Remotec ZRC-90us on Homeseer

[bebaldin]

Been reading through this thread again to see if any new information has come to light on this device. I still have one of these, though I have never been able to get it to work without the initial wake-up press to get it to accept commands.

The unit does handle all four commands on each of the eight buttons, but it goes into a deep sleep and refuses to send battery status or wake up status to the system. It does not wake up correctly even using the instructions to do so with the internal button, and you really have to work with that button to get a wake-up signal.

I had hoped to find the manual parameters for these and set the wake-up interval to force a periodic wakeup, but cannot find them anywhere. Because this unit goes into a deep sleep, it causes the SDJ-Battery plug in to erroneously report that the unit is waiting.

I really wanted this as a bedside controller for the lights, fans, etc. but it is just not ready for prime-time. After almost a year of playing with it, I think it is going to find its way into the box of z-wave devices that are no longer used.

You would think that one manufacturer could come up with a battery powered device that could control multiple devices and ACTUALLY WORK CORRECTLY.

[cowinger]

Has anyone tried or have any of these remotes.

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Z-Wave-Wir...words=ge+45633

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZIPATO-Keyf...EAAOSwu-BWO4NF Looks like 868Mhz only

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-Advanced...oAAOSwUg9abUCA

I wonder if any will work with HS.

[TechFan]

Depends on what you mean by works with HS.

These work as standalone ZWave remotes. I have had one of them and never really found a good use. They do not send any sort of status to HS and controlled devices don't necessarily either.

Has anyone tried or have any of these remotes.

https://www.amazon.com/GE-Z-Wave-Wir...words=ge+45633

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ZIPATO-Keyf...EAAOSwu-BWO4NF Looks like 868Mhz only

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GE-Advanced...oAAOSwUg9abUCA

I wonder if any will work with HS.

[cowinger]

I wonder if this remote could be included as a secondary controller. There is this video showing how someone linked it to the Wink Hub. Maybe someone who knows how to do this and understands it could get it to work with HS. There is a part of the video that shows him setting it up in the wink hub as a secondary controller.

https://wiki.winkathome.net/Advanced...tion_with_Wink

[racerfern]

I know a different GE controller only allows for the first 32 devices. This is documented. The two GE devices in the previous posting are old units. One is from 2010 and the other 2010 or 2011. Old technology by today's standards and they too may have limitations.

AFA the ZRC-90, @rprade had issues when there were more than 90 devices (don't remember the details but they're documented in this thread I believe)

I have three ZRC-90s that do not need waking up. Then again I have fewer than 90 devices, for now. They report battery level every time I use one.

[cowinger]

I know a different GE controller only allows for the first 32 devices. This is documented. The two GE devices in the previous posting are old units. One is from 2010 and the other 2010 or 2011. Old technology by today's standards and they too may have limitations.

AFA the ZRC-90, @rprade had issues when there were more than 90 devices (don't remember the details but they're documented in this thread I believe)

I have three ZRC-90s that do not need waking up. Then again I have fewer than 90 devices, for now. They report battery level every time I use one.

After further reading I see what you are saying about these remotes. Too old. I was looking for alternatives but very limited. I too have a couple of the zrc-90's and I like them. The only thing as you mentioned is the battery doesn't report unless you press a button.

[racerfern]

One more thing, the Zipato is EU only, not USA.

[randy]

Been reading through this thread again to see if any new information has come to light on this device. I still have one of these, though I have never been able to get it to work without the initial wake-up press to get it to accept commands.

The unit does handle all four commands on each of the eight buttons, but it goes into a deep sleep and refuses to send battery status or wake up status to the system. It does not wake up correctly even using the instructions to do so with the internal button, and you really have to work with that button to get a wake-up signal.

I had hoped to find the manual parameters for these and set the wake-up interval to force a periodic wakeup, but cannot find them anywhere. Because this unit goes into a deep sleep, it causes the SDJ-Battery plug in to erroneously report that the unit is waiting.

