hardware: add z-wave to hass.io

One of the first hardware capabilities I added to hass.io was z-wave. I did it through an Aeotec z-wave USB Gen 5 dongle and a number of z-wave devices such as multi sensor, door and window sensor. It was neither easy nor quick.

Figure 1. The Aeotec USB dongle was an affordable way to add z-wave to my system.

This i what I have learned.

I started by adding the z-wave integration through hass.io web interface > left menu > Configuration > Integrations > + sign (in lower right corner) > select z-wave.

Figure 2. I use the hass.io integration module to add z-wave to my system.

I then got a pop-up window asking for z-wave USB path. In previous versions of hass.io you had to find that path from within HassOS but it is now much easier. Simply navigate to hass.io web interface, left menu > hass.io > system tab > hardware button to get a list of all attached hardware.

Figure 3. I found the path to my z-wave dongle through the hardware section in hass.io.

In my case the z-wave usb dongle was grouped under serial and had the path /dev/ttyACM0. If you are not sure what yours is called, look at the hardware menu before and after you pull out the USB dongle, the path that disappears is what you are looking for.

Paste the path into the pop-up menu and hit submit. Restart hass.io.

For each z-wave device you want to add follow it's instructions carefully.

Note: If you get stuck when adding z-wave devices I recommend factory reset of both dongle and device and start over instead of trying to remove devices from hass.io.

Note: After a successful pairing of a new z-wave device, restart hass.io and be patient, sometimes it takes both some time and a couple of restarts to make them show in hass.io. The best way to check what z-wave devices hass.io has integrated go to hass.io > Integrations > click your configured z-wave to get a list.

Note: I do not know if it is unique for Aeotec devices or a more general issue but the instructions found in manuals ans the actual behavioyr of the devices differed quite abit when it came to how long to press buttons and indications from device LEDs. In addition, if I had learned how to interpret tje LED on one Aeotec device, omanither could behave differently.

Figure 4. I check which z-wave devices that have been succesfully integrated in the z-wave module.

Please let me know in the comments section if you have any questions or comments.