Z-Wave Controllers


Supported Z-Wave USB Sticks & Hardware Modules

You need to have a compatible Z-Wave stick or module installed. The following devices have been confirmed to work with Z-Wave JS:

Until recently, 700 series Z-Wave Controllers had a bug that could cause the mesh to be flooded on some networks and the controller to become unresponsive. At present, all 700 series controllers share the same firmware and are subject to this bug. It appears that this bug is largely, if not completely, resolved as of firmware version 7.17.2.

Users should upgrade the firmware on all 700 series controllers to version 7.17.2 or greater. Firmware can be upgraded using the below directions:

  • 800 series controllers (with some caveats, see notes)

    • Zooz 800 Series Z-Wave Long Range S2 Stick (ZST39 LR)
  • 700 series controllers

    • Aeotec Z-Stick 7 USB stick (ZWA010) (the EU version is not recommended due to RF performance issues)
    • Silicon Labs UZB-7 USB Stick (Silabs SLUSB7000A / SLUSB001A)
    • Zooz S2 Stick 700 (ZST10 700)
    • HomeSeer SmartStick+ G3
    • HomeSeer Z-NET G3
  • 500 series controllers

    • Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 (see note below)
    • Everspring USB stick - Gen 5
    • GoControl HUSBZB-1 stick
    • Sigma Designs UZB stick
    • Vision USB stick - Gen5
    • Z-Wave.Me UZB1 stick
    • HomeSeer SmartStick+ G2
    • HomeSeer Z-NET G2
  • Raspberry Pi modules

    • Aeotec Z-Pi 7 Raspberry Pi HAT/Shield (ZWA025, 700 series)
    • Z-Wave.Me RaZberry 7 (ZME_RAZBERRY7, 700 series)
    • Z-Wave.Me RaZberry 7 Pro (ZMEERAZBERRY7_PRO or ZMEURAZBERRY7_PRO, 700 series)
    • Z-Wave.Me Razberry 2 (500 series)
    • Z-Wave.Me Razberry 1 (300 series)

If you are just starting out, we recommend that you purchase a 700 series controller or a Raspberry Pi module. The 700 series controllers are the more recent version (when compared to the 500 series). The 700 series controllers support SmartStart, which allows you to add a device by scanning a QR code.

If you're using Home Assistant OS, Supervised, or Container, it's recommended to use a USB stick, not a module. Passing a module through Docker is more complicated than passing a USB stick through.

Stick alternatives

The alternative to a stick is a hub that supports Z-Wave. Home Assistant supports the following hubs with Z-Wave support:

Controller notes

800 Series Controllers

Z-Wave JS and Z-Wave JS UI do not support the following features available on most 800 series controllers.

Unsupported:

  • Long Range
  • NVM Backup/Restore

Aeotec Z-Stick

There are known compatibility issues with older hardware versions of the Aeotec stick not working on the Raspberry Pi 4. Aeotec has released a 2020 hardware revision ZW090-A/B/C Gen5+ with Pi 4 compatibility. Both hardware revisions are still being sold, make informed purchasing decisions if using paired with a Pi 4.

It’s totally normal for your Z-Wave stick to cycle through its LEDs (Yellow, Blue and Red) while plugged into your system.

Razberry Board

On Raspberry Pi 3 and 4, you need to disable the on-board Bluetooth since the board requires the use of the hardware UART (whose pins are shared with the Bluetooth). You do this by adjusting the /boot/config.txt.

For both processes below you will need to insert your SD card into your PC and open the configuration file with your favorite text editor.

  • If you are using Home Assistant Operating System, once you mounted the disk, you will see the config.txt directly in the root directory.
  • If you are using Home Assistant Supervised, the config file is stored in the boot folder: /boot/config.txt.

Raspberry Pi 5 procedure

Add the following parameters to the bottom of the config.txt file.

dtoverlay=uart0

Raspberry Pi 4 procedure

Add the following parameters to the bottom of the /boot/config.txt file.

dtoverlay=disable-bt
enable_uart=1

Reboot your Pi 4 without the Razberry Z-Wave hat first. Then shutdown, add the hat back, and boot again.

Raspberry Pi 3 procedure

Add the following parameters to the bottom of the /boot/config.txt file.

dtoverlay=disable-bt

Reboot your Pi 3.

For Home Assistant OS this should be everything you need to do. You should now be able to use Razberry Z-Wave from /dev/ttyAMA0.

For other operating systems such as Raspberry Pi OS you will also have to run the following command:

sudo systemctl disable hciuart

You should also check the README for details on the overlays. You might find it in /boot/overlays/README on your SD-card. If it is not there you can find the official version here.

It is possible to keep a limited Bluetooth functionality while using Razberry Z-Wave. Check boot/overlays/README on miniuart-bt.

disable-bt was previously known as pi3-disable-bt. If your OS is old, you might need to use this instead.

If you’ve installed the Z-Wave.Me Z-Way software. In order to use Z-Wave JS instead of Z-Way, you’ll need to ensure you disable it before you install Home Assistant, or you won’t be able to access the board. Do this with sudo /etc/init.d/z-way-server stop; sudo update-rc.d z-way-server disable. Alternatively, you could use the Z-Wave.Me integration.

Setting up a Raspberry Pi Z-Wave module on Home Assistant Yellow

This procedure has been tested with the following modules:

  • Aeotec Z-Pi 7 Raspberry Pi HAT/Shield
  • Z-Wave.Me RaZberry 7
  • Z-Wave.Me RaZberry 7 Pro
  1. Make sure the module is properly seated on the Home Assistant Yellow. Aeotec Z-Pi 7 on Home Assistant Yellow.
  2. Carefully close the case and power up Home Assistant Yellow.
  3. Follow the procedure on setting up a Z-Wave JS server.
    1. In step 2, follow the manual setup steps to install the Z-Wave integration.
    2. in Step 4, you will be prompted to choose a Device path. Choose ttyAMA0.