CLOSED --- Z-Wave 500 Series Beta

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi Randy,

Thanks so very much for the feedback. Just for reference, can you please let me know your UI version?

With kind regards,
Michel

[randyth]

1 hour ago, Michel Kohanim said:

Hi Randy,

Thanks so very much for the feedback. Just for reference, can you please let me know your UI version?

With kind regards,
Michel

The Firmware and UI are both Insteon_UD994 v.5.0.13 (2018-07-06-18:02:27)

[whywork]

My Zwave dongle upgrade to 500.x went well. 

Cold booted ISY (belt and suspenders)  5.0.13A

Backed up ISY  and Zwave - 40 minutes

Installed new Zwave Dongle.

Restored

All insteon and zwave devices recognized (including two yale and one kwikset secure locks).

 

One bug/anomaly - Z wave version reports:

Library Static Controller

z-Wave Version 6.81.00

Bootloader Version 0.0

Zero.Zero???

 

I use and enjoy my ISY every day.

 

 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi whywork,

Unlike the 300 series, the 500 series does not have a boot loader. Everything is on one chip.

With kind regards,
Michel

[skunkiechris]

Have to say, after reorienting the ISY I've had no signal strength issues.  Everything is working quite well!

Also, is a backup supposed to be much faster now than on the old dongle? Just want to make sure that's expected and it is indeed working... 

[Michel Kohanim]

skunkiechris,

Yes, backup is definitely much faster than the 300 series.

With kind regards,
Michel

[captainc]

after getting through the z wave nuances getting set up mine is working with

2 - kwikset 912 door locks

jasco/ge on/off module (pilfered from my adt system)

range is an issue when i moved the on/off module and now the 2nd lock doesn't work well so i ordered a range extender and z wave motion for a room.  however the adt pulse system worked with it further away without an issue.

however it appears the zwave on/off is slower to react than the insteon.  it is an issue for one of my programs where i have the ezio8 connected to my alarm and when the alarm goes off i have it strobe the whole house on then off then on... every 2 seconds.  the house has all led bulbs and it works great you can't even dial a cell phone when it goes off.

could it be the range extender might help or mixing insteon and z wave on the isy it isn't quite in sync.

[captainc]

i found the user set up for the kwikset 912 a little issue

when setting the access code it confirms it is set with the small window.

when setting schedule - edit and making changes and then apply the window does not confirm and close, you have to hit cancel to get out looking like the changes are not set

[Jimbo.Automates]

I went out of town the day I received mine, and will finally have time tomorrow to install it. There are a lot of posts to try and surmise.

So do the procedure as described in the OP, but don't do the heal. Should a heal ever be run?

Orientation of the ISY should be vertical for best coverage, doesn't matter which side is up?

Anything else I didn't catch or remember?


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[captainc]

like bm2 said remove/exclude the device before you include it helped me out.

get a repeater my dongle doesn't go more than 15 feet

[Jimbo.Automates]

like bm2 said remove/exclude the device before you include it helped me out.
get a repeater my dongle doesn't go more than 15 feet

Not sure if that reply was meant for me, if so, thanks but I have a pretty robust zwave mesh. Only wondering about best orientation and if a heal should ever be run.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[Bumbershoot]

18 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Not sure if that reply was meant for me, if so, thanks but I have a pretty robust zwave mesh. Only wondering about best orientation and if a heal should ever be run.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

I had to go back to find my own post, but I performed a heal after the upgrade to reestablish the neighbors to my devices.  There have been no ill effects that I've noticed, as everything is working just fine here, with no noticable issues at all.

 

[Jimbo.Automates]

17 hours ago, Jimbo said:

I went out of town the day I received mine, and will finally have time tomorrow to install it. There are a lot of posts to try and surmise.

So do the procedure as described in the OP, but don't do the heal. Should a heal ever be run?

Orientation of the ISY should be vertical for best coverage, doesn't matter which side is up?

Anything else I didn't catch or remember?


Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

Installed and everything seems to be working fine, have not run a heal, @Michel Kohanim Please let me know if you would like me to run the heal.

[asbril]

Having read the various experiences with the new Zwave dongle, I am ready to go for it. Where can I buy it ?

[Bumbershoot]

5 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Installed and everything seems to be working fine, have not run a heal, @Michel Kohanim Please let me know if you would like me to run the heal.

Michel does recommend a heal if communications aren't good.  See this post earlier in this thread:

 

[Michel Kohanim]

@Jimbo,

Yes, vertical … it's best if LED point down but, in all cases, range is a lot better if in vertical mode. Heal, if and only if you have communication problems.

@asbril, 

With kind regards,

Michel

[larryllix]

On ‎7‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 11:01 PM, Teken said:

Would have loved to Beta test on this but was on the wrong side of the 49th parallel . . . 

