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Current Hardware: Vera Plus, HA in Synology Docker
Firmware: v.7.0.31
Available SW / HW: Multiple RPi's, Z-Way UZB w/lic, Z-Way Razberry board
ZWave Devices: 30-ish early gen GE/Jasco light switchesIssue: I've gotten myself into a spot that I'm not quite sure how to safely get out of, and I'm hoping someone on this forum can help me. I would ultimately like to get to a point where I'm using Home Assistant in Docker on my Synology as my UI for turning on/off lights, but I've read the "Pyramid" post and am open to other options. I can currently ssh to my Vera Plus, but cannot access the web UI (get a 403).
How I Got Here:
Back in Feb'19, I followed @rafale77's instructions to take my Vera off the grid. At the time, it looks like I was running version 7.0.26. This worked great.
I installed HA in Docker w/socat on my Synology NAS, and things were running perfectly for a long time, but I was forced to upgrade HA in tandem with an upgrade to the iOS app. So, I chose to use a Docker build that already had socat built in.
Then, I saw that there was a new version of firmware for Vera, and decided to upgrade to Firmware v.7.0.31 around Apr'20. This was a mistake in a big way, and I sought help on the new version of the Vera forums, which eventually led me here. I also re-ran @rafale77's mod files on the newer firmware version, and I think I shot myself in the foot there. I knew it was gamble, and take full responsibility. I've learned a lot and have benefitted greatly from his work.
I tried to run the Nuke Vera script, as that sounded exactly what I needed my Vera to do - take commands from HA and nothing else. This seems to be working, but I'm unable to control my network with HA.
Additional things I've done / tried / worry about:
Validated that HA is sending and receiving responses via socat from the Vera in the HA openzwave logs. I see logs that seem to indicate that a message is sent, and a message comes back from the Vera, but lights don't turn on/off. I've clicked the Heal Network, Test, Network, and Soft Reset buttons in the HA UI too.
I purchased a razberry. Then, I ordered a UZB, after seeing this post about migrating, assuming that it was best to try to follow that guide verbatim and not have to exclude / include a bunch of devices. I'm leaning towards completely divorcing myself from Vera.
I'm not 100% sure I have a valid backup of my zwave config. There are no dongle.dump files in /etc/cmh whch may make sense, as I was using after an external drive w/extroot. I do have some in ./mnt/sda2/etc/cmh/. It looks like I've got extra, actually, as it looks like I probably made backup copies some where along the way.
I shutdown the Vera and removed the extroot drive, reversed all of the changes Nuke-Vera made to the init.d start up files, and rebooted. I did this because the migration guide mentions to set the path of the z-way UZB in the UI settings, and I couldn't find how do this over ssh. I also don't know how to backup the zwave config from the CLI and was going to do this via the UI. As mentioned previously, I'm getting a 403 "Access Denied" message. Looking at logs and the config for lighthttpd, I think it is trying to follow some symbolic links that no longer exist, but I'm hoping I can get out of the mess I've made without troubleshooting and solving the HTTPD issues. I think I just need to know how to follow the steps to clone the Vera to the UZB via the CLI?
I found a command online method that allows me to view the zwave keys with hexdump. The keys on the device are different than the keys in on the drive that i was using for extroot, and that concerns me a bit.
If you've made this far, thanks for your time! Does anyone know the best way for me to get myself out of the mess I've got myself into?
All the best,
Michael -
Dear Experts!
In January 2020, I decided to get involved in automation as a complete beginner.
I purchased a Vera Plus device controller.I built the network gradually, at the cost of overcoming no small problems .....
Since I am a beginner I have had a lot of problems.For example: I had 6 multisensors that sometimes got stuck with motion detection (lights stayed on) and also created ghost devices.
I knocked everything out of the system, the system stabilized a lot after that. (many red lines disappeared from luaupnp ....)Over time and with the help of the experts (Eg: AKbooer was a great help to me in netatmo which I thank again) I managed to solve most of the errors.
I only use a reactor to control the logic and execution.
The logical composition of my reactor is not very complicated in my opinion.My DSC alarm (with plugin) controls the house modes, cameras, each room has a separate reactor sensor (18 sensors in total) which control the automatic lighting and shutters.
I tried to improve the conditions and scenes in the reactor to perfection. (don't have executions, delays and reservations at the same time, I record the states with the "time from reactor" group state, just like the motion and opening detections from another sensor.
The situation is that the system does not always work reliably.
I experience Lua recharges at completely unpredictable intervals, about 1-3 per day
times.
