Hi, I have a number of the original Z-Wave switches:
12 x LZW31-SN (firmware v1.48 and v1.41)
12 x LZW30-SN (firmware v1.19)
I’m running the latest version of Home Assistant using a 500-series Aeotec USB Stick.
I am about to upgrade my controller stick to a 700-series, so I will be excluding all switches and including them onto the new controller.
Before I do so, I want to clean things up a bit. I have the following questions:
On the Dimmer Switch, I see that the latest Z-Wave firmware is v1.61 and has been in beta for the last ~2.5 years. Is that firmware considered stable now?
On the On/Off Switch, same question, v1.22 has been in beta for 2.5 years. Is it stable now?
Should I push the firmware update via Home Assistant to all switches before I exclude them? Or should I use the Silicon Labs tool?
Will upgrading the firmware perform a factory reset on the device? Since I’m going through the hassle, I’d prefer to factory reset the switches after the firmware upgrade.
Will the firmware upgrade survive a factory reset? Or should I reset at the switch before upgrading the firmware?
I don’t recall my older reds performing a factory reset after firmware updates. You do need to configure the new parameters that were added after the upgrade.
If you exclude the switches from your old hub, the switches will factory reset to start inclusion on your new hub.
They don’t factory reset when you do a firmware update, but there can be some odd behavior sometimes because a new parameter isn’t set correctly until you set it. I forget what parameter now, but you just had to go and set it after an update to ensure it worked right.
The easiest is to do the upgrade first then when you exclude and re-include that will reset the device and it will work correctly.
I have no idea if HA can do it correctly now, it was having issues doing both parts of the update properly at one time. I use zwave-js-ui and do it there.
@Bry I’m not expecting any new firmware updates, my question was more of whether the latest beta was stable enough to be used, or if it was full of bugs and I’d be better off using the last “production” firmware instead.
I’m running 1.22 and 1.61 on a bunch of switches under ST without any issues. Regarding the fact that the latest versions are labeled beta, Inovelli doesn’t often reclassify them if the version wasn’t shipped in a production run.
Inovelli considers 1.61 as stable. There is no comment to that effect for 1.22, although that fix was implemented for certain HA use cases.
I don’t recall anything posted here in the way of new bugs popping us as a result of the newer versions, just some comments about things that weren’t fixed.
You can review the change logs to see if you need the latest versions or not.
Slightly off topic, but still on the topic of firmware versions and 700-series sticks.
I’m unsure which firmware version is currently being shipped with those 700-series sticks, but there were some issues with these initially and a firmware upgrade was required to fix them. It may be worth reaching out to the manufacturer to request the latest firmware for your stick just to be sure you have the smoothest 700 experience possible.
Zooz is easy to update following the directions on their site. The Silicon Labs one is updated the same way because it’s the same electronics just with a different shell and way cheaper.
Just throwing it out there as well before you change sticks. Is your network working well? If so, I’d really take a moment to ask if you really want to “upgrade” to 700 series. I did (was before firmware uograde on 700) and went right back to my 500 because it worked better. I’ve heard there are still some issues with the 700 series. Also 800 series is already out now as well though same applies that I’d wait for the dust to settle
Great point, I’ve read a lot about this and plan on upgrading the firmware as the first course of action.
No, it’s been slowing down over the past 2 years and now it’s completely unreliable. I’ve tried everything in the book. Random switches go offline constantly from Home Assistant. The network graph has most traffic routed to a light switch that’s ~30 feet from USB stick. There are about 18 other light switches that are closer to the controller, so it’s really strange. Sometimes it takes 10-20 seconds for a switch to respond to a command. I’m just fed up with it.
I hope the latest firmware and a fresh start with a new 700 series will clear up these issues.
Totally understand. If you are looking to start over though may be worth trying the 800 series stick from zooz. May give you some future proofing. It would be more of an issue if you were looking to migrate but if starting over is the plan should be pretty straight forward. Good luck!
This isn’t terrible advice. Especially since the sticks are relatively cheap.
Plus it would let you use the full capabilities of the new 800 series reds when they come out soon
My main objective is to restore stability to the network, which I think the 700 should do just fine. I’ve been reading about the 700 issues that took about a year to iron-out, so I’m a little hesitant on the being an early adopter of the 800 series.
I can always upgrade later if it makes sense, or wait until the next house to get all new gear.
I’m happy to report that everything went (mostly) smoothly today. Some of my key takeaways that may help others:
The firmware upgrades were smooth. The dimmers took about 3-4 minutes each. The on/off took about 15 minutes each.
Some switches went back to normal after the firmware upgrade. Some restarted themselves. Some were not responsive to the exclusion command afterwards and needed to be factory reset. This was fine for my approach but I can see where it might be challenging if I wasn’t starting fresh.
The same Silicon Labs tool was used to upgrade the firmware on the Aeotec 7 USB thumb stick, so that was a breeze once I got all of the software installed.
I accidently bricked one of the dimmers by selecting the wrong firmware (that of the on/off). Luckily I had a spare and replaced it right away.
Overall the network feels to be working faster so far. Most nodes have at least 2 connections to them (via the ZWave JS UI Graph).
After I included all of the switches, I ran a network-side heal to refresh the routing. The network heal took about 3 minutes total to complete, which was amazing compared to hours previously with many nodes failing.
All of the switches have new ZWave Device IDs, so I am slowly rebuilding the scene-triggered automations. I should be wrapping this up tomorrow.
The improvements to Home Assistant since I first set this up ~3.5 years ago are tremendous. While I’ve been keeping up with the updates, most of the automations and switch configs I put in place didn’t need to be touched over the years. Now that I’m redoing many, the automations are a lot easier now, I didn’t have to touch any YAML, and the Inovelli Switch Drivers provide full access to the settings without having to do many at the switch. I’m happy that the barrier of entry has come down so much since 2019.
