Two Z-NET controllers on same Z-Wave Network

[randy]

Curious to this as well. I have a 3500 sq ft. house and all works great. Is this something I should plan for in the future?

Also....a bit confused Randy. Did you build your own znets?

No. They were all purchased from HomeSeer. I have just upgraded the Pi boards and SD cards.

[randy]

When getting another znet is it fine to migrate some devices over? Our should I exclude and include?

Also are you guys getting multiple znets because of distance? Or because you are wanting to limit the devices per znet? Is there a sweet spot on how many devices should be on one znet?

My system was working fine with a single Z-Net until I passed 100 nodes. Then I started seeing some issues such as slowness and errors. I also had a number of nodes in my garage and my workshop, both of which were further from my one controller. Those distant nodes would generate failure errors from time to time. I am a little obsessive about errors in the log, so when I started seeing additional problems as y network grew larger, I put additional controllers in the Garage and workshop. I moved 16 or so nodes to each of the new controllers. This all but stopped any failed Z-Wave commands. This also sped the network up somewhat.

While the Z-Wave standard allows up to 232 nodes per network, I think the sweet spot is under 100 nodes.

You cannot easily migrate nodes from one network to another, so you will need to exclude from your primary and include into one of the new controllers. Be sure and filter and print Events that use any device you move so you can edit them afterwards.

[jquincy]

I am adding a secondary Z-net to my system. I assume that with the new version of Zwave 3.0.2.0 the following has been replaced?
"Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network"
How should I add the secondary controller?

[zwolfpack]

After you erase the secondary Z-Net (last item on the Actions menu), "Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network" menu item should appear.

[jquincy]

I did not erase it. I'll try that. Thank you

[TexARC]

I have had so much trouble, so many problems over the last 70 days with HS4 and node corruption, have wiped totally and reinstalled HS4 from the msi, then started adding nodes back, only to run into the freak situation where I can add ANY devices I want (Schlage & Yale locks, Water Sensors, ZWave WallWarts, A rollertroll blinds controller, two RCS thermostats) but NO Homeseer wall switches - 1000 and 2000 series which can be neither uninstalled NOR installed after a full delete and reinstall of the HS4(several times now).
SOooooo, HS tech support has decided that the problem is my 3 year old ZNet ethernet node and recommended I get a new one. So I bought another darn node from them and it arrived today.
SHOULD I....

1. (Since I have a 3-story house and difficulty reaching everywhere with Zwave unless I have enough devices installed everywhere to establish a solid mesh it appealed to me ALSO because I had no idea HS would tolerate more than one ZWave Net node until the tech guy told me to get another one.) Add it as a separate and second node, using the instructions on page one of the FIVE in this message thread(or is there a more current & post-HS4 "how-to add this node" doc I can reference?)
2. Dump the current node by doing a znet backup, unplug old, plug in node, restore the backup? (again, is there ANY HS document I can reference to be sure to do this properly)

I want to avoid getting things screwed up, hence the desire to have a set of clear steps to accomplish the task. Itsa HS4-kinda experience thing. I've been in a constant drought of written documentation after starting to leave a wonderfully documented but 20+ year old system.

I do LOVE HS4, but am truly weary of the last two months of trying and failing to get problems solved through more than 100 back-and-forth messages with support when they feel like responding, and often ignoring what other people on their team have already dictated to me to do). I just wanna make things work the stable way it did under HS3. <sigh>

[rge]

Did anyone get this to work with HS4?

I have two Raspberry Pi with RaZberry cards, and I cannot get the "Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network" option to appear despite erasing, rebootng, resetting etc etc

[tin_1]

rge I think they dropped that menu item. I can't get it to show up now either. So what should we be doing with multiple controllers now? Just have them all be separate?

[tin_1]

Oh wait, I got it to show up on my znet v2 by erasing and creating a new network. It now shows it can be added as a secondary inclusion controller, but after selecting that in the drop down it asks in another drop down to select the network and neither of my 700 sticks show up. The G3 or the zooz.

