I am not as familiar with ZWave as I am with other protocols. Just moved into a new house with Honeywell Thermostats. They look the same as the ones I have in my old house so didn’t think of anything of it until going to WiFi to configure just to realize WiFi doesn’t exist and only ZWave. What are the best and least expensive options to get this automated? I don’t want to pay $150 for a hub as I’d just buy 2 new thermostats. Or is ZWave that good and worth switching other products to the protocol?

Appreciate any insight and ideas!

I have a house with 4 exterior light switches. I’m wanting to add smart switches to the system. I don’t have a neutral in the wall and have limited attic access. So pulling neutrals is going to be a very difficult task. I figured it would be fine to leave the switches on and buy a z wave light fixture. Those don’t exist as far as I can tell. I found a smart switch cover from Ecolink that is battery powered and converts existing dumb switches to smart switches. It’s pretty ugly, though. This has to have wife approval lol. Are there any other switch covers that would work? Or any other solution that doesn’t require pulling neutrals?

I have these 3 zwave rockers - the last two of them "just work" - simply by scanning the QR code (on the bottom, not in the picture) and doing the add zwave device on HomeAssistant, they were found, added and "just work".

The first however only works manually. It will not show up with or without using the QR code. I've tried the "3 quick pushes 'on' followed by 3 quick pushes of 'off'" and no reaction. The little blue LED doesn't flash - it's on when the switch is off, and off when the switch is on.

Since I have two of them working, when I search on the model number here, I get "add on switch, cannot be used standalone" but clearly 2 of the 3 can, so I doubt I'm getting the right advice.

On the bottom frame where the led and QR code is, I see a small what I would have called a RESET/PAIR switch you need a long nail or screwdriver to use. THis is not mentioned in any manual I can find, and it doesn't seem to do anything.

So this gangway works electrically, 2 of the 3 can be paired and controlled via Zwave but the first one cannot. I'm looking for ideas - if a reset is needed HOW? Am I totally mis-reading the "add-on" characteristics, even though 2 of them work stand-alone?

Note - I cannot find the invoice/receipt for these rockers bought in 2022 so I'm not able to find what I think is the right documentation for them. Hopefully someone here can help?

I kind of feel like this should be a no-brainer kind of thing. I've been using the good old fashioned dumb outdoor plug for holiday lights for 20 years. Light sensor, comes on when it's dark enough, goes off x hours later, or a dusk to dawn option. But that function has one simple flaw, which is on a dark and cloudy day, the lights come on 2-3 hours earlier, and as a result go off 2-3 hours earlier.

So I thought since I'm all home automationy, I should probably do that for the outdoor holiday lights too. Then I could use the light sensor to turn on the lights whenever it's dark enough, but still have them stay on until the desired off time. Lo and behold, best I can tell, not one of the main players makes such a plug. Minoston, Zoos, Aeotec, GE/Jasco all have outdoor plugs, 1 or 2 outlets, dimmable, energy monitoring, all the good stuff, but no light sensor.

Am I missing somebody out there doing this, and am I the only one that thinks it would be logical to have?

And yes, since I'm using Home Assistant, I'm just building a little ESP32 light sensor to stick in the window, but really seems like I shouldn't need to.

Universal Electronics Inc. received FCC authorization on September 15, 2026 for the UEI/Ecolink Z-Wave Long Range PIR Sensor, FCC ID MG3-PIRZWLR.

The public filing shows:

• Two Z-Wave radio ranges are listed: 908.42–912 MHz and 912–920 MHz, under Part 15C.

• The 912–920 MHz authorization lists 0.0624 W of conducted output. The grant also states at least 20 cm separation from people and no unapproved transmitter collocation.

• The product code is PIRZWLR, and the label sample identifies the device as “UEI/Ecolink Z-Wave Long Range PIR Sensor” with FCC ID MG3-PIRZWLR.

• The public documents include two Z-Wave test reports, two label exhibits, antenna information, and RF-exposure material.

FCC filing: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR

Label sample: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/Label/MG3-PIRZWLR-Label-Sample-9636755

Label location: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/Label/MG3-PIRZWLR-Label-Location-9636754

Z-Wave test report 1: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/Test-Report/FR251207001A-TR-DTS-Part15-247-Z-Wave-9636699

Z-Wave test report 2: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/Test-Report/FR251207001B-TR-DXX-Part15-249-Z-Wave-9636748

Antenna information: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/Test-Report/PIRZWLR-ECO-Antenna-Report-r1-9652262

RF-exposure report: https://fccid.io/MG3-PIRZWLR/RF-Exposure-Info/FA251207001-FCC-RF-Exposure-9636747

Has anyone spotted this Long Range Ecolink sensor in a Z-Wave setup?

