PLUG-OD-ZW Installation Manual

01Overview

What this manual covers

The PLUG-OD-ZW is our outdoor Z-Wave plug-in module, and it gives you two grounded outlets you control independently. Each outlet is its own Z-Wave endpoint, so your hub switches them separately while the button on the unit switches them one at a time or together. It's built on the Z-Wave 800 Series platform with S2 security, SmartStart enrollment and Z-Wave Long Range, in an IP65 enclosure that's rated for outdoor use.

This page is the installation manual in web form, so you can read it on your phone right at the receptacle. The warnings, ratings and regulatory lines are printed here exactly as they appear in the PDF, and the steps around them are written the way we'd talk you through the job across the counter.

Z-Wave 800 Long Range gives you two ways to join. Scan the SmartStart QR code on the unit and the plug adds itself, and on an LR-enabled controller that's how it joins in Long Range mode, which is where the big number comes from: Up to 1300 ft direct-to-controller (LR) - 330 ft (100 m) per hop (mesh). Or press the button three times and it joins the classic mesh instead, where it repeats for its neighbors.

Here's the one number to carry with you. The plug is rated for 15 A total between the two outlets, so you add both loads together. If you only need one indoor outlet, the PLUG-ZW is the indoor version on the same radio, and if the load is a lamp you'd like to dim, the LAMP-ZW2 is the plug-in dimmer.

02In the box

What ships with the PLUG-OD-ZW, and what you'll need

• The PLUG-OD-ZW module, with its two grounded outlets, the button on the unit, the SmartStart QR code on the unit and a 6.1 in. (155 mm) cord to the grounded plug.
• The packaging box, which carries the DSK code for SmartStart, so keep it until the plug is paired and don't remove or damage the code.
• The printed quick guide, which is the folded version of this manual, so the pairing steps and the safety lines travel with the device.
• A covered Class A GFCI-protected weatherproof receptacle, on a circuit with 20 A branch-circuit overcurrent protection, with a cover that closes completely over the plug and cord. If there isn't one, an electrician puts one in before the plug goes up.
• A Z-Wave certified controller, with its add-a-device screen open, and if you want Long Range, an 800 Series controller with LR enabled.

03Placement

Where the PLUG-OD-ZW can go

The PLUG-OD-ZW is rated for indoor or outdoor use, in a spot that stays between -4 and 122 deg F (-20 to 50 deg C), and the IP65 polycarbonate enclosure is what keeps dust and water jets out. That protection depends on how it hangs, so you mount it vertically with the outlets facing downward, every time.

The receptacle has rules of its own, and they're in the warning block word for word. In short, it's a covered Class A GFCI-protected weatherproof receptacle on a 20 A protected branch circuit. The cover closes completely over the plug and the cord, and you plug straight in with no extension cord. The unit sits more than 1 ft above the ground surface, more than 10 ft from a pool, and nowhere in a bathroom.

Think about the mesh too. An outdoor plug is often the node that carries a classic mesh out to a detached garage or a shed, because it's always powered and repeats for its neighbors. On Long Range it talks to the controller alone, and that's the right call when the plug is the far corner of the property.

04Install

Check the receptacle, hang the plug, add it, then connect the loads

1. Check the receptacle

   It has to meet every requirement in the warning block: covered, Class A GFCI-protected, weatherproof, on a 20 A protected branch circuit, with a cover that closes completely over the plug and the cord. If it doesn't, stop here and have an electrician fit one.

2. Plug in the unit

   Hang it vertically with the outlets facing downward, more than 1 ft above the ground surface, so the enclosure sheds water the way it was designed to. Close the receptacle cover over the plug and the cord.

3. Add it

   Add it to your Z-Wave network now, before you connect a load, using the SmartStart or button steps in the next section. On a first plug-in the LED begins blinking within 30 seconds on its own, ready to be added.

4. Connect the loads

   Plug in the devices you want to control, keeping both loads added together inside 15 A total between the two outlets. Then switch each outlet from the button and from your hub, so you've proved both paths.

