I have two Razberry v2 boards on two 4GB Pi 4's. One on the first floor and one on the second floor. Both are seperate with their own instance of Z-way software running. I ended up doing this because the first floor unit was having trouble reaching devices on the second floor. I've seen other people do the same, but it seems weird because I always assumed Z-wave was a mesh network and this shouldn't have been a problem.
Either way, I'd like to consolidate both units to have all rules and on/off conditions running in one place. Right now when I need to communicate information betwwen both boards I use the http API. Is primary and secondary controllers my only options? If so, can I put the secondary controller board on a Pi Zero W and run Expert UI only? Is there a better or different way?
Options to combine two networks
Re: Options to combine two networks
There is a Import Remove HA app. It uses HTTP polling to import all devices from one Z-Way into another. This is your choice. We plan to change it to new WebSockets soon, so it will be running instantly without polling
Re: Options to combine two networks
Z-wave is a mesh but only devices that can operate as a repeater will allow it to me a mesh. Battery powered devices do not act as a repeater. So it really depends on what devices you have.
I'm working towards have five Raspberry Pi 4B's running Z-way. I was tinkering around with two as I was trying to get it integrated into my existing home automation setup. Some of the changes coming will finally facilitate that with much greater ease. Right now I have four active Z-Way installs going but only three have Z-Wave functionality. The instance not running Z-Wave is acting as an aggregator of the other three and eventually five. Z-Way comes with an app that you can enable. Go to "Apps" and then "Local Apps" and then "Link other Z-Way controller". In there you can give it the IP address as well as the login credentials for the other Z-Way Raspberry Pi. This will then "copy" the other devices from the second Raspberry Pi to the first; this is a oneway copy. The second Raspberry Pi won't know of the devices in the first. So on the primary unit you can have all of the rules and conditions on just the primary.
For why I'm going with five. I have a lot of Z-Wave devices and the network can get congested of which some of it is because of the mesh. So buy having five Z-Way installs using the "App" to consolidate the control of them all to one, I get rid of the mesh issues and everything is reachable without the need for relaying to happen from node to node. So when I want to add a device, I pick the closest Z-Way and add it to that device and then it will also show up on the master node; the one that doesn't have Z-Wave running on it.
I'm working towards have five Raspberry Pi 4B's running Z-way. I was tinkering around with two as I was trying to get it integrated into my existing home automation setup. Some of the changes coming will finally facilitate that with much greater ease. Right now I have four active Z-Way installs going but only three have Z-Wave functionality. The instance not running Z-Wave is acting as an aggregator of the other three and eventually five. Z-Way comes with an app that you can enable. Go to "Apps" and then "Local Apps" and then "Link other Z-Way controller". In there you can give it the IP address as well as the login credentials for the other Z-Way Raspberry Pi. This will then "copy" the other devices from the second Raspberry Pi to the first; this is a oneway copy. The second Raspberry Pi won't know of the devices in the first. So on the primary unit you can have all of the rules and conditions on just the primary.
For why I'm going with five. I have a lot of Z-Wave devices and the network can get congested of which some of it is because of the mesh. So buy having five Z-Way installs using the "App" to consolidate the control of them all to one, I get rid of the mesh issues and everything is reachable without the need for relaying to happen from node to node. So when I want to add a device, I pick the closest Z-Way and add it to that device and then it will also show up on the master node; the one that doesn't have Z-Wave running on it.
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p_carneyrn
- Posts: 23
- Joined: 06 Sep 2018 13:54
Re: Options to combine two networks
Thank you for your help. I checked out the app last night. My first question is how often are you polling your other Z-way devices? The app starts at a 1000ms which also sounds like a lot of traffic and congestion. Also, what if I only need my z-wave devices to show up? It looks like I can do one controller as a secondary, but I'm a little scared to screw things up. If I do this, can I get rid of Z-way on the secondary device all together? (and leave Expert UI in place?)
Re: Options to combine two networks
Polling between Z-Way controllers does not harm you - this is LAN - it is not big traffic. It does not flood Z-Wave network.
Z-Way is needed on both controllers to keep your RaZberry working as most of the application runs on Z-Way, not inside the RaZberry
Z-Way is needed on both controllers to keep your RaZberry working as most of the application runs on Z-Way, not inside the RaZberry
Re: Options to combine two networks
When web sockets are used in a future release, it will reduce traffic on the LAN side. I noticed less than 1Mbps increase in traffic when I enabled that app at the 1,000ms (1 second). You can increase the the time but that will make things slower to show their current state and maybe push changes as well.
So you can create rules and conditions on the secondary for devices it controls or create them on the primary for devices on it or the secondary. You don't change the software, the same software still needs to run. So Z-Way stays on it as it is today.
