Hey folks - Doing a quick browse of the forums yesterday, I saw mention of a Qolsys update that allowed the panel to run as a secondary Z-Wave controller (yeay!). That resulted in me dropping everything and spending the next 2ish hours futzing with things…
After updating the panel (separate thread - didn’t update automatically), I…
Configured the panel to not be a primary Z-Wave controller
Hit add/remove controller
While the Qolsys was searching, I had my Vera scan for a device to add
The Vera finds the Qolsys and I accept adding it to the system
Around the same time the Qolsys announces "Operation Successful" and lists a collection of (9) paired Z-Wave node IDs
OK, cool - sounds great. But that seems to be the last the Qolsys acknowledges knowledge of the Z-Wave nodes. Now 20ish hours later, I still see no Z-Wave nodes under any status/edit pages on the panel, nor do I see anything in ADC.
Under the Z-Wave settings page, if I try to add/edit/clear/delete a device, I’m told the panel is in secondary mode and I have to do those functions from the primary, so I guess that’s good. If I try to rediscover the network or look at neighbor info, the response is there are currently no paired devices.
Last bit which might be of use: On the Vera (It looks like a Vera2, but has a Vera3 sticker on it - running UI5 1.5.622) it shows the Qolsys as a scene controller. I suspect this might be wrong, will do a little research on that after this post. The Vera lives about 4" from the Qolsys, so if any Z-Wave syncing is going to happen, it should have happened by now…
Thoughts/suggestions? Maybe it’s time to pre-order that pretty sweet looking Vera Plus…
EDIT - I also tried rebooting the Qolsys to see if that might help, but no love…
I get exactly the same result as you. I am trying to pair my Qolsys as a secondary controller to a brand new Vera Edge. I have 2 schlage locks, some motion sensors, and some light switches in the Vera Z-Wave network. I have the latest firmware on both Vera and Qolsys. The Qolsys primary controller setting box is unchecked. I initiate add a device on the Vera and add a controller on Qolsys. They see each other. Pairing appears to be successful. The Qolsys shows up on Vera as a scene controller. Qolsys reports adding a bunch of nodes. Then it falls down on exchange of the security keys (I assume for my Schlage locks?) and I get the same error “Cannot confirm security scheme”. And now, after reporting learning a bunch of new nodes, the Qolsys does not show any devices added. I have unpaired and repaired 6 times - same result every time. I have tried it 1 foot apart, 6 inches apart. It just won’t exchange the security keys. I am at a loss.
Well I have done a lot of testing and am running into the same wall currently. (Veralite, UI5)
Well, boo.
I ordered the new toy. Will get it in place probably next weekend…if that doesn’t provide easy success, I’ll hack a little further and see what I can figure out.
Charles has an interesting point with the locks - I think the error came before actually transferring device/scene info, but I’ll drop the locks from the Vera and see if that helps any. I was thinking the issue is with Z-Wave encryption handshake between the two devices.
Charles has an interesting point with the locks – I think the error came before actually transferring device/scene info, but I’ll drop the locks from the Vera and see if that helps any.
I have been testing with a single lamp module. No positive result so far.
Well, after a lot of testing, one workaround looks like the only way for interoperability at this point.
Add devices to the IQ panel.
When done, bring IQ near Vera.
Press the standard Add Device button on IQ, and in Vera, go to Zwave Settings and “Copy Network from Primary Controller.”
IQ will tell you the operation succeeded but give a warning stating this type of device is not supported, click yes and ignore it.
Devices currently Learned into the IQ will populate in Vera.
This has some downsides.
Vera is secondary. Cannot directly learn devices. All devices in network must be first compatible with IQ.
No way to automatically update after the fact if additional devices are added. You can repeat the “Copy from Primary controller” process, pressing the standard “Add Device” button on IQ. IQ will helpfully remind you that this device is already present in the network (but Vera will get the new nodes)
No way to actually Shift Primary Control when done this way.
I’ll be updating Qolsys with everything found. Should anyone have better luck with a different controller, let us know.
So apparently the IQ panel’s latest version included the UI framework for this function (adding as a secondary) however, the certifications and full functionality is not yet available and will be added with subsequent patches.
I would bet that this issue will be across the board regardless of controller at the current time.
I wonder if you can add your devices to the IQ, and then add Vera using the Controller Shift function on the IQ. In theory, this would both copy the network over to Vera and make the Vera the primary.
“In theory”
Might give it a try tonight. Always fun on the bleeding edge.
I wonder if you can add your devices to the IQ, and then add Vera using the Controller Shift function on the IQ. In theory, this would both copy the network over to Vera and make the Vera the primary.
I tried that, actually. (Well, I performed the workaround above, then attempted controller shift) Ended up with two controllers both acting as a secondary controller, Qolsys cannot actually initiate the hand-off because it doesn’t treat the Vera as a controller.
I did try just using controller shift without the work-around but Vera does not pick up the IQ doing this. I suspect the IQ does not actually communicate outwardly with this function yet. It just sets IQ as secondary and the Vera times out.
Interesting. That is definitely not what is supposed to happen. Hopefully they are buying some third party controllers and working through this. I just became a customer this week after sitting on the fence on the Qolsys for a year. I was waiting on Nest integration, decided to jump in without it, and then alarm.com rolled it out within hours. Loving the forum and support.
Hey Jason, have you heard any updates from Qolsys on this topic? I’m wanting to get a more advanced controller (probably SmartThings as I like it’s compatibility and the user developer community), but didn’t want to jump until I saw that I could add the Qolsys as the secondary.
Have you heard anything on this topic? I am trying to pair my Qolsys panel with my Veraplus. it seems to be successful and Vera paired with the Qolsys but no devices are detected on Qolsys Panel.
1.6.1 update is available to download on Qolsys IQ (if you do not have an IQ2, not compatible if you have IQ2 yet)
However, based on the software release notes, it does not look like this specifically was addressed. It does add some additional Z-wave support, notably support for the GD00Z-4 through Alarm.com
Just curious if anyone tried the 1.6.1 update to see if secondary controller support does exist. Sometimes things are accidentally left off of the release notes. I got a VeraLite with UI7.
I really want to go with this Qolsys, but it must have that secondary support. I’m too attached to my Vera/Echo/HomeKit/Home assistant integration
