Vera2 and Leviton ThinkEssentials Pro 2.5.4 and ControlThink USB stick?

Other Devices & Integrations Lighting & Load Control
1

Hi,

I’ve searched the forum and the Internet for a resolution or even any information on getting these two systems to recognize and talk to each other, but to no avail.

Let me start with the problem first and then see if anyone has had any luck solving the issues:

  1. I have a whole house full of Leviton Z-wave dimmers, switches, and in-wall control zone/scene controllers (VRCZ4 and VRCS4 etc)
  2. With the Vera2 I can get all of these added as devices and events and scenes work with the exception of the VRCZ4 and VRCS4 controllers – these can be added as devices but programming them via the Vera2 does not seem to work - problems with the assigned scenes (incorrectly assigns them) as well as problems with the LEDs and a host of other issues
  3. I also have a VRCPG-0SG remote controller which I would like to use as a secondary controller. I’ve gotten this to partially work, but it has similar issues to the VRCZ4s and VRCS4s

After many attempts on both UI4 and UI5 on the Vera2 and resetting and recreating the z-wave network multiple times, I got fed up and bought a ControlThink USB stick and the ThinkEssentials Pro software (v2.5.5). With this software, setting up and configuring the devices and controllers is great and the ability to back up and save the configuration is great… the problem is that the software is quite limited in creating and acting on events and I would love to not have to keep my laptop or computer on all the time (and why did I buy the Vera2 in the first place?)

Also, lugging around the Vera2 on a battery pack to add new devices is not the most convenient thing.

So, I’d like to:

  1. Run the TE as a primary controller to add/delete/manage the z-wave devices and save/backup the configurations
  2. Copy these configurations/devices to the Vera2 as a secondary controller and use the Vera2 as my full-time controller

The problem is I cannot figure out how to get the TE software to recognize the Vera to even transfer the Z-wave network!

I’ve tried to add the Vera2 as a Secondary Controller in the TE software but no matter what options I use in the Vera to set it into include mode (Advanced>Copy Z-Wave network from a master controller and Advanced>Controller shift as well as just the plain push button include mode on the back of the device), the TE software and Vera2 cannot seem to find each other and connect.

My impression with the TE software is that unless I include the Vera2 in the TE software I cannot update it.

I’ve also tried to include the TE into Vera2 as a secondary and here I’ve had luck including it as a device into Vera2, but when I try to shift primary to the TE software, Vera2 freaks out and doesn’t transfer control and even when I’ve added the TE/Controlthink to Vera2 it does not recognize all of the features.

Has anyone had any experience with these two systems and can offer any pointers/tips?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

2

[quote=“htcheng, post:1, topic:171991”]Hi,

I’ve searched the forum and the Internet for a resolution or even any information on getting these two systems to recognize and talk to each other, but to no avail.

Let me start with the problem first and then see if anyone has had any luck solving the issues:

  1. I have a whole house full of Leviton Z-wave dimmers, switches, and in-wall control zone/scene controllers (VRCZ4 and VRCS4 etc)
  2. With the Vera2 I can get all of these added as devices and events and scenes work with the exception of the VRCZ4 and VRCS4 controllers – these can be added as devices but programming them via the Vera2 does not seem to work - problems with the assigned scenes (incorrectly assigns them) as well as problems with the LEDs and a host of other issues
  3. I also have a VRCPG-0SG remote controller which I would like to use as a secondary controller. I’ve gotten this to partially work, but it has similar issues to the VRCZ4s and VRCS4s

After many attempts on both UI4 and UI5 on the Vera2 and resetting and recreating the z-wave network multiple times, I got fed up and bought a ControlThink USB stick and the ThinkEssentials Pro software (v2.5.5). With this software, setting up and configuring the devices and controllers is great and the ability to back up and save the configuration is great… the problem is that the software is quite limited in creating and acting on events and I would love to not have to keep my laptop or computer on all the time (and why did I buy the Vera2 in the first place?)

Also, lugging around the Vera2 on a battery pack to add new devices is not the most convenient thing.

So, I’d like to:

  1. Run the TE as a primary controller to add/delete/manage the z-wave devices and save/backup the configurations
  2. Copy these configurations/devices to the Vera2 as a secondary controller and use the Vera2 as my full-time controller

The problem is I cannot figure out how to get the TE software to recognize the Vera to even transfer the Z-wave network!