On first power-up, before the plug has ever joined a network, both relays turn off and the blue LED turns on, which is normal. A plug that was on a network before comes back on its last status and settings, and each outlet returns to its last condition with a soft start.

05Add and set up

Add, pair, remove or reset the PLUG-OD-ZW

You've got two ways in. SmartStart is the QR code route, and it's the only route into Long Range mode, while the button route is the classic three-press add that joins the mesh. Either way the LED tells you how it went, and your controller's own menu drives the hub side of each step.

Add it by SmartStart QR code, which is the Long Range path

1. Turn Long Range on at the controller first, if you want LR mode, because Long Range requires SmartStart inclusion and an LR-enabled controller.
2. Open your controller's SmartStart or add-by-QR screen, then scan the Z-Wave QR code on the unit. The DSK code is on the packaging box, so don't remove or damage it. You can type it in if the code on the unit is hard to reach.
3. Plug the unit in, and it joins automatically. The LED flashes blue while it joins and lights green for 2 seconds when it's in.

Add it by button, which joins the classic mesh

1. Put your Z-Wave controller into Add mode, following its own menu.
2. Press the button on the plug 3 times quickly, and the blue LED flashes while it runs.
3. Watch for green, because the green LED lights for 2 seconds when the device is added. If it never does, move the plug closer to the controller and try again.

Remove it from the network

1. Put your controller into Remove mode, then press the button 3 times quickly.
2. Watch the purple LED flash, then the green LED for 2 seconds, which means it's out and ready to join another controller. Removing it this way also restores the factory defaults.

Factory reset

1. Click the button 2 times quickly, then hold for at least 10 seconds. The light flashes once when the reset succeeds.
2. Know when to use it, because removing the device from the hub also restores factory defaults. Save the button reset for a primary controller that's missing or inoperable.

Everything the button does

One button on the unit runs both outlets and steps three of the parameters without a hub. A single tap is the left outlet, a double tap is the right, and a 3-second hold is both at once, so the plug still works on a day the hub is down.

Configuration parameters

Set these from your controller's Z-Wave configuration screen, and set the four timers, parameters 2 to 5, from the controller only, since there's no tap pattern for them. The left outlet is endpoint 1 and the right is endpoint 2, so each outlet gets its own off timer and its own on timer. Our guide to parameters and association groups explains what each one is for in practice.

Association groups and Z-Wave identifiers

Group 1 is the Lifeline, up to 5 nodes, and it sends a Binary Switch Report to the hub. Group 2 belongs to the left outlet, up to 5 nodes, and it sends a Basic Set when you control that load from the button. Association is available through the gateway only, so you set it from your hub's Z-Wave screen. The group for the right outlet will be published here once the factory confirms it. That direct path only runs on classic mesh, because on Long Range the plug's only neighbor is the controller.

The plug can be included and operated in any Z-Wave network with other Z-Wave certified devices from other manufacturers, and all non-battery nodes act as repeaters, regardless of vendor. Your hub sees it as a binary switch with 2 endpoints, one per outlet, and the device class, command classes and IDs are in the specifications below.

06LEDs

What the LED is telling you

One LED, with parameter 1 setting what it shows and parameter 7 setting how bright it is.

07Load and safety

Ratings and loads

The PLUG-OD-ZW switches each outlet rather than varying its level, so the load question is the shared ceiling. It's rated for 15 A total between the two outlets, and the load classes below tell you how that reads for a given device. A string of incandescent lights is in the 1250 W class, a resistive load gets the full 15 A, and a small pump motor is fine up to 1/2 HP. Whatever you plug in, you add the two outlets together.

08Specifications

PLUG-OD-ZW specifications

Every row below matches the printed manual and the PLUG-OD-ZW product page.

The wet-location receptacle rules come from the National Electrical Code (NFPA 70). The full line is in the Versa Z-Wave 800 collection, and the reach you can expect in a real yard is in Z-Wave 800 Long Range explained.

09Troubleshooting

When something doesn't go to plan

The usual calls we get, and what to do about each one.