“I had an old Fibaro Home Centre 2 which of late has been very unreliable. I started using Home Assistant on a PI4 and an SSD incorporating the HS2. This setup was also unreliable. I the bought the Aeotec Z-Stick Gen5 USB Controller and it been running my house ever since. Mutch more snappy without the HS2 which had to be re-booted every two or three days due to it slowing down and not responding to the browser.”
“I'm still having issues setting this stick up. I can add one of the z-wave items but the second says com port not available. It doesn't matter which device I start with but it won't accept the second node I have.”
“This is my first foray into Z-Wave components, but the stick proved easy to install and is now working reliably with an Aeotec MultiSensor 6 device out of a Raspberry Pi 4 running Home Assistant.”
“It was an excellent tool I used to learn: that DIYs like me need to have certified knowledge of Z-wave technology before buying the first Z-wave device: I first got the wrong Z-wave FREQUENCY (US version) controller for my country from a US source. When I got a few more devices from China I realized they are the right frequency (EU version) for me. I also learnt they are SMARTSTART-compatible (latest convenience introduced for INCLUDING Z-wave devices to controllers). Then I ordered (from Vesternet.com) the EU version of the Aeotec Z-stick Gen5 USB Controller for my EU devices. But I couldn't find useful guidance from AEOTEC on how to include smartstart devices using the Z-stick in the COMMUNITY-popular SOFTWARE HUB ( Home Assistant ) that I newly adopted). AEOTEC provides smartstart details for its latest controller/ hub (Autopilot) but COMMUNITY support is not yet clear. So I ordered for the community-popular, manufacturer-SUPPORTED HARDWARE HUB (Hubitat) that appeared to provide details about smartstart inclusion. Then I couldn't find enough variety of smartstart-compatible devices from AEOTEC at Vesternet. In conclusion, though the AEOTEC Z-stick has taught me Z-wave, I don't know if I will still need it after Hubitat, Autopilot and Smartstart.”