I'm at the 44th and I still can't get one.

(I don't think it's your attitude  accent altitude  azimuth orientation parallel  )

[asbril]

12 hours ago, Michel Kohanim said:

@Jimbo,

Yes, vertical … it's best if LED point down but, in all cases, range is a lot better if in vertical mode. Heal, if and only if you have communication problems.

@asbril, 

With kind regards,

Michel

Michel,

I am not sure to understand your response. Are you referring to the availability as of end-of-August ? If so, directly from UDI ?

[rccoleman]

20 minutes ago, asbril said:

Michel,

I am not sure to understand your response. Are you referring to the availability as of end-of-August ? If so, directly from UDI ?

If you are interested, please send an email:
To: sales@universal-devices.com
Subject: Z-Wave 500 Series Beta
Body: Your address

[pjjameso]

@Michel Kohanim

@Chris Jahn

Michel,

Im having performance issues regarding range using the Aeotec  Range Extender 6 (Gen 5). These devices worked fine with the old zwave card but range is considerably reduced and almost unusable with the new dongle.  I think that the neighbors are setup correctly when you basically reset all of your zwave devices (which i have several times) including wiping the zwave dongle and then adding them back one at a time.  However if you move the ISY to another location for better coverage and then try to heal the network you get constant assigning neighbor failures.

Any chance Chris could order two of these units and validate they talk to each otherand are able to update neighbors correctly?

[blueman2]

1 hour ago, pjjameso said:

@Michel Kohanim

@Chris Jahn

Michel,

Im having performance issues regarding range using the Aeotec  Range Extender 6 (Gen 5). These devices worked fine with the old zwave card but range is considerably reduced and almost unusable with the new dongle.  I think that the neighbors are setup correctly when you basically reset all of your zwave devices (which i have several times) including wiping the zwave dongle and then adding them back one at a time.  However if you move the ISY to another location for better coverage and then try to heal the network you get constant assigning neighbor failures.

Any chance Chris could order two of these units and validate they talk to each otherand are able to update neighbors correctly?

pjjameso,

I have been having similar issues with Aeotec Gen 5 plug switches that I use for extenders.  But due to my travels, I had to go back to the older z-wave board in my ISY so I was not able to determine fully what was going on.  One thing I meant to do, but did not, was to exclude the devices and then re-include them using SECURE mode.  This is a special way to include these devices that sends security info and allows them to better deal with locks, etc.  Here is a clip from the instructions on how to do this with Smart Switch 6:

Remove Smart Switch from an existing z‐wave network:
   1. Insert the Smart Switch to power socket, The Smart Switch LED will follow the status
      (on/off) of its load’ power level.
   2. Let the primary controller of existing Z‐Wave network into remove mode (If you don’t
      know how to do this, refer to its manual).
   3. Press the Action button.
   4. If the remove success, Smart Switch LED will blink slowly. If Smart Switch LED still follows
      that of load status, please repeat the process from step 2.

Send Security Node Info frame.  For the ISY, under Z-wave | Z-wave Secure Devices, select "Allow secure devices to be added"

Add Smart Switch into an existing z‐wave network:
    1. Insert the Smart Switch to power socket, The purple LED will blink slowly.
    2. Let the primary controller into inclusion mode (If you don’t know how to do this, refer to
       its manual).
    3. Press the Action Button twice.
    4. If the inclusion success, Smart Switch LED will keep turning on. Otherwise, the LED will
       still blink slowly, in which you need to repeat the process from step 2.

 

 

[pjjameso]

I have tried both methods, secured and unsecured with similar results.... meaning not working well at all.  Its very strange, when testing signal strength on repeater its showing red meaning poor signal.  It does indicate its getting a message as it blinks blue as ISY sends a zwave command.  However when I query in the ISY it says cannot reach device.

 

[Michel Kohanim]

Hi @pjjameso,

Have you tried to position ISY vertically? Yes we will get those devices and test.

With kind regards,

Michel

[pjjameso]

Thank you again Michel

 

Yes, mounted the ISY vertically to no avail....  Thanks for ordering the repeaters, as mentioned you will need two of them to test communication between themselves and other zwave devices.  The 3 other other zwave devices in my system are all MIMO2+.  Which of course was why it was easy to reset the dongle/ISY several times and try different locations along with/without network heal 

[bpwwer]

Did a bit more with the new module last night.  I associated a Zooz water valve and it worked great. I then created a scene and controlled the value with an Insteon switch. 

I also re-oriented the ISY to vertical but still have issues communicating with my multi-sensor.  The sensor is quite far from the ISY (and farther from any other z-wave device) but it did work well with the old module/external antenna combo.