Because of this, unfortunately my scenes slip, (or don't happen)
For simple things (tablet charging in) there is usually no problem.However, if I am not at home for several hours and return home, the alarms will turn off, and the luup recharge(90%).
If you approach the afternoon when more times are set in the time reactor then recharging will still occur but not always.For the past 10 months, I feel tired of the constant error search and still not good. I'm starting to doubt Vera's abilities.
Therefore, I would have the following questions:
Are the conditions set in the reactor loaded on the vera without action?
Can the Vera be stable and well-functioning without an unexpected lua reload?
If so, what do I need to add? (I'm a simple user, not a programmer, I don't know lua and linux programming languages and I don't want to learn because of vera)
I don’t want to deal with this too much anymore, so I still spent more on it than I deserve.Is there another controller that works safely and well on the z-wave platform?
In what direction should I move away from the vera, which will not disappoint me?
Have you heard of a controller called comfortclick? (I was now offered this instead of vera)
Thank you in advance for your help.
Krisztian
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So ... I am trying to do the following:
Current setup:
Vera Plus (1.7.4955) Zwave only -> HASSIO VM (full control via Vera Integration)Future Target:
HASSIO VM (leveraging zwave.me UZB1 dongle via USB)I have done the following so far:
Updated UZB1 dongle (via RPi SmartHome) to latest 5.39 FirmwareI followed the following steps to try and migrate my existing Z-Wave NW (currently on Vera) onto the UZB1 dongle following the steps listed here:
Problem:
Steps 1-3: went fine (although the dumps are labeled as dongle.6.1.dump.x)
Step 4: went fine and the UZB1 was recognized as it should be (per dmesg)
Step 5: updating the port to /dev/ttyACM0 went fine, although I didn't see any indication of luup reload (or a save button for that matter when updating the port mapping)
Step 6: I did the touch for dongle.restore, but wasn't sure where to trigger a luup reload (I assumed it was Z-Wave Settings > Advanced > Reload Engine). I believe I got an error message when trying to do that step
Step 7: verify dongle.restore.go I don't recall being in the directions when I was going the test, but I rebooted
Post Reboot: None of my previous z-wave devices were listed. I also checked dmesg via ssh and noticed the following items:
[ 4.328000] Unsupported Device! [ 4.328000] Vendor=658 ProdID=200 [ 4.328000] Manufacturer= Product=I saw that item a couple times which almost seems like Vera is blocking the UZB1 or at least complaining about it.
I ended up switching the Z-Wave back to the embedded controller, and restoring configuration from backup.
Any suggestions what I did wrong??
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Script to disable all the mios/vera proprietary program and broadcast its zwave and zigbee radio serial ports in your network so it can be picked up by another controller... For example z-way.
rafale77/Nuke-Vera rafale77/Nuke-VeraScript to neuter the vera and broadcast its zwave and zigbee serial ports - rafale77/Nuke-Vera
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I have a VeraPlus and would like to purchase a second z-wave controler. Is it possible to build a second z-wave network next to an existing z-wave network? Slowly I want to move devices form Vera to the new z-wave network. Is it more advisable to install the second z-wave controller as a slave controler?
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My VeraPlus is in Christmas Light mode after attempting the latest update. So as I attempt to get things back with Vera Support I need to start looking into an alternate solution. I've installed OpenLuup in an Ubuntu VM I have running on an old PC. Right now I can still ssh into the VeraPlus.
Will I be able to migrate the Z-Wave NW to a UZB dongle in this state? Or can I use @rafale77 's Nuke Vera Script to just use the VeraPlus as my zwave antenna? With either of these options have I lost the ability to migrate my configuration without Vera support restoring my VeraPlus first?Thanks
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Never posted this on the vera forum but...
Did you know about this?The vera has a very powerful zwaveserial API program in the firmware. Take a look at what it can do:
Screen Shot 2020-04-24 at 10.29.50.png
It is what the UI calls to interface with the zwave dongle.
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So, after more than 10 years and 4 Vera's, my vera forum account is suspended.
I think the monkey of the company, called melih is not man enough te have any critic. In the topic about the "great to come app" I responded to the topic (not off topic!) that a subscription can also be seen (financially) as buying a box, run it for 2 years and come to market with a better one (in better wordings).
That means that if you as a company hast a box of 50USD cost, sell it at 250USD would give him a monthly subscription of 200/24=8.33 USD... Users that would last 5 years would pay a monthly of 3.33USD.But... the monkey on the rock has bolded his fists and said: ban him! He just can't take any criticism.
