Z-Wave.Me future (discussion)

[Spacerat]

It would be great to have some migration guides from Raspberry Pi with Razberry 7 pro to Home Assistant + Zwave.js and a USB dongle (including some recommendations which USB sticks work).

Something like this
1. add USB-Controller to existing Z-Way with RaZberry
2. do controller switch in Z-Way
3. extract S0,S1 & S2 keys
4. install HA & zwave.js to new device (would like to keep existing Pi as fallback).
5. insert USB-Conroller into HA
6. dicover devices
7. add S0,S1 & S2 keys
8. reconfigure rules & automations in HA

[seattleneil]

The approach you've describer will mostly work, but it's not ideal for the following reasons:

1. The controller switch approach will cause the new controller to have a node ID that is not 1. While a controller with a ID node that's different than 1 should work, it will introduce some subtle problems. For example, the Lifeline association in a device is frequently hard-coded to send messages to node ID=1.

2. S2-included devices won't work with the new controller. This is because the S2 keys are used to create a device-specific key during the S2 inclusion process. The S2-derived device-specific keys are not transferred on a controller switch.

There's a fairly complicated procedure for adding a new controller with the same network ID as an existing controller and node ID=1. You can read about the approach here: https://github.com/zwave-js/zwave-js/discussions/6786

For many users, my sense is that it will be easier to exclude/re-include their Z-Wave devices with a new controller.

An alternative migration approach is for @PoltoS to provide a Razberry 7 backup tool that dumps the NVRAM into a format the Zooz ZAC93 and ZST39 controllers support (see: https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/collec ... ontrollers) using zwave-js-ui. This approach allows @PoltoS to create a simple migration path: (1) Run backup on RazBerry, (2) Use zwave-js-ui to restore the backup onto either a Zooz ZAC93 or ZST39 controller. Ideally, the Razberry Gen 2 (500-series) would have a similar migration approach.

[alky]

"Well, this is sad... sad that z-wave.me is ending. Last year I switched to RP5 + z-station. Probably wasted money...

Should I look for another solution, or will the z-station be able to function in some new form with Trident IoT?

Does anyone know Homey Pro? https://homey.app/ probably the best solution I have found or know so far."

[markchang]

So, for all that have a rpi with a high zwave.me home, what can we do after two years and what can’t?

I mean, I probably lost the app and the external connection but, will my system work without problem in 4.1.4? Or I will need to recreate my whole house with another zwave hub or home assistant.

I think that a guide of can/can’t will be a good idea to let us see if we continue like this or we spent the time to change.

Anyway, sad to hear that zwave.me end without continuity

[lanbrown]

Z-Way will continue to work, you won't have the remote access via the app though. In my case, this is not important as Z-Way is just feeding into Home Assistant. I have remote access to Home Assistant via Cloudflare using the Home Assistant app. Z-Way is stable and runs as a docker on Home Assistant. If Z-Way does have an issue, I can just restart the Add-on which is the docker. I could also just restart all of Home Assistant. At home, I would expect the Z-Wave,me app to work since it can communicate with the Z-Way locally.

[markchang]

So I can create a local backup of my pi system and continue to work with isn’t it?

And if in the future I have a problem with the system, I only need to reinstall with the backup

[lanbrown]

Yes, you should always have a backup.

[seattleneil]

The closing of Z-Wave.Me is unfortunate, but it's not catastophic. @PoltoS provided a detailed explanation of what we can expect - see: https://forum.z-wave.me/viewtopic.php?f ... 0&p=100028

My summary of the situation...

Z-Wave.Me controllers will continue to operate as they do today. Note that Z-Wave.Me controllers can be used with Z-Way software or they can be used with other Z-Wave software, such as zwave-js-ui, as used in Home Assistant. Transitioning from Z-Way to zwave-js-ui is straightforward - copy the S0 and S2 keys from Z-Way to zwave-js-ui and configure device names to have friendly names. In other words, there's no compelling reason to stop using a Z-Wave.Me controller. This is a good news as migrating a Z-Wave.Me controller such as a Razberry 7 Pro to a controller from a different company such as a Zooz ZAC93 is a difficult task as you can't simply backup a Z-Wave.Me controller and then restore onto a different company's hardware. Fortunately, migrating to new controller hardware should only be required if your Z-Wave.Me controller dies and you don't have a spare Z-Wave.Me controller.

Z-Way software should also continue to operate as it does today until Feb. 2027, with a few notable exceptions, as listed below:

1. Remote access via find.z-wave.me is slated to be shutdown Feb. 2027. As a workaround, chances are good that remote access will continue to work using a VPN or SSH port forwarding.

2. The Z-Way mobile app will not be available in app stores after Feb. 2027 and may stop working. As a workaround, you can use the web UI on your mobile device (with VPN or SSH port forwarding remote access discussed above).

3. Cloud backups/restore is slated to be shutdown Feb. 2027. As a workaround, you can do local backups instead of cloud backups.

4. Alexa and Google Assistant integrations is slated to be shutdown Feb. 2027. As a workaround, you can install Home Assistant and use either the Z-Way plugin or transition to the zwave-js-ui plugin.

[aLiEnHeAd]

This forum will last two years more. Maybe even longer as this requires very small resources from us. Same for the Z-Wave.Me web sites.

Does anyone know a good alternative forum / reddit / lemmy / mastodon with a nice community like this if this forum will be shut down?

[markchang]

And, as a question,

It is not possible to continue this project, except the part purchased in order to maintain at least all of this up?