Just installed ZWave module, can't do anything with it

[timekiller]

Hello, I just installed the zwave module in my ISY994i. I made sure to use the bottom row and the wiki says to. I purchased the module and got it installed. Rebooted the ISY. In the admin console I have the ZWave menu, but none of the options do anything. If I click "Add/Include a Z-Wave Device" nothing happens. I tried Advanced->Z-Wave Version but I get "--" for Library, Z-Wave Version, and Bootloader Version.

 

I tried "Upgrade Z-Wave Antenna" but nothing happens.

 

My Firmware is 5.0.2 and the UI version is 4.2.5.

 

What can I do?

[oberkc]

Based upon all that I read here, having UI and firmware version mismatches can lead to unpredictable results.  Best get that fixed first.  I would not be surprised if this solves your problems.

 

BTW, firmware version 5.X is an early build and no promises made.  If you are looking for stability, consider going to latest 4.x firmware.  Regardless, make sure UI matches firmware build.

[TrojanHorse]

First suggestion is to match firmware and UI versions. I'm running 4.5 with insteon so that's all I can suggest to help but start with matching these.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[timekiller]

I downgraded to 4.5.4 and used the matching admin console, everything works now!

[piconut]

I just installed a Z-Wave device in my ISY994i running firmware v4.7.3, UI v4.7.3.  I followed the directions in the Z-Wave wiki and the installation instructions PDF.  The Z-Wave drop down menu is now there, and all of the options appear below it; however, when I go to Z-Wave>Advanced>Z-Wave version it shows nothing for Library and Z-Wave Version, and Bootloader Versions shows 0.00 (see image).  The Z-Wave module replaced a Zigbee module in my ISY994i and I still show the Zigbee configuration menus in the Admin Console although they aren't enabled (and I never used any Zigbee devices) so I don't know if seeing those configuration options is indicative of some other issue,

I have not tried to add any devices yet but I bought a Schlage Connect Deadbolt and I have read here in the forums that others have had some issues installing Z-Wave devices so I wanted to verify that everything with the new Z-Wave module is working before I try to add the lock.  The Z-Wave information looks problematic to me, but I don't know and would appreciate any help.

Is there a way to verify the Z-Wave module installation?

 

[rccoleman]

If you just bought the Z-Wave dongle, there's a good chance that it's the new Series 500 model that requires the 5.0.14 firmware (currently in beta).  An easy way to tell which one you have is to see if there's an LED on the board.  If yes, it's the old one (Series 300).  Otherwise, it's the new one.  If you got the new dongle, I would hope that there's some mention of the need to use the 5.0.13+ firmware.

[piconut]

It must be the new series 500 version because there is no LED on the board.  It looks identical to the one pictured on the Z-Wave wiki.  There was nothing else in the envelope except for the Z-Wave board and a receipt from Orchestrated Home.  I have held off on upgrading to the v5 firmware for the ISY994i because it is still in beta (I think) and I'm not a programmer so I don't have the skills needed necessarily to troubleshoot problems that may come up with using beta software.  

I purchased the Schlage deadbolt in anticipation of connecting it to the ISY.  So what should I do? 

 

[rccoleman]

Interesting - the product page at Orchestrated Home makes no mention of the need for 5.0.x firmware: https://www.orchestratedhome.com/shop/pc/Z-wave-Radio-Add-on-Board-for-ISY-994i-116p368.htm.  I think that your best option is to migrate to 5.0.x rather than try to find an old dongle, but perhaps @Michel Kohanim has some suggestions.

[silverton38]

Definitely upgrade to the latest 5.0.14. It is stable I have been running it on a few ISYs with no issues.

 

[piconut]

Well, with the recommendations here from supportive forum members and with some trepidation, I upgraded to 5.0.14 last night.  I followed the directions in this post:

Here are my questions so far:

1. How do I make sure my "device nodes" are correct?  What am I supposed to be looking for?  It appears that all of my devices migrated over and I randomly tested a couple and those all seem to be working.  Is there something else I should be doing to test my devices?
2. What potential upgrade problems should I be looking for within my programs?
3. Under Z_Wave Prerequisites it says to upgrade the firmware to 4.55 but when I try to do that, I get this screen: I assume this is a problem but do not know how to fix it.  Do I need to manually download the firmware from somewhere?  Or what?
4. When I go to Z_Wave Information it shows this:  
5. I'm a bit leary moving on with the install of the Schlage Z_Wave Deadbolt until I have some way of knowing or verifying that my Z-Wave and ISY are operating correctly.   I appreciate any help that anyone can provide to me. 

