick. It will automatically be excluded.
- When Zipabox says “starting inclusion”, go back to Z-Wave PC Controller and go into learning mode again. Now the Zipabox will find the Z-Stick.
At this point I got: “Device inclusion completed. Secure inclusion failed”.
I can see the devices in Z-Wave PC Controller, but when I attach the stick to OpenHab, nothing happens. Do I need to add the Z-Stick manually? I tried rebooting. Nothing appears in the logs, so I suspect the stick isn’t being detected. Practical question: all 4 USB ports are occupied, and the Z-Stick is huge, so I’m using an extension cable to attach it. Will this work? How do other people attach it without blocking another USB port?
Incidentally, I have added the Z-Wave binding.
I tried adding the ZWave controller manually, but I couldn’t see any USB ports to select apart from the ones occupied by the Enocean and RFXcom transceivers. (I use another extension cable for Enocean transceiver, which is also bulky, and it appears to work fine).
I have my stick on a usb extension to get it away from the metal server rack.
So, to clarify:
- The stick won’t be detected automatically? I have to add it manually?
- Should I see another USB port in the list of ports when adding the stick? (like ttyUSB3)
The Z-Wave binding does not automatically detect the stick or the serial port.
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