I really wanted this as a bedside controller for the lights, fans, etc. but it is just not ready for prime-time. After almost a year of playing with it, I think it is going to find its way into the box of z-wave devices that are no longer used.

You would think that one manufacturer could come up with a battery powered device that could control multiple devices and ACTUALLY WORK CORRECTLY.

I now have 7 of these and they are working great.

The problems I had initially were due to a problem with my Z-Wave controller being too busy. My primary Z-Net had 99 nodes on it and I could not get the Remotec remote to include. I sent Rich a backup of my controller and he was able to confirm the problem. He also stated the Remotec was also made aware of the problem and that there would be a fix. I have not seen it yet. I don't know what the number of nodes is that will cause these to fail, but they are working in my controllers with less than 20 nodes.

My solution was to add another Z-Wave controller and add the remotes to it. I put a Smartstick+ in a closet in the basement and all of the remotes talk to it. I included one into my shed controller and it worked fine. This controller only had about 15 nodes.

They create a central scene device with 32 different values and can control devices through Events just fine.





I am very happy with the remotecs. My MiniMotes would fail about once every 10-15 tries, the Remotecs have been perfect.

[cowinger]

One more thing, the Zipato is EU only, not USA.

Yes I saw that and I put a note next to it but it kind of blends in.

Randy, so the z-net has a max limit on nodes? Does the smartstick+ or is just related to the z-net?

[randy]

Yes I saw that and I put a note next to it but it kind of blends in.

Randy, so the z-net has a max limit on nodes? Does the smartstick+ or is just related to the z-net?

No. It is not an issue with the Z-Net. I have had as many as 120 nodes on a single Z-Net without issue. The Z-Net should be able to handle the 232 node maximum. Personally, I will keep my controllers at less than 100 devices, just to be cautious. The problem is in the Remotec as far as I can tell. I'm guessing that the remotec is designed to act as a secondary controller, so all of the nodes from the controller it is being associated with are being sent to the remote. I'll bet that the Remotec has a firmware or memory issue that limits how large the network it is associated with can be.

[cowinger]

No. It is not an issue with the Z-Net. I have had as many as 120 nodes on a single Z-Net without issue. The Z-Net should be able to handle the 232 node maximum. Personally, I will keep my controllers at less than 100 devices, just to be cautious. The problem is in the Remotec as far as I can tell. I'm guessing that the remotec is designed to act as a secondary controller, so all of the nodes from the controller it is being associated with are being sent to the remote. I'll bet that the Remotec has a firmware or memory issue that limits how large the network it is associated with can be.

Ok, good I always thought they had a 232 limit. I am not sure either about the remote. I know when I included it I only pressed one button and it included and I was able to select the buttons in an event.

[randy]

Ok, good I always thought they had a 232 limit. I am not sure either about the remote. I know when I included it I only pressed one button and it included and I was able to select the buttons in an event.

And that is how it worked for me - except with my primary controller, which had close to 100 devices at the time.

[tome10]

I have two zrc90s that have been rock solid for almost two years.

[bebaldin]

No. It is not an issue with the Z-Net. I have had as many as 120 nodes on a single Z-Net without issue. The Z-Net should be able to handle the 232 node maximum. Personally, I will keep my controllers at less than 100 devices, just to be cautious. The problem is in the Remotec as far as I can tell. I'm guessing that the remotec is designed to act as a secondary controller, so all of the nodes from the controller it is being associated with are being sent to the remote. I'll bet that the Remotec has a firmware or memory issue that limits how large the network it is associated with can be.

The buttons on mine works fine - my issue is that it won't report battery level, or wake up on its own, and it requires the initial button push before you can actually enter the command. I can live with it, but I can't see putting in a dedicated controller just to get it to work as it should. As is, it isn't wife compatible which was why I bought it in the first place. Maybe when the new Aeotec Nanomotes come out...

[Kaze]

Select "ZRC-90US Central Scene" and uncheck the box that reads:
Do not update device last change time
if device value does not change:

Thank you, you're a life saver. I had to keep pressing another button if my previous press was the last scene, super annoying.
Now I can use the same scene button X times in a row!