Z-Wave Association Passing Through

So this is freaking weird. I added my first LZW30-SN to my network (I have a few LZW31-SN units). The switch is at the top of my stairs. All devices are using the Inovelli drivers (not the Hubitat native drivers).

I want it to control the relay (on/off) in the dimmer (LZW31-SN) at the bottom of the stairs. But I don’t want the buttons on that lower stairs dimmer to control its internal relay - I have local control disabled to prevent that. The buttons on that dimmer control another LZW31-SN in the Family Room via an association there.

This is done through 3 associations:

  1. Upper Stairs Switch → Lower Stairs Dimmer Group 2
  2. Lower Stairs Dimmer Local Control Disabled
  3. Lower Stairs Dimmer → Family Room Dimmer Group 2
  4. Lower Stairs Dimmer → Family Room Dimmer Group 4

Steps 2, 3, and 4 work as expected. But for some reason, step 1’s commands are passing through the Lower Stairs Dimmer and also turning off the Family Room Dimmer as well as the Lower Stairs Dimmer. This isn’t behavior I’ve seen in other situations where the only difference is that the device in step 1 is also an LZW31-SN.

I thought maybe my associations were messed up, so I went through and removed all the configuration in Hubitat for each device, excluded each device and then factory reset each one. I then re-added each one, starting at the Family Room, then the Lower Stairs Dimmer, then the Upper Stairs Switch. Everything works as expected until I add that darn switch.

Is this a peculiarity of the LZW30-SN? I see that there’s an extra configuration item in the Inovelli driver for that about Z-Wave associations - I tried fiddling with that, but couldn’t get the results I’m looking for.

EDIT: Just adding that I also have local control disabled on the upper stairs switch. That switch box was in a 3-way configuration with the lower stair box and I’ve opted to just use it to power the switch and Z-Wave associations. Although as I write that, I’m wondering if I should figure out how to wire the LZW30-SN to the LZW31-SN directly as a 3-way extension and just skip all this hassle. Hmm.

EDIT 2: This seems to be a problem with the Lower Stair LZW31-SN, not the Upper Stair LZW30-SN. I just added a Rule to map two taps on the Lower Stair dimmer to turn its internal switch on and off. That works, except that the associated Family Room dimmer now also turns on and off with that action. It’s like the association has been established with the internal switch as the source, not the buttons. This is very weird - none of my other LZW31-SNs act like this.

EDIT 3: Well shoot. I went to verify that my other dimmers behave differently, and it appears they do not. I could have sworn that I was able to successfully disengage the operations of the internal switch from the commands sent via Z-Wave assocation when I installed the others (e.g., disable local control, map on/off and dimming to another dimmer, use rule machine to map a 2 button up/down press to turn the internal switch on and off without triggering a change in the remote dimmer). I guess I’m going to have to completely rethink my strategy - unless someone knows a parameter I can flip or something to fix it.

Okay, I think I have a strategy here. I had been trying to consolidate since I only need one relay/dimmer in that lower stair box (for the stair lights - the other is a traveler from the family room dimmer box). Seems silly to have a full dimmer in there and not use the actual dimmer, but that’s what I’ll do: install another LZW30-SN to use for the stair lights and dedicate the dimmer as just a powered controller (via association with the local relay/dimmer disabled) to the family room dimmer.

Then I can establish an association for the upper stair switch to the lower stair switch and not have to worry about the commands passing through to other units.