Well, this one has been bugging me for weeks.
I bought four Z-Wave lamp dimmers and a control pad for the Master Bedroom over a month ago. I purchased one pair of lamp dimmers new from eBay, and one pair as open-box items from Amazon. The new ones from eBay worked fine and synced up with my Z-Wave network (running off my home computer) just fine. The pair from Amazon worked, but would not sync with my Z-Wave network, no matter what I did.
Finally, tonight it occurred to me (out of the blue) that Z-Wave devices have to be removed from their current network before they can be added to a new one. Since the lamp dimmers from Amazon had been open-box items, it was entirely possible the previous owner had set up his or her own network before having a change of heart and returning the lamp dimmers to Amazon.
Unfortunately, neither of the Z-Wave controllers I was using (my computer and the control pad) could force a device to forget a network that the controller wasn't part of.
Fortunately, I had picked up another handheld controller for $10 at a firesale at Amazon, and just hadn't opened it yet. (Not being able to make my own bedside table lamp work via Z-Wave was discouraging me from trying "more complicated" things).
Next thing to tackle: controlling the lights from smartphone apps!
I bought four Z-Wave lamp dimmers and a control pad for the Master Bedroom over a month ago. I purchased one pair of lamp dimmers new from eBay, and one pair as open-box items from Amazon. The new ones from eBay worked fine and synced up with my Z-Wave network (running off my home computer) just fine. The pair from Amazon worked, but would not sync with my Z-Wave network, no matter what I did.
Finally, tonight it occurred to me (out of the blue) that Z-Wave devices have to be removed from their current network before they can be added to a new one. Since the lamp dimmers from Amazon had been open-box items, it was entirely possible the previous owner had set up his or her own network before having a change of heart and returning the lamp dimmers to Amazon.
Unfortunately, neither of the Z-Wave controllers I was using (my computer and the control pad) could force a device to forget a network that the controller wasn't part of.
Fortunately, I had picked up another handheld controller for $10 at a firesale at Amazon, and just hadn't opened it yet. (Not being able to make my own bedside table lamp work via Z-Wave was discouraging me from trying "more complicated" things).
This controller does have the ability to force Z-Wave devices to forget their current networks. A few minutes later, all four sets of lamps in the Master Bedroom were on my network, and talking to the control pad
and computer. Now I can turn all the lights in the room on or off from the control pad by the door. Or, if I am coming to bed after Brianna is asleep and the lights are off, I can turn on just my bedside lamp from the control pad by the door, and then turn the bedside lamp off directly from the lamp dimmer once I am in bed.Next thing to tackle: controlling the lights from smartphone apps!
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