I recently got a Homey Pro. My hope was to use it in conjunction with Home Assistant to retire my Smartthings Hub and my Hubitat Hub. I’ve been successful in retiring the Smartthings hub, but can’t retire my Hubitat Hub due to Homey Pro’s implementation of ZWave.
After onboarding a handful of GE Embrighten ZWave light switches (both original and Plus versions) and my failed effort to onboard a Schlage ZWave lock, I’m a bit frustrated.
It seems that Homey Pro’s support for original ZWave is pretty limited. For example, while I’m not able to use an app to onboard an original ZWave device (security bootstrapping failure), I can use the basic ZWave pairing process in the Homey app. Normally, I wouldn’t mind this so much, but the Homey Pro app does a pretty bad job at identifying and appropriately controlling an original ZWave device. My dimmers no longer dim and my lock cannot be operated at all.
So, I have 2-3 questions:
Is there any sort of a Homey Pro ZWave guide that I can use to modify the original ZWave devices onboarded into Homey so I can tell Homey that the device is a dimmer or a fan control or a lock?
Does Homey intend to expand the generic ZWave stack to offer more accurate/robust control of original ZWave devices?
If Homey doesn’t intend to expand the generic ZWave implementation, is there any plan to make the difference between what Homey can do with generic ZWave vs. ZWave Plus, or to facilitate integration of different hubs (Hubitat has the bootstrapping issue, but still applies and controls the appropriate ZWave profile to onboarded devices)?
Sorry if this is covered in another topic. I see it mentioned in the context of specific devices, but my testing indicates that it’s more of an original ZWave vs. ZWave Plus issue than a device-specific one.
Thanks. Started here since ticket time is 2-3 weeks, but submitted a ticket afterward.
Frustrating that the GE Embrighten app listing shows so many devices and when you hover over them they show ZWave. Bought the Homey thinking it’d control all of my GE Embrighten stuff well. Turns out, the app doesn’t support ZWave (original), it actually only supports ZWave Plus…an important distinction glossed over by either the Homey team or the development team.
That’s true, but looking at the Wikipedia ZWave Page, ZWave has had a variety of implementations.
ZWave became ZWave Plus for the first time using the 500 series chipsets in 2013, but Homey has referred to ZWave as simply ZWave in many areas of their documentation despite only offering full support for ZWave Plus.
Here’s what you see if you hover over an example device on the Homey App Store’s GE Embrighten app page:
I know it seems like a minor nit to pick, but I can’t even find the Support Article you’re referencing and I’m starting to get used to how Homey lays out their materials. No idea how a new buyer would be able to easily determine if their devices are truly supported with the site and tooltips set up as they are today. I checked before I bought and saw my device and ZWave w/o any mention of not having full support because it’s not a 700 series chipset.
Just saying they can be more straightforward in explaining compatibility and/or offer support for folks who bought in and find that their two year old switches don’t work.
Idk what you want to achieve. I agree Homey info is very fragmented, old and new mixed up, providing for clear, centralized info is an art Athom can do (way) better imho.
pretty much my issues. GE/Jasco/ENbrighten all have issues with pairing and Rx errors if you do pair which messes with Z=wave network performance. I have some some wave devices if you pair but dont enter or should I say enter all 0s for authentication it may help.
I use the Homey Developer Tools to see the wave behavior though it doesn’t fix anything.
Hi Adam,
I don’t know where you got your information from (other than Wiki), but all Z-Wave chip are fully downwards compatible, also the Z-Wave Plus chip (700 series) from Homey Pro. This means that Z-Wave devices from the 500 series and below are also compatible. This is the reason, why all Z-Wave in the App Store
By the way, what do you mean when you write about “original” Z-Wave devices? Devices with a 500 chip?
Regarding the compatibility of devices and Homey. With a few exceptions, every device requires a special app. Some device-specific information and its capabilities must be included in this app so that this device is fully supported by Homey. It happens from time to time that the device manufacturer changes this device-specific information, e.g. because something has been changed in the hardware, I don’t mean the Z-Wave chip. Due to this change, the Homey app must be modified accordingly, otherwise this device, which may be sold under the same name, would not work.
So if it’s not possible to include your GE Embrighten Z-Wave devices, please contact the app developer.
@Mark-AppMyHome, the issue with Rx errors and no responding Z-Wave devices, is a different subject and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with GE devices.
I have received a response from the app developer who is looking into whether the loss of ZWave-based dimming can be addressed with updates. I’ve provided info from the Homey system and switch pictures and will update this thread if the developer is able to back-port the capability into these devices.
