Z-Wave binding - Import existing device from Z-Wave serial controller creates Thing with Unknown Device

Version: 4.3.2
Zooz ZST39 800 series stick

I would like to know if it is by design or a bug that if you take a Z-Wave serial controller with devices already included by another instance (ZWave-JS-UI, Simplicity Studio, other openHab instance), attach it to openHab, scan the controller for Things, openHab finds them, but after creating the Things they display as “Unknown Device”.

If this could work it would be useful:

  • Include the device with a third party solution (ZWave-JS-UI or Simplicity Studio) that supports S2 security.
  • Move the controller to a new openHab installation.

I can’t tell if this is a theoretical question or an actual issue you have having. If the latter it could also be your procedure. A debug level zwave log might shed some light on it.

Theoretically devices included from other applications are in the NVM of the Z-stick, so should be discoverable in OH (or when changing to another OH) with the following provisions.

  1. they need to also be in the OH ZW database
  2. If a battery device, it may need to be woken up to be discovered
  3. If including with S0 security (supported by OH ZW) some have been able to copy the key from the including app into OH (or the new OH) to get them discovered. The recommended procedure is to include the device in OH with the key on the OH controller UI page (advanced tab).
  4. If included with S2 security (not supported by OH ZW) they will never be discovered.
  5. They need to be included in Zwave “Classic” (nodes numbers less than 256). OH ZW does not support long range inclusion with greater than 8 bit nodes.

If this is an actual issue and a new controller, one thing to check is the SDK of the controller. See this

Thanks for the reply.

It is not a theoretical question. If I include the device on a zwave stick from an instance A of OH, working fine, fully recognized, but then take the stick over to another instance B of OH, scan for new Things, it finds the devices on the stick, I create the Thing and I get a Thing created with an unusable “Unknown Device”. This is not a battery operated device.

Maybe the issue is with the S0 security key, but I don’t think so, I configured Secure Inclusion only for Entry Control Devices, but I will try to put the same key to see if it solves my issue.

Concerning the SDK version, I know about this issue, I stayed on 7.19 for the moment, for me that SDK version is quite stable.

I will get a debug log.

That should work AFAIK. The only thing odd about your description is I recall the inbox should fill without a scan. Could be a bad memory tho… Another step some have done is to copy the xmls in the zwave folder to the new OH zwave folder. Others have also copied the old OH UID of the controller and used that UID when creating the controller in the new OH. (the controller does need to be manually created in the new OH first) Debug should help

I tried so many times/things, I tried again and now it’s all good. I can’t figure out what I was doing wrong.

But as you said, import of S2 devices do not work. Any idea if S2 will be supported in OH5?

So sorry to have wasted your time. Many thanks.

No worries.

There is this thread on S2, but has been around since 2018. Also the ZW developer has limited time for reviewing PRs, so I would not be too optimistic.

If you really need S2 now, zwave-js is an option with OH. Currently only via MQTT (either generic things or HA configs), but a socket version is being worked for OH5. I have production set up with ZUI, (but have the OH ZW configured in a test environment if needed for forum questions :wink:

I figured out the issue, I have two Z-Wave sticks and one of them has issues, completely unstable. :face_with_head_bandage: :exploding_head: