Migrate To Z-wave version 452

Revision as of 16:12, 3 July 2011

HOW TO MIGRATE FROM THE OLDER Z-WAVE VERSION (2.78) TO THE NEWER Z-WAVE VERSION (3.20)

NOTE: This migration only works with a Vera 2.

Introduction

Inside your Vera2, or your Vera1's dongle, is a Z-Wave chip. The Z-wave chip inside Vera 2's is upgradeable, meaning Vera can automatically load either the newer or older Z-Wave firmware into the chip. Z-Wave has its own firmware, separate from Vera's firmware.
is that its routing capabilities are improved. This gives Vera the ability to optimize the Z-Wave network, This is particularly usefull in a large and complex network with lots of Z-Wave devices.
As of version 3.20 Vera no longer supports inclusion controllers (ie SUC/SIS). This feature allowed you to add a secondary, handheld (USB) controller to the Z-Wave network, and then include additional Z-Wave nodes using this controller. We recommend new customers to always use the newer version of Z-Wave. Starting in March, 2011 new Vera's will have the newer Z-Wave version selected by default.

You can change which version Vera uses by selecting the Z-Wave icon in your toolbox, selecting the options tab, and checking the "Use Z-Wave version 3.20 instead of 2.78" box to use the newer Z-Wave, or unchecking it to use the older Z-Wave (2.78), and then saving your changes.

Prerequisites

Officially you have to reset your Z-Wave network and rebuild your network from scratch. While this is not an issue for a new user or a really small network, some Vera users have large Z-Wave networks already setup with lots of scenes and will not want to redo everything. Therefore we have developed the following different methods which should work most of the time, and they include making a backup so you can go back if it doesn't work.

Before you upgrade it is recommended you run a Z-Wave repair/heal network, since this will create a reliability rating, or "health score", for all your Z-Wave nodes. Then after upgrading you can run it again and see if the reliability has improved. To do this, choose the Z-Wave icon from the toolbox, choose the Repair tab, and click 'Go'.
Depending on the size of your network the process will take anywhere from 1 hour for smaller networks, up to 8 hours for networks with 80+ Z-Wave devices. It's best to start it at night before going to bed so nobody will be manually using the Z-Wave devices during the test as this can throw the profiling off so the health score is not accurate. Once the process has completed, return to the Repair tab and you should be able to view the Repair report using the pull-down menu. You can save this and compare after you migrate to the newer Z-Wave firmware.

• Upgrade to the latest Vera firmware. It must be version 1.1.1221 or later (March, 2011).

Instructions

There are two ways to upgrade your z-wave firmware. The first way is to update the firmware and build your network from scratch. The second way is to upgrade the firmware using the "Hack to convert 2.78 to 3.20" option under the advanced tab of the z-wave device. This second option allows you to keep your devices and settings without going through the reset z-wave network procedure.

*NOTE1, Before continuing, please make sure to backup your dongle/z-wave chip!

1. After upgrading your Vera to the latest firmware, click the Z-Wave icon, choose the Advanced tab, and click "Backup Dongle". Confirm that within a minute or so you get a Backup: Backup done message in the info panel in the upper right corner of the dashboard, along with a green gear icon.
2. Choose the advanced icon from the toolbox and click the Backup tab. Choose the option "Create Backup". This will give you the option of saving a file called "backup.mios2...something". Save this file on your computer somewhere and hold onto it.
   

Update z-wave firmware to the new firmware and build the z-wave network from scratch

*NOTE2, Vera firmware 1.1.1245 currently has a bug preventing the reset to actual clear any devices. Please see the releasenotes here: Release_Notes

After Vera has finished changing the Z-Wave firmware, you should choose the "Reset Z-Wave network" button which is on the Advanced tab of the Z-Wave settings.
This will clear out your entire Z-Wave network, removing all your devices, and starting clean. The reason for this is that the way the newer Z-Wave firmware stores the Z-Wave network data is slightly different.

If you move from the older to the newer version without doing a reset it is likely you will not be able to add or remove any nodes.
This "Reset Z-Wave network" resets the network data in either the newer or older format from scratch, so the Z-Wave chip will be ready to go. More info on bringing Vera bacvk to factory defaults is to be found here: Factory_Reset

1. Go into the Z-Wave option in the toolbox, click the Options tab and choose "Use Z-Wave version 3.20 instead of 2.78".
2. You should also check the box "Use MiOS routing instead of Z-Wave (requires 4.5)" and "Limit neighbors to Z-Wave discovery (requries MiOS routing)".
3. Close the popup and click Save. Wait about 5 minutes for Vera to finish flashing the firmware, then click the Z-Wave toolbox and choose the Options tab and confirm at the top it says "Version: 3.20".

Update the z-wave firmware using the "Hack to convert 2.78 to 3.20" option

Using this method will allow you to keep you current settings, included devices etc. However, if you only have a limited network it's safer (possibilty of corrupting data) to build the 3.20 network from scratch.
If you build from scratch, Reset Z-Wave network anyway, this will produce a new House ID and start you with a clean slate. You will have to unpair all your devices in order to include them again.

1. Go into the Z-Wave option in the toolbox, click the Options tab and choose "Use Z-Wave version 3.20 instead of 2.78".
2. You should also check the box "Use MiOS routing instead of Z-Wave (requires 4.5)" and "Limit neighbors to Z-Wave discovery (requries MiOS routing)".
3. Close the popup and click Save. Wait about 5 minutes for Vera to finish flashing the firmware, then click the Z-Wave toolbox and choose the Options tab and confirm at the top it says "Version: 3.20".
4. Reboot or power-cycle your Vera.
5. Go back into the z-wave devices settings as you did at step 1. click the options tab and tick the "Hack to convert 2.78 to 3.20" box.
   

After updating Vera should show this at the top of your options tab of the z-wave device:

Version	3.20 L:1
House/Node	
Role	Master SIS:NO PRI:YES

If your role is not shown as above (for instance Role: Suc SIS:YES PRI:NO) you could try a "Shift controller form the advanced tab of the z-wave device. Please note that some users have reported problems with this. You can refer to the forum threads on this issue.

Downgrading to z-wave version 2.78

1. Unplug Vera's power and reconnect it.
2. When Vera starts up, uncheck the "Use Z-Wave version 3.20 instead of 2.78" box, close the popup and save.
3. Wait a couple minutes and confirm that the Z-Wave version is now 2.78.
4. Then choose the Advanced option from the toolbox, select the backup tab, check the option "Restore Dongle", click "Choose File".
5. Select the backup file you created, and click "Restore".
6. Wait about 10 minutes and everything should be back to what it was before you upgraded to version 3.20.

References

Related forum thread:
http://forum.mios.com/index.php?topic=6974.0

Suc SIS:YES PRI:NO issues are discussed in these threads:
http://forum.mios.com/index.php?topic=6301.0
http://forum.mios.com/index.php?topic=4412.0