Thanks!

Scott from Austin

 

[rccoleman]

How do I make sure my "device nodes" are correct?  What am I supposed to be looking for?  It appears that all of my devices migrated over and I randomly tested a couple and those all seem to be working.  Is there something else I should be doing to test my devices?

Nodes should come across fine without any changes.  Your spot check should be good enough, since you don't yet have any Z-Wave devices.

What potential upgrade problems should I be looking for within my programs?

Focus on any programs with "adjust scene" lines, but the upgrade process will mostly automatically make the required changes.  There should be some programs marked with a green icon indicating that they need to be saved, so check those out and then hit "save" at the bottom.  In some cases, the changes in the programs come in the form of commenting out an old line and you need to redo that line.

The information about the v4.55 Z-Wave firmware is old and doesn't apply to the new dongle.  Don't worry about the firmware version and don't try to update it - you already have the right version and there's nothing to upgrade to.

I'm a bit leary moving on with the install of the Schlage Z_Wave Deadbolt until I have some way of knowing or verifying that my Z-Wave and ISY are operating correctly.   I appreciate any help that anyone can provide to me.

I can understand the apprehension, but it should be a relatively smooth process, and you're really the only one who can decide if it's working well by playing around with it.  Just keep your old 4.x backup so that you can go back if needed, but there's no reason to expect that you would.  I upgraded to 5.0.4 a long time ago and certainly wouldn't go back.

[oper8]

I will be doing the same soon, just ordered the Z-Wave dongle. I have one question: should I upgrade from 4.7.3 to 5.0.14 BEFORE or AFTER installing the dongle on my ISY 994i board ? Also, will this have enough memory for the future ? I have the regular 994i not the PRO.

[rccoleman]

Since the new dongle won't work with the older 4.7.3 ISY release, you should upgrade before you install the new dongle and make sure that everything still works.  This can take some time, and it's best to get this out of the way before you add another variable with the new dongle. 

[piconut]

2 hours ago, oper8 said:

I will be doing the same soon, just ordered the Z-Wave dongle. I have one question: should I upgrade from 4.7.3 to 5.0.14 BEFORE or AFTER installing the dongle on my ISY 994i board ? Also, will this have enough memory for the future ? I have the regular 994i not the PRO.

Just a warning about upgrading to v5x from my recent experiences.  When I did this last week, I ended up with all sorts of problems with my 200+ programs and it was a real headache.  My wife was understandably pissed off at me because so many things weren't working correctly anymore.  I had to take a day off of work just to try to figure out what was going wrong and attempt to fix the things I could find and it took hours and hours.  It was extremely frustrating, and to some degree, still is.  

Specifically:

1. I had at least 15 programs that were previously disabled that became enabled after the upgrade. There was no pattern I could discern as to why those programs were enabled as I had about 45 programs in all that were disabled prior to the upgrade.  Later I read in these forums that someone said to copy all of the programs and paste them into a text document prior to the upgrade so at least you could look back to see what some command should be in case programs gets enabled or changed by the upgrade.  Without a copy or snapshot, I had no way to know which programs were originally disabled which made it a real PITA to go through over 200 programs looking through each line to find errors.  
2. I also had about 20 programs that would not work at all and when I finally figured this out (by having Insteon devices not turn on or off as they should, or remote switches not working anymore) I noticed that numerous programs had "Response type 10" as a programming line inserted apparently randomly within my programs.  I searched through these forums for "Response type 10" and found only one other person who had the same issue but no resolution.  I ended up just deleting the line and trying to figure out what it had originally been, but I was not very successful at that.  
3. I had several scenes that no longer functioned properly.  I also had programs that adjusted settings in those scenes.  The upgrade removed the commands and replaced them with comments so at least I could go back and try to use the new methods for adjusting the scenes.  I still haven't figured that out yet but I'm researching and trying to learn what changed.
4. I had a couple programs where the Insteon device that was originally being controlled got changed to another insteon device (like a garage light switch getting swapped with a kitchen light switch).  Again, since I didn't have any way of looking at my previous programs, it took a while to figure out which device was the one that was supposed to be controlled.
5. There is very inconsistent behavior in v5 where you select a line that you have already programmed and you want to change one thing about it and then "update" it, and save it.  Now when you select that line in the program, only about half the time does the bottom part (where you actually edit the program settings) actually match what you have selected.  If you don't catch it early enough, you might end up changing the command more than you have anticipated. 
6. I had some programs with a command line like this:  In Scene [29506] Set 'Kitchen / 12 Kitchen Light' OL 127     What the heck is Scene 29506?   
7. I had numerous switches where the LED backlight got set to zero, which is not the way they were originally set (I don't have any of my 60+ Insteon devices set to 0 LED backlight). Also, I should note that none of these devices were part of a scene.
8. I have never used the "Program Lock" feature of my Insteon devices but at least 6 of them were locked after the upgrade which really confused me and made troubleshooting very difficult.  If you don't use this feature either, it is a check box found under the Options button of some Insteon devices.  It prevents changes to the programming.  So not knowing that this feature even existed, when I was trying to track down the numerous (apparently random) changes that were made to my devices by the upgrade to v5, I kept finding devices whose settings had changed. I would then simply go to correct the setting to what it should be but then later it would reset itself back to the wrong setting.  It was only after lots of wasted time and frustration that I finally found out that this "Program Lock" option existed AND had been turned on for various devices which prevented the changes I was making from sticking.  Wow, what a pain that was.