I'm looking for a module that I can mount in the canopy of the ceiling fan, where I can control the fan speed and light (preferably with a dimmer but that's not so important). The fan only has one power connection, and is one of those where you have to pull a wire to toggle light and fan speeds - that's what I want replaced with a z-wave module.

So far I'm coming up with a ton of wall switches but I won't have those wires. Any suggestions?

This just struck me! From what I understand, a ceiling fan speed is controlled by feeding 110 into a transformer that outputs two separate amperage leads, and then the analog speed selector switch cycles between none on, low amperage on, high amperage on, and both on, then back to none on.

It should be possible to replicate this with a double relay with adequate amperage (Zooz comes to mind). It should be possible to even capture cord pulls on the relay inputs.

The biggest challenge IMO would be packing it into the space, especially if you were also adding a light relay, granted with creative wiring you could probably stick the light relay in the box at the base of the fan rather than the module. Heat dissipation may also be a concern.

Has anyone done this?

I have several ZEN04, ZEN05 and ZEN20 smart plug switches. I noticed that whenever I update the firmware, usually via Home Assistant, if a switch is in the “on” state during the firmware update, it will power cycle and reboot when the update is completed, causing interruption to whatever device is plugged into it. For example, I have ZEN04 smart switches on the power outlets for my Wi-Fi access points. I only see it happen if a switch is in the “on State“. It toggles off then back on again, causing interruption. But if a switch is in the “off State“ I don’t see it turn on then back off.

Is this “on-off-on”power cycling after a firmware update normal behavior? Is there a setting that I am missing that will keep it on? Or do I just need to plan out these updates more carefully and prepare for the interruptions? Or is there a better Z-wave smart plug that I should be using?

TITLE EDIT: Zooz (not Zoom) damn spell check 🙄

Wanted to shware our zwave enabled Home Automation hub running home assistant. the 2nd photo shows the M.2 card which has the Zwave, Zigbee, and thread radios. any feedback welcome! the product specs and backing is here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874883570/case8

I want to start home automation/smart home and I know I want to use home assistant locally hosted on my Linux server and I know I want to use ZWave for its reliability and because it won’t interfere with 2.4 ghz WiFi. I am very new and want to know where everyone would recommend starting and what info you can give to a beginner. Whether it’s products, knowledge or suggestions it’s all appreciated.
Thank you.

I have a number of GE ZW4005 Z-Wave switches that I need to restore to factory default. The manual claims that by quickly tapping 3 On's and than 3 off's the blue led will blink 5 times to indicate a reset. I have tried this on 4 switches and none of them blink. This sounds simple so what am I missing? How fast do you have to tap 3 times?

I am switching from the Vera hub to an Aeotec Smart Home hub. I need to unpair all my Zwave devices from the Vera in order to pair them with the new hub. I am finding that the Nortek dimmers don't seem to behave as per the instructions. When I set the controller up to unpair and press the paddle switch twice, nothing happens. The LED doesn't blink and the controller just waits for the response from the switch. Anyone have any ideas.? The Nortek dimmer is no longer in production so there is no way to get support from them

Three and half years ago, we bought an installed about 35 of these Enbrighten Z-Wave Light Dimmer with QuickFit & SimpleWire switches, rebuilding from a fire. They show up in Home Assistant as "46203 / ZW3010 by GE/Enbrighten". I had a few spares and have had a few switches fail. Now I am out of spares and I can't find them in stock anywhere. Do we know, did they get discontinued, or go through a name change?

I have been running Zigbee great on my network for a long time. Decided to get Z-Wave for some smart locks. Plugged in the ZWA-2 into HA, nothing popped up. Then I tried to add ZWave in the Integrations page. Went through all the setup, selected my USB port, and it says it “failed to start the Z-Wave JS App.” However, the app is started and this is what the logs show. Anyone have any tips?

After a lot of trial and error and frustration, I ended up with five Hubitat hubs, all broadcasting their own z-wave network and interconnected via Hubmesh. I also have an Alarm.com z-wave network for my door locks - independent of my Hubitat network. This worked (basically) flawlessly for years.

Recently, we moved to zoned Trane HVAC systems. This added four new thermostats. Each thermostat has its own z-wave network to communicate to remote temp/humidity sensors.

That's a total of 10 independent z-wave networks running in my house.

Since the addition of the HVAC networks, I have noticed errors on my other z-wave networks that did not occur before. A door lock disconnects from the ADC network or an outdoor light misses the dusk command to turn on or the dawn command to turn off. Switch binding in the kitchen is supposed to turn on 4 switches but only turns on 3, etc., etc.

Is the timing a coincidence or is there such a thing as too many z-wave networks?