You can forcibly set your Z-Stick 7 or Z-Pi 7 into bootloader mode allowing you to forcibly downgrade your Z-Stick 7 or Z-Pi 7 to any firmware files you may have for series 700 Z-Wave USB Adapters. 


This guide will utilize Z-WaveJS UI to set your Z-Stick 7 into bootloader mode, and how you use this mode to downgrade your Z-Stick 7 or Z-Pi 7. 


You will need access to Z-WaveJS UI to perform these steps either through Docker or Home Assistant. 


It is recommended, that if you do not have a backup of your Z-Stick 7, make sure that you create a backup in case anything goes wrong. 


Steps

1. Download the attachment "SLUSB7000A-bootloader-nolimit.gbl", and use this to firmware update your Z-Stick 7 / Z-Pi 7.


This will cause your Z-Stick 7 to go into bootloader mode once the firmware update is finished - ZWaveJS UI at this time will not be able to connect yet.

  • Download the bootloader update: https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/helpdesk/attachments/6186969241 
  • Open ZWaveJS UI
  • Click on the 3 line icon at the bottom right (blue bubble with 3 lines)
  • Click on the purple magic wand (advanced actions)
  • Click UPDATE (under firmware update OTW)
  • Choose the file "SLUSB7000A-bootloader-nolimit.gbl" (Which you downloaded before finishing this step)
    • After the update completes, you'll get an error timeout message, this is completely normal, just continue to push forward with the steps below.

2. Open up ZWaveJS UI -> Menu -> Settings


3. Expand Z-Wave, then enable "Bootloader only", then press the Save button at the bottom.


4. Reboot ZWaveJS UI and allow it to connect to the Z-Stick 7 in bootloader mode. 

5. Now download the firmware update you want to update the Z-Stick 7 with: Update Z-Stick 7 with Z-WaveJS UI [Download options below]
  • Download 7.21.4:
  • Download V7.18.8:
  • Download 7.17.2:
  • Open ZWaveJS UI
  • Click on the 3 line icon at the bottom right (blue bubble with 3 lines)
  • Click on the purple magic wand (advanced actions)
  • Click UPDATE (under firmware update OTW)
  • Choose the file "ZW_SerialAPI_Controller_7_17_2_406_EFR32ZG14_REGION_XX" (from one of the 3 links above)
  • Allow the firmware update to finish - 
    • it may seem that the firmware update gets stuck at 0% but this seems to be normal. 
    • Wait about 5 minutes. 
    • Refresh your page.

6. Now disable bootloader mode on ZWaveJS UI
  • Expand Z-Wave, then disable "Bootloader only", then press the Save button at the bottom.

 
7. Reboot ZWaveJS UI once more and your Z-Stick 7 should now be operating 7.17.2





If you are having any issues proceeding with these steps, you can use ZWaveJS Firmware Flasher to flash your firmware following this guide here: https://aeotec.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/6000270183-z-stick-7-updating-or-downgrading-with-zwavejs-firmware-flasher


This guide is designed for Windows users, but as long as you can install NodeJS you should be able to use the ZWaveJS Firmware Flasher with your Z-Stick 7.