What are z-wave associations ?
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z-wave associations are a means for one z-wave device to directly communicate with another (or multiple) z-wave device without having to use a central controller.
For example, let's say you have a HomeSeer Z-Net and two HomeSeer WD-200 dimmers and you wanted to link the two WD-200 dimmers (dimmerA and dimmerB) together so they could control the same load. Only one of the WD-200 can control the load. In this case, dimmerA would be connected to the load and dimmerB would not be connected to the load.
One way to accomplish linking dimmerA to dimmerB is to relay the commands through the central controller. If you turn the load off using dimmerB (which is not connected to the load) dimmerB sends a command through the central controller to dimmerA to turn off the load. If the central controller is down dimmerB can no longer send commands to dimmerA because the central controller can't relay the commands.
Using z-wave association you can link dimmerB to dimmerA so both dimmers can control the load even if the central controller is down and no longer available to relay the commands. When you use dimmerB to control the load on dimmerA, dimmerB sends connands directly to dimmerA bypassing the central z-wave controller.
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