To be honest! I am not even sad! It was a very rough journey with Vera. The journey stopped when Ezlo and the monkey took over the name.
After that it quickly went downhill...
Goodluck all! (except the monkey).
Edit:
Aug 16, 2020 MiOS Application - early Beta enrollment MiOS Application - early Beta enrollment
The topic:
are you serious? would I become a cost? that is, customers who periodically replace the control unit and are happy with the service praise the Vera system and therefore also free advertising but, the new “company” decides to charge less to bind the customer with a subscription … But the genius...
The post:
The point you are missing is:If the hardware would “cost” around 50USD, and you sold it for 250USD, an average life span of 5 years would mean 200/(5×12)=3.33USD per month. Thats how Vera used to do it.
Then release a faster/better “beast” every 2 years gives you 200/(2×12)=8.33USD per month. That’s how vera used to do it.
And that’s how I did it for around 8 years and 4 veras with them untill you bought the company.
This is just a matter of how you look at it and explain it.
I dont frikking care how you do the maths, I only liked a working product and a close user community (like it was).
Now all I see on this forum is a lot of “we are going to” and “we are working on”, “keep them coming guys”. But the reason for ever considering to buy a new vera every 2 years is gone…
No clear migration path, no clear compatibility path and no clear integration path…
That’s why I started to look for alternatives…
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I have 50ish devices in connected to Home Assistant via. VeraPlus hub. I recently picked up an Aeotec Gen5 USB stick which I have successfully integrated into Home Assistant using OpenZWave.
Can I add the Aeotec Stick as a Secondary Controller to Vera, turn off vera (making Aeotec primary) and then run natively that way on HA?
I know the entity ID's in HA will change, but a lot easier to fix vs. unpair/repair all the devices from Vera.
Will this work?
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To answer @sdtoddl who emailed me asking how to manually force neighbor node setting on the vera, I don’t think it is possible with the UI.
The solution is actually to trigger a neighbor node update on the given device and all the devices located between that said device and the controller.
The vera deals with this by running multiple repeated (nightly) network heals which is not very efficient and causes it to frequently have unexpected network breakdowns and surprises good (some devices with problems get fixed) and bad (some devices which used to work stop working). It also takes down the entire network when it does it. One can however manually trigger neighbor node updates on the vera through the device’s advanced menu.To go to the next level, this data, the network node list is actually not recorded in the host controller firmware but in the non volatile memory of the zwave chip both on the controller and on the devices. It is therefore independent of the platform you use and can’t be set by the host. One can only ask the zwave chip on the device to run a survey and then inform the controller’s zwave chip of what it has found.
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How to overcome the vera's storage limitations:
rafale77/vera-extroot rafale77/vera-extroot
Execrably poor partitioning and usage of the onboard flash causing hardware reliability failure through data corruption and storage availability for plugin limitations: Add your own external USB SATA drive and extroot.Scripts to extroot the vera edge-plus-secure. Contribute to rafale77/vera-extroot development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Amazing. One of my (un)trusty old VeraLite machines running UI5 has just achieved an uptime of one month... the maximum that that firmware can ever achieve!
The graph below shows the uptime for the last two years, and although sometimes being up for a few weeks, it's never achieved a whole month!
I put this down to reduced ZWave traffic and zero plugins, although the configuration hasn't changed for a long while.
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I am used to errors, but never seen this before on altui on vera. keep getting this now all the time, any clue?
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Using Home Assistant as the heart of my domotica (this was vera for 10 years up untill just a few months ago!) I currently have vera integrated as zwave hub only. Having almost all logic moved to hass leaving vera solely as zwave hub.
As I am searching for a solution for a more stable zwave network and all options are open (but messing with zwave network ids etc is still too hard for me) I am also looking to another option.Multiple veras in hass. This way I can have isolated vera edges with smaller zwave networks and still do all logic in hass.
One thing... currently only 1 vera is allowed in hass.
It is a feature request already and I would like to ask to help me vote this request up:
Jul 26, 2018 Multiple Vera Hubs Multiple Vera Hubs
I have multiple locations with Vera hubs at each for Z-Wave/Zigbee controls. However, you cannot add two or more Vera hubs to your configuration.yaml. Please add this as an option.
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I found a device on my vera which accidentally had automatically configure set to on. After I turned it off the vera’s memory went from 50% to 20%!!
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Since I have disabled nightly heal long time ago and since I have replaced some devices since and I am watching the webinar of z-way I wonder if it is wise and or advisable to do a manual heal of my zwave routibg in vera... what's the best way of doing so?
