Z-Wave Switches vs Contacts, and the database

[5iver (Scott Rushworth)]

I was just cleaning up some emails and saw the Channel change to the WADWAZ SENSOR_BINARY CC, which led me to this thread, so sorry I’m late (please add the zwave tag to the topic).

@brianmichalk

What I have found is the DWZWAVE25 devices report ON/OFF while the WADWAZ-1 reports Open/Closed.

I set the WADWAZ device up with both Switch and Contact Channels, as well as Switch for the external switch. This way, people can make the decision which Channel works best for them. I cannot see a diff of the changes until they are accepted/exported, it looks like the device is setup the same as when I modified (these other very similar devices):

SENSOR_BINARY: sensor_door (Contact)
ALARM/type=BURGLAR, event=3: alarm_entry (Switch)
ALARM/type=BURGLAR, event=254: sensor_binary (Switch)

… and I do not understand your comment in the db…

[#](https://www.cd-jackson.com/index.php/zwave/zwave-device-database/zwave-device-list/devicesummary/9#comment-957) Brian Michalk 2019-01-13 14:58

Requested review. Change Sensor (Alarm) to Sensor (Binary) of type sensor_door. Not sure if this is the intent of the discussion on the OpenHab forum.
[community.openhab.org/.../4](https://community.openhab.org/t/z-wave-switches-vs-contacts-and-the-database/64053/4)

So, what did you change? It sounds like you are needing is for the DWZWAVE to use sensor_door. It also have both SENSOR_BINARY and ALARM, so why not change SENSOR_BINARY to use it, like the WADWAZ?

@chris

This simply means that we should be using the notification channels. Instead of just deleting the other channels, the database can mark them as deprecated which means that one day, we’ll delete them, but for now they are still available (one day = about a year).

I prefer to use the SENSOR_BINARY CC, since the event is received from the device ~50ms sooner than the the ALARM event. I do the same for my motion sensor (WAPIR), which also has ALARM and SENSOR_BINARY CCs. As I’ve voiced before, I am very much against removing “duplicate” Channels, since I want the ability to choose! Suggestion… instead of marking the Channel as Deprecated, use Redundant, and then put those Channels into a separate Chanel Group. This leaves the functionality for those who want it, but the Channels would be separated from the others. And mark them as hidden (I forget the actua term now), so that the user has to select “More” in Paper UI, or Tools> Advanced in Habmin, in order to see them.

@chris

Personally, I don’t mind changing everything if there are new guidelines and channel types etc - although it would be a major task to do so as there are nearly 1000 devices in the database!

There is only one Channel that supports Contacts (sensor_door), and most devices have been setup to use Switches, but have read-only Channels that should really be a Contact. Couldn’t all of the alarm Channel types be changed to support Contacts rather than Switches? Are any of these not read-only?