Using Bali VCZ1 Z-Wave Remote with Home Assistant

Original Post 2022-06-27
Updated 2022-06-30

The Bali VCZ1 Z-Wave Remote can be added to ZWave-JS in Home Assistant but no switches or input entities are generated with the device. There are battery status, node status and ping entities created but nothing to trigger an automation from the buttons on the remote.

An event trigger must be used to listen for input from the Z-Wave remote. The automiation should be setup to trigger on the minimum unique data required to distinguish the remote.

To identify the remote and the available fields, configure HA Developer Tools to listen for the zwave_js_value_notification event. This will display all the available data from the remote. Notice that the property_key is 001 for the top button and 002 for the bottom button.

Create an automation with an event trigger that looks for a match on the property_key and device_id. Alternatively the node_id can be used.

It initially appeared there would be a problem with the remote being asleep but that resolved itself. A delay was added in the automation to assure mulitiple button presses would not interfere with a single mode automation.

View Event Output

Developers Tools → Events
Listen To Events → Event to Subscribe To → zwave_js_value_notification → Start Listening

Event output when remote button pushed
{
    "event_type": "zwave_js_value_notification",
    "data": {
        "domain": "zwave_js",
        "node_id": 57,
        "home_id": 254774838,
        "endpoint": null,
        "device_id": "a544c2218bebaf01f67c7234549d314c7",
        "command_class": 91,
        "command_class_name": "Central Scene",
        "label": null,
        "property": "scene",
        "property_name": "scene",
        "property_key": "002",
        "property_key_name": "002",
        "value": 0,
        "value_raw": 0
    },
    "origin": "LOCAL",
    "time_fired": "2022-06-27T14:48:05.438795+00:00",
    "context": {
        "id": "01G6JT4JHY5S45673K47G1AGWBF",
        "parent_id": null,
        "user_id": null
    }
}

YAML for Automation Trigger

alias: Bali Bottom Button
description: Bottom Button
trigger:
  - platform: event
    event_type: zwave_js_value_notification
    event_data:
      property_key: '001' # top button, 2 for bottom button
      device_id: a544c2218bebaf01f67c756149d314c7
      # node_id: 57 # alternative identifier
condition: []
action:
  - service: notify.paul_iphone_only
    data:
      message: Bali Bottom Button
  - delay:
      hours: 0
      minutes: 0
      seconds: 10
      milliseconds: 0

mode: single

References:

• HA ZWave-JS Events
• Bali Remote Manual