[cjr18]

I have a HomeSeer SmartStick+ that unfortunately is not sufficient for reliably reaching a garage.

I purchased a Znet R2 and have it wired via ethernet in the garage.

I added the Znet Interface in HS4

I then selected "Erase this Interface and Create a new network" for the new garage Z-net

When I then try to select "Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network" this option does not appear as others in this thread have suggested it will.

Is what I'm trying to do not possible, ie, have a Smartstick be the primary controller and a Znet be the secondary controller? Do I need two Znets for a primary-secondary setup?

The documentation for primary-secondary Z-wave controller setup is lacking to say the least.

Any assistance is much appreciated.

Z-wave plugin version: 3.0.10.0
HS v4.2.12.0

[cjr18]

Regarding my previous post, I reached out to Homeseer support. Their recommendation was to avoid a primary-secondary setup and instead create two separate Z-wave networks. Thus, for devices in close proximity to the Znet, I removed/excluded them from the SmartStick and then added/included them to the Znet manually. Affected events were also manually updated.

It sounds as though "primary-secondary" setup has been deprecated.

[cybershawngates]

Regarding my previous post, I reached out to Homeseer support. Their recommendation was to avoid a primary-secondary setup and instead create two separate Z-wave networks. Thus, for devices in close proximity to the Znet, I removed/excluded them from the SmartStick and then added/included them to the Znet manually. Affected events were also manually updated.

It sounds as though "primary-secondary" setup has been deprecated.

could this be controlled with the same myhs account and same alexa account making voice control seamless for both z-wave networks?

[randy]

could this be controlled with the same myhs account and same alexa account making voice control seamless for both z-wave networks?

Yes. I have 5 different Z-Wave networks (HomeIDs) and as far as HomeSeer is concerned they are all treated as one. If you control a device, it is a HomeSeer device, without regard to which controller or HomeID it is attached.

[Richel]

You cannot do what you did, you will have an unreliable network. Each node has to have a unique node id. If there are 2 nodes with the same ID, Z-Wave will be very confused.

To add a secondary controller:

On the secondary, erase it first to make sure it has a unique home ID.

Then, with the primary active, go to the Z-Wave config page for the secondary and select:

"Make this interface an inclusion controller (secondary) on another network"

That will cause the interface to be added to the primary network and all existing node information will be copied to the secondary.

At this point you can add new devices to either the primary or the secondary.

From the device properties screen you can select which interface you want HS to use when sending commands. By selecting an interface, associations will also be set up to the proper interface.

I want to add a wired Z-Net as a secondary controller to my WiFi Z-Net. This would be added to a HomeSeer SmartStick+ that is on an independent network.
When I go to "Make this network an inclusion controller," the only network available is the SmartStick+. The two Z-Nets are within a few feet of each other. Why can't I see the Z-Net WiFi in the network list? No network is available to select, if I disable the SmartStick+.
Thanks.

EDIT: Some additional information. I think the reason that I am not seeing the WiFi Z-Net as a choice is because it is "On Another Network, Node ID Server Present." HomeSeer still thinks it is secondary to the wired Z-Net, even though the wired Z-Net is now on a separate network. When I run Z-Seer+ I get message "PC controller is running as a secondary controller..."
So, how do I get this fixed? The wired Z-Net has one node. The WiFi Z-Net has 163 nodes.

[ecetron]

For 50 or so nodes, just add the second Z-Net as a secondary. Us the option "Make this interface a inclusion controller...". It will then ask for the network you want to add it to, so select your primary network.

Now when you add devices, you can add them to either Z-Net and HS will automatically copy the node info to the other interface.

In the device properties, Z-Wave tab, you can select which interface you want the device to use. By default its set to "Auto" in which case it will select the one it thinks is the closest by sending a test packet and timing the response.

If a network gets over 100 nodes I would suggest using 2 networks. But I do know users with over 150 nodes with a single Z-Net network and things are working ok.

Ahh - but now the $64,000 -- can this still be done with Plugin 4.1.0.x? And can it be done with the newest Smartstick+ and Z-net --- i think both with 700 series chips?