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So if my vera will as it will want to restart after removing each zwave device and I have say 35 devices what are the chances it survives 35 restarts? How do I explain to my wife that our HA system is unstable? Yes, I know backup first.
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Is there a way to remove a vera app and keep the devices it created?
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As the tiltle describes :-). Is this possible in android via a browser? Mine doesn't allow me.
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The vera can run both its zwave and zigbee network off of external USB radios instead of the onboard ones. This could have advantages in terms of portability, facilitating migrations or recoveries in case the vera craps out. It could also enable testing of newer radio firmwares.
Zwave is pretty straightforward as its serial API is standardized and the protocol is the same regardless of what brand of USB stick you use. I have run my vera off of USB sticks of various brands for years going from Aeotec, Zooz, Homeseer and even the most generic silabs/Sigma Design. You just insert the stick in the usb port, find out which serial port it created (under the /dev/ folder) and use that port (ie. /dev/ttyACM0, /dev/ttyUSB0 etc) in the zwave advance menu.
Zigbee is a little trickier as the protocol and chipset was not quite as standardized as zwave. The vera only works with ember Znet protocol and you will need to find a usb stick with an EM35x chip in it which already has an ember zigbee firmware loaded. One example of such a stick is the Go Control HUSBZB1 (dual zwave-zigbee stick). The port is not readily accessible on the vera UI but can be accessed either through editing of the /etc/cmh/user-data.json or through ALTUI by going into the hidden zigbee radio device through the "table devices " menu and changing modifying the port variable there.You can also upgrade the onboard zwave and zigbee radio firmwares from the command line SSH...
Migration from VeraPlus to Aeotec Gen5
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I have 50ish devices in connected to Home Assistant via. VeraPlus hub. I recently picked up an Aeotec Gen5 USB stick which I have successfully integrated into Home Assistant using OpenZWave.
Can I add the Aeotec Stick as a Secondary Controller to Vera, turn off vera (making Aeotec primary) and then run natively that way on HA?
I know the entity ID's in HA will change, but a lot easier to fix vs. unpair/repair all the devices from Vera.
Will this work?
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A couple of inputs on this:
- I know the aeotec stick looks attractive with its on board battery but... battery eventually dies and using the stick as a mobile inclusion device using your main controiller stick is not the best idea as it is supposed to be static. (look at the zwave SUC/SIS concept). I would really avoid this stick and recommend the generic stick like the homeseer one or the ones sold directly by silabs which offers much better compatibility with firmware and sdk upgrades.
- To answer you question, you could add that stick as a secondary but it would make a mess on your network since it requires a controller shift to make a controller primary. It isn't as easy as flipping a switch or a bit. The process involves an new inclusion of not included controller into the network and a shift of all the properties into that new controller which then turns the previous primary into a secondary. You can do this multiple times, shifting the primary role back and forth between the controllers to finally get the stick you want to have the node 1 position but... there is a better way which I described in my migration to z-way process. You can restore from the vera's zwave binary backup onto the usb stick which you would have plugged into the vera....
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Hi Rafale,
I am not planning on using the stick for that purpose, but to potentially remove VERA from the equation completely.
I would be leveraging the aeotec stick plugged in full-time with my Home Assistant installation (which is NOT running on a RPi, etc.) so it would be a static deployment which would be build on the OZW 1.6 stack (in Home Assistant).
Does your migration to Z-way process (restoring the binary backup onto the stick) still work in that scenario? I would also need the existing vera NW security key which I input for the OZW startup config.
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The migration method is designed exactly for this very use case.
My recommendation was to avoid the aeotec stick. It uses a proprietary firmware which you will not benefit from for your use case and will only be suffering from the lack of support over time as they do not offer much firmware updates. -
Hi, I think most people use the aeotec g5 stick with ozw 1.4 and latest ozw 1.6 (addon) according to the home assistant forum... I am not saying it is good, but why so many people if it were bad?
I also use it with ozw 1.6 addon. It is also recommended to not use the stick for inclusion but use the integration or vnc for inclusion.
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I have one too. It is stuck with zwave SDK 4.5. It will never support S2 inclusion for example and it is missing support for some newer devices. It is missing a lot of bug fixes silab has released over the past few years. My generic sticks and the uzb are running 6.82.01...
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Thanks Rafael for the information as you are much more knowledgeable on Z-Wave than I am. Which USB Z-Wave stick would you recommend then?
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A few suggestions since it appears that you are in the US:
This is the most generic reference design stick. It is actually also the exact same stick homeseer and many other companies resell under their label.