The secondary will only know of its devices. The primary will know of its devices and the ones on the secondary. This is why I created a Z-Way instance running on a server as a VM. It collects from the other Z-Way nodes that have Z-Wave capability enabled on them. I will say that I looked at using Home Assistant but many things turned me off from it. Things have gotten better with it but Z-Way has a much better Z-Wave implementation plus they make it far easier to implement a distributed system. The only thing I wish it did, if you group devices by room on the Z-Way controller for those devices that this information was fed to the master. As it stands they just go into the unassigned group.
PoltoS could confirm this, but I believe that if you delete the config in the "Link other Z-Way controller" app that it would delete the replicated devices as well. So if that is the case, if you changed your mind, you could just delete the config and things would be back to what you have right now. You could also take a third Raspberry Pi and just use it as the master node with no Z-Wave configured and no Razberry board needed.
Configuring "Link other Z-Way controller" is as easy as:
1) Give it the IP address of what will be the secondary/slave Raspberry Pi
2) Give it the credentials for admin access on the secondary/slave Raspberry Pi
3) Set the desired time (default is 1000ms)
4) This is optional but you can give it a name. I did this step since I will have five of them and having all five show the same default "name" is not useful. The default name is "Link other Z-Way controller" so I put which of the five I have it is.
It is seriously that easy and in under a minute you're up and running.
So you can create rules and conditions on the secondary for devices it controls or create them on the primary for devices on it or the secondary. You don't change the software, the same software still needs to run. So Z-Way stays on it as it is today.
The secondary will only know of its devices. The primary will know of its devices and the ones on the secondary. This is why I created a Z-Way instance running on a server as a VM. It collects from the other Z-Way nodes that have Z-Wave capability enabled on them. I will say that I looked at using Home Assistant but many things turned me off from it. Things have gotten better with it but Z-Way has a much better Z-Wave implementation plus they make it far easier to implement a distributed system. The only thing I wish it did, if you group devices by room on the Z-Way controller for those devices that this information was fed to the master. As it stands they just go into the unassigned group.
PoltoS could confirm this, but I believe that if you delete the config in the "Link other Z-Way controller" app that it would delete the replicated devices as well. So if that is the case, if you changed your mind, you could just delete the config and things would be back to what you have right now. You could also take a third Raspberry Pi and just use it as the master node with no Z-Wave configured and no Razberry board needed.
Configuring "Link other Z-Way controller" is as easy as:
1) Give it the IP address of what will be the secondary/slave Raspberry Pi
2) Give it the credentials for admin access on the secondary/slave Raspberry Pi
3) Set the desired time (default is 1000ms)
4) This is optional but you can give it a name. I did this step since I will have five of them and having all five show the same default "name" is not useful. The default name is "Link other Z-Way controller" so I put which of the five I have it is.
It is seriously that easy and in under a minute you're up and running.
Re: Options to combine two networks
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The only thing I wish it did, if you group devices by room on the Z-Way controller for those devices that this information was fed to the master. As it stands they just go into the unassigned group.----
Correct, if you disable the app, devices will be destroyed until you run it again
Re: Options to combine two networks
I would probably go with names as the ID could be different different controllers but the same name.
Some may hate this suggestion. Take what is on the Z-Way instance and create them as-is to the "master" unit. In my setup, I can only think of one instance where the same room would be listed. That may not be the case for everyone though. So maybe just copy the room name and in cases where there are duplicates it combines the rooms into one.
The only way I could see where the ID's were the same, if they were created on the master and pushed to the slave units. That would be a big change from what is done. I think just using the name as a unique identifier would be the route to take.
Some may hate this suggestion. Take what is on the Z-Way instance and create them as-is to the "master" unit. In my setup, I can only think of one instance where the same room would be listed. That may not be the case for everyone though. So maybe just copy the room name and in cases where there are duplicates it combines the rooms into one.
The only way I could see where the ID's were the same, if they were created on the master and pushed to the slave units. That would be a big change from what is done. I think just using the name as a unique identifier would be the route to take.
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howardellis1
- Posts: 1
- Joined: 24 Mar 2022 09:44
Re: Options to combine two networks
Hi guys,
I considered employing Home Assistant, but a number of factors dissuaded me from doing so. Things have improved, but Z-Way has a considerably superior Z-Wave implementation and makes implementing a distributed system far easier. The only thing I wish it did was feed this information to the master if you group devices by room on the Z-Way controller for those devices. Currently, they are allocated to the unassigned group.
I considered employing Home Assistant, but a number of factors dissuaded me from doing so. Things have improved, but Z-Way has a considerably superior Z-Wave implementation and makes implementing a distributed system far easier. The only thing I wish it did was feed this information to the master if you group devices by room on the Z-Way controller for those devices. Currently, they are allocated to the unassigned group.
Re: Options to combine two networks
Good point - we will improve it!