All in all, had I known just how problematic the upgrade from v4.7.3 to v5.0.14 would be (for me at least), I never would have done it.  I would have waited until v5x was officially released and any possible upgrade bugs were well documented.  All my programs and devices were working well with v4.7.3 and had been for several years prior to upgrading to v5x.  The only reason I upgraded is that I wanted to be able to program my Schlage Z-Wave locks using my ISY994i.  I bought the Z-Wave dongle from Orchestrated Home and apparently was sent a version that didn't work with the v4x software and nowhere was that mentioned in the forum, or the Z-Wave dongle purchase page, and not even included with the device when I got it.  So if I wanted to be able to use the Z-Wave dongle, I had to upgrade to v5x.  

It has taken much more time and frustration than I had imagined over the last two weeks to get things mostly fixed and working as they should, and I still don't have everything resolved. If you choose to upgrade to v5x, my advice would be to 1) make a copy of all the programs you have and paste them into a text document, 2) note any device settings that deviate from the default, 3) be sure to note which programs are disabled prior to the upgrade (should you choose to upgrade), and most importantly, 4) plan for enough time after the upgrade to fix any possible problems that might arise from the upgrade.  Some people here have upgraded to v5x with no issues, but that was obviously not the case for me. I should also mention that I am not a programmer but I do read and follow instructions so I read through the wiki and this forum prior to upgrading.  I felt like I had done due diligence in preparing for the upgrade but to my surprise, I was sadly mistaken.  I want to say thanks to all of you here who have helped me through these problems and I hope that I can return the favor someday.

Your mileage may vary.

Scott in Austin, Texas

[asbril]

Scott, your experience seems to be different from what most got when upgrading to 5.0.14 and to the new dongle. True I think that many (like me) were already on a previous version of 5.0.X .

I don't think that  others should  be scared away from this upgrade. Personally I have had more connection problems than before, but now this had largely reduced after replacing some of my older Zwave devices.

The upgrade process must be followed carefully step-by-step and I suggest that you review the process and try again. Good luck.

[dbwarner5]

Piconet.... I have a similar issue in general with reboots / power failures etc in that certain programs that are supposed to be disabled become enabled etc.. So after being burned a few times, i spent the time to go through and rename all programs that are supposed to be disabled with a LD at the end of the name... LD= Leave disabled.. lol.

 

Now its a quick glance down my list if things are acting weird as to whether or not a program is in the wrong position. 

Hope V5 gets better for you (and before the rest of us get it!)..

[oper8]

I have my new Z-Wave dongle installed, ISY running 5.0.14, with a combination of INSTEON and Z-Wave devices and all are running perfectly fine (knock on wood). Currently running with over 50 Insteon devices, including 3 thermostats, water sensors, motion sensors, I/O linc relays, and running 40 programs, weather module, network module. I also have complex programs controlling a combination of INSTEON and Z-Wave devices. I intend to expand my Z-Wave network by adding more devices. So far, the system is very stable and I have zero issues. ?

[piconut]

Just wondering what Z-Wave devices you are using in your setup?   I have 2 Schlage Z-Wave locks and had some reliability issues with getting them to lock using a program, although one of the locks is about 80 feet away from the dongle and there are numerous walls and "radio-obstacles" in the path.  I finally added Z-Wave repeaters and after numerous excludes/includes and heals, I finally got everything stable and working.  So I have a total of 6 Z-Wave devices (2 are battery powered) and about 60 Insteon devices.