The is the zwave.me uzb which is widely used on Home assistant and opens the door to using z-way as well.
Z-Wave.ME UZB Z-Wave+ USB Stick US Version - Free shipping
This stick works with all certifi ed Z-Wave devices regardless of its vendor or date of origin. The Sigma Designs Serial API specifi cation is available to all owners of a Sigma Designs Z-Wave SDK. You can however upgrade the stick to accommodate this function using licensing key.
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@rafale77 hmz, according to them gen5 will support S2
Z-Wave S2 products & security.
Z-Wave S2 products and those that use S2 with Z-Wave Plus to improve the wireless security of Z-Wave.
And here
Z-Stick Gen5 and security (S0 and S2 Framework)
Z-Stick Gen5 ZW090 is a highly versatile and portable device used as an interface for a third party software to be used and connected with Z-Stick Gen5. For this article we will discuss a little bit about what is needed to be done to use Z-Stick ...
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Maybe one of these days when others have supported it for years. It's not the point. This is just a symptom, it's a proprietary firmware to accomodate the battery which is not very useful. You pay more and get a less useful stick. I have had it for years and you have to wait for aeotec to release a firmware which may or may not happen. Why bother? They have not released an update for all the years I have had mine when silabs is releasing improvements and bug fixes every couple of months. If you were not happy with vera's firmware release rate, you will be sorely disappointed with aeotec's Z-stick. And no it doesn't work. The current firmware doesn't support S2, it is much too old. The documentation is wrong. I tried. It mentions you need a controller which supports it which none does except for homeseer and z-way which don't support this stick. It was a very popular stick back at the beginning of openzwave when it was a very limited controller but I think openzwave has outgrown the firmware on this stick now.
Edit: I see a firmware update for another product called the z-stick S2. None for the Gen5 which I know for fact cannot support S2.
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@rafale77 said in Migration from VeraPlus to Aeotec Gen5:
A few suggestions since it appears that you are in the US:
This is the most generic reference design stick. It is actually also the exact same stick homeseer and many other companies resell under their label.
The is the zwave.me uzb which is widely used on Home assistant and opens the door to using z-way as well.
This stick works with all certifi ed Z-Wave devices regardless of its vendor or date of origin. The Sigma Designs Serial API specifi cation is available to all owners of a Sigma Designs Z-Wave SDK. You can however upgrade the stick to accommodate this function using licensing key.
In regards to the Z-wave.me stick... does that also accept the SL SDK FW upgrades directly or are you going dealing with their FW as well.
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You have to deal with waiting for their firmware so it is the downside. They have been pretty responsive to my request for an update though and have historically provided pretty regular updates, albeit not as frequently as Silabs.
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I receive the Z-Wave.Me stick from Amazon. I installed into Rpi4b and wrote the z-way SW onto a spare SD card. Z-Way doesn't show the USB stick as being recognized.
I was able to get the following information from the board:
Device ready in:3.01858210564 seconds FULL INFO Openning port .............................. OK SERIAL INFO VERSION: 05 1B VENDOR: 01 15 ZME_CAPABILITIES UID: 25 95 B6 A0 D7 34 FA 69 67 EB BA 75 3F 4B C6 8B VENDOR: 00 00 NODES: FF FLAGS: 05 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FIRMWARE CRC BOOT: BB BB FW: 35 7A MISC FREQ: US NVR Content -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prog/erase lock : FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF, Read back lock: FF Rev 01, Cal FF, TXCal 16 12, SAW FF FF FF FF, Pin FF, CRC B3 B5 NMV: CS 15, TYPE 02, SIZE 01 00, PSIZE 01 00 (EEPROM M25PE20) USB: VID FF FF, PID FF FF, UUID FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FACTORY ID: WEEK 255, YEAR 255, CHIP FF FF, SER FF FF, WS 255, HWREV: FF FF, CRC8 FFDoes this look right?
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Hard to help on this. The vendor code seems to be correct. It looks like it has a pretty old firmware. 05-1B would be 05.11.
What have you tried on z-way? -
Went into expert UI - controller info - and nothing is being reported / shown. Update firmware option offered no choices. Acting like not recognized
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Have you tried disabling and reenabling the zwave app with the correct serial address from the smarthome UI? That's how you should be activating the dongle.
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I finally figured out how to get SmartHome to see the Dongle, and upgraded it to from 5.27 > 5.36 > 5.39. It didn't show any boot loader updated needed.
Weirdly though SmartHome doesn't show the SDK version # under controller info.
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