This guide explains how to use the Portable Z-Wave feature for the Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2. This experimental firmware allows you to place your Z-Wave adapter anywhere in your home — far-away from your Home Assistant server—by communicating over Wi-Fi or Ethernet (PoE).
Overview
Standard Z-Wave adapters must be plugged directly into the USB port of your hub. Portable Z-Wave breaks this limitation by using the built-in ESP32-S3 chip inside the ZWA-2 to handle latency-sensitive communication, forwarding the rest of the data over your local network via ESPHome.
Portable Z-Wave is designed to be highly compatible and interference-free. Because Z-Wave and Wi-Fi operate on entirely different radio frequencies, using the ZWA-2 over Wi-Fi will not cause wireless interference.
Configuration Options
You can deploy Portable Z-Wave in two ways:
- Wi-Fi Mode: The ZWA-2 uses its internal Wi-Fi chip. You only need a USB power source (5V 1A).
- PoE Mode: The ZWA-2 is plugged into an external development board (such as the Waveshare ESP32-S3-ETH) that supports Power-over-Ethernet.
Installation Steps
- Visit the Open Home Foundation’s Connect ZWA-2 Toolbox website.
- Plug the adapter into your computer using the included USB cable.
- Select the Portable Z-Wave installation option. The toolbox’s wizard will guide you through connecting the device to your network.
- Once flashed and connected, Home Assistant should automatically discover the device via the ESPHome and Z-Wave integrations.
- Final Placement:
- For Wi-Fi: Move the ZWA-2 to its permanent location and plug it into a USB power adapter.
- For PoE: Connect the ZWA-2 to your PoE-capable development board and plug in the Ethernet cable.
Using this with other systems
Additionally, this setup is not strictly limited to Home Assistant; it is compatible with any platform running Z-Wave JS v15.15.0 or higher by connecting to the device address esphome://<IP_OF_THE_ZWA-2>.