Question re Z-wave certification of the Zipato devices

A few years ago I’ve started my journey in home automation.

After weeks of reading various manuals for the standards, forums, opinions re the options like KNX, EnOcean, x10, ZigBee, Z-wave and etc. I’ve chosen Z-wave for the flexibility and interoperability. The devices seem to be compatible within the Z-wave ecosystem no matter who is the exact manufacturer as long these devices have Sigma chipsets and they are certified by Z-wave.

Once the protocol has been chosen, I started to look for the controller that would seem to be the most perspective one. And that turned to be the Zipabox1 by Zipato in my mind for that time.

So I’ve started with the Zipabox from the scratch. I’ve bought a controller itself, some dozen of relays by Zipato and a few by Fibaro, thermostats by Z-wave.me for the first time.

At first, I was surprised that the officially certified Zipabox1, even being widely available to public, was actually in beta. But at that time it was not a dealbreaker at all, as versions were published continuously, the changelogs were available, and the devices I bought were working correctly. So in general, the approach for Z-wave certified devices was the right choice as they did the main thing.

At the same time I failed with the thermostats as for some reason Zipato followed by a very specific command classes which were working only in case of workaround solution with virtual device.

Ok, I’ve decided that this is not a dealbreaker as well as the overall direction Zipato were moving made me feel that the lack of service shall be covered in the newer versions. And to be honest, it did happen to some point when Zipabox1 got out of beta 0.99 to v.1. The new Android app was also promising.

But soon I noticed some changes in the communications, the changelogs disappeared, the servers were down from time to time. Nevertheless, the installation itself was growing in my home, I’ve added sensors and security, integrated leakage and fire alarms. I was pretty sure that if it turns to be the case the controller by Zipato stops in its operation, I will opt from the Z-wave certification as the devices I have shall be easily switched to the new Z-wave controller.

Sorry for the long prehistory, but I think it should be mentioned in order to explain the situation in detail.

A few weeks ago, Zipabox users faced with the fact that their purely working Zipaboxes shall no longer be supported. Of course, some will give a chance to Zipato once more and buy some new boxes solving various migrations issues, some will decide to leave it all and switch to another solution.

But this is not yet another complaint re why Zipato is not recognizing its Zipabox v1 customers.

My personal choice was to switch to a different solution on Z-way and I started to move the devices one by one from the old Zipabox1 to the new Z-way. My thermostats start working with Z-way, all the devices by Fibaro, Aeotec and Chinese QAM passed inclusion easily. Again I was happy of the right decision I’ve made years ago to get into the Z-wave train as the standard certification allowed to keep all the devices operable.

BUT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN TO ZIPATO RELAYS WT-MMSS and WT-MMDS !!!

I’ve contacted Z-way developers re the reasons for that, and got the very struggling reply: the relay-devices I have are not certified by Z-wave Alliance.

I could not believe that as the relays have Z-wave logo, the items were bought from the official dealers. You can check these items are still available in the Manuals section of the official web-site of Zipato (https://www.zipato.com/the-company/download). Based on the manuals the devices were available in various Z-wave frequencies and markets. I also attach the foto of the relays, the ones I have are for RU-frequency.

So I contacted Z-wave Alliance directly on the issue. The reply I’ve got confirmed the worst thing – the Zipato relays I’ve had are not certified and were never present in the certified devices DB.

The funny thing is that I would never faced with this fact in case I decided to stay with Zipato, but the funniest thing is that I would not look for the controller replacement solution in case Zipabox1 got relevant support in the future, or at least the migration to v3 was an easygo solution… Obviously, there is not a big difference between setting up new v3 or setting up any other controller. Same things to do.

So the reason for this post is actually the question to Zipato:

Are you, guys, crazy?

I can, with all the respect, understand the ignorance of your customers and the Zipabox1 demise, but I’m totally confused with the fact that Zipato was selling the devices – the relays – as certified devices while they are not officially certified!!!

I hope, I really hope that your comment on the above shall be available to the public community here in the forum shortly.

I also hope I’m wrong in accusing the company (even such a deaf company to the community) and there is a normal rationale for the situation.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year