I’ve tried to add the Vera2 as a Secondary Controller in the TE software but no matter what options I use in the Vera to set it into include mode (Advanced>Copy Z-Wave network from a master controller and Advanced>Controller shift as well as just the plain push button include mode on the back of the device), the TE software and Vera2 cannot seem to find each other and connect.

My impression with the TE software is that unless I include the Vera2 in the TE software I cannot update it.

I’ve also tried to include the TE into Vera2 as a secondary and here I’ve had luck including it as a device into Vera2, but when I try to shift primary to the TE software, Vera2 freaks out and doesn’t transfer control and even when I’ve added the TE/Controlthink to Vera2 it does not recognize all of the features.

Has anyone had any experience with these two systems and can offer any pointers/tips?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks![/quote]

Take a look at this thread: [url=http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11014.0.html]http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,11014.0.html[/url]
It talks about some of your issues.
I have used the Think Essentials Pro…the Leviton Installer software is far better. I returned the Think Essentials for a refund and switched to the Leviton Stick and their free software.
To do what you want you will have transfer the setup to your handheld remote and then transfer it to the Vera…it’s a little messy but it works. The positive side is that the Leviton Hardware will all work like it is supposed too!

Good luck.
Regards
Tim Alls
AllSeas Yachts

3

Thanks, Tim!

I definitely wish I had known about the Leviton Installer software before!

I did see your referenced post – I’ve been advised to try to downgrade the Z-wave firmware to 2.78 by MiCasaVerde support as the issue is that neither the TE w/Controlthink or the handheld remote are recognized by the Vera2 regardless of what I try.

Once I downgrade this and try it out, I will post my results back to this forum.

Paul

4

@htcheng,

Welcome!

Where are you currently at with this?

I have definitely had Vera 2 and TE talk to each other. Pretty sure it was with 3.20 on Vera 2. That’s been a while. I can take another look, if needed.

As for the scene/zone controllers, are they the newer types ending in -M0X/M0Z, -MRX/MRZ; or the older ones ending in -1LZ/1LX?

5

Hi oTi@,

Sorry about the delay – just got back from a long trip. I have not been successful with 3.2 to get TE to talk to Vera 2. It would be great if you could share how you did it in the past.

The scene controllers that I have are:

VRCZ4-MRX
VRCS4-MRX
VRCZ4-1LX

So far none of them work well with the Vera 2 (running 1.5.408 UI5 with 3.20 Zwave).

Any insights appreciated!

6

I will take another look; but it will be a while before I get around to that.

So far none of them work well with the Vera 2 (running 1.5.408 UI5 with 3.20 Zwave).
Can you describe in more detail what doesn't work well with the -MR scene/zone controllers? (The -1LX doesn't have external LED control, so YMMV in terms of how well the LED state represents reality.)
7

UPDATE: I updated the ControlThink USB firmware from 4.30 to 4.53 and now it works with the Vera 2 under both 2.78 and 3.20 Zwave firmware. Transferring devices and other information from TE to Vera 2 does not work as well as transferring information from Vera 2 to TE though (no device names, no scenes/associations etc), so using the TE as a Primary Controller to configure things is not a good idea as it necessitates manually configuring Vera again – kind of defeating the reason I wanted to use the TE in the first place…

What I am trying at the moment is to configure Vera 2 as the primary and then copy the network to TE and then the Leviton handheld controller as this seems to be the easiest way to configure the handheld quickly. Device names and other information seem to copy over correctly. Also, the latest firmware seems to have fixed some of the issues with the Leviton 4-scene and 4-zone controllers as preliminary testing show that functionally the work now, but they are still slower in triggering complex scenes. I may configure these controllers via TE as well.

I’ve ordered a Vera 3 upgrade and am waiting on getting that before spending more time on configuration. I will update this forum as I find out more information.

8

Nice; you got it to work!

When using Vera as a secondary to TE, I think you might also run into issues getting both (TE and Vera) to receive status updates. I run Vera as primary, and TE/handhelds as secondaries. Once Vera is done doing her thing, you can tell her to not auto-configure the devices you want to manipulate with TE/handhelds. Works great. Prime example is the VRCZ1, as that is the only one you can’t do (fully) with Vera.