I like your workaround. Pretty clever if the device needs no user configuration.
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I do the same. In very extreme situation, I also had to directly edit user data Json file.
so we still dont have official reply to this?
if the device is the same one (excluded for some reason) can i include it as new then swap the altid with no problems please?
This hasn’t made any problems for me, but I always back up my Vera before I do it (or really, pretty much any include/exclude for any reason). It is not an officially sanctioned thing to do, may not work for every device, YMMV, caveat hax0r.
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+1 - Replace failed is an invaluable tool in the toolbox. Have used it many times.
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Hi Rig, i could not get it to work, here is what i did:
- I reset the device on the wall (MCO light switch)
- add the device as a new one
- after it was configured and running, i tried to swap the altid, but nothing changed.
- tried to swap the names and Vera says configuring your devices please wait, then it will rest both devices to their original settings, so the old one will get back its latid and original name and the new one too.
is there anything i am doing wrong?
Must be, and most likely didn’t hard-reload your browser. It’s very reliable for me. I often change device names and room assignments using the same general pattern… change one device on its Advanced > Param tab, change the other (same way), immediately reload Luup (Advanced > New service and use the button–closest tool for the job), hard-reload the browser. That last step is key, as the UI does not easily pick up the changes, and will happily show you old device data, and if you go in and do more editing based on that incorrect cached data, you can really make things confusing, or worse…
Just an obvious question but…
Which device’s altid did you change? From your description of “swap” it almost sounds like you tried changing the altid of the newly included device number. This should indeed work 100% but what @rigpapa is suggesting is changing the altid of the old, disabled device to the altid number of the newly added device. This is how you make the old device id connect to the newly included device. You can then delete the newly included device id.
@rafale77 is correct… you must take the altid of the new device and put it on the old device and take the altid of the old device and put it in the new device. Literally, swap… exchange…altids between them. A becomes B and B becomes A. Don’t change names or anything else just yet–that’s just going to create confusion (and it’s actually wrong). Swap the two devices, reload, hard refresh, make sure the old device is now working with the new altid, and once it is, delete the new device that now has the old altid.
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Also you know we are using ALTUI to do this right? If you try doing it on UI7 the vera will likely reload luup between changes and try to correct things so it won’t work.
I do this in UI7. Vera does not reload when you make changes to device attributes on Advanced > Params, which is why I use that almost exclusively to change device names and rooms as well–Vera will reboot if you use the fields for name and room on the device control panel “Control” (typical) tab, but not on Advanced > Params.
Interesting. When doing manipulations like these, I now exclusively use ALTUI. I’ve been bitten too many times with unnecessary and unwanted luup reloads upon parameter changes. Good to know that at least this one doesn’t cause a reload. I remember indeed that a device id number doesn’t cause a reload either.
Ok, i guess it is because i am trying to change the names and room assignment at the same time, this is forcing luup reload… maybe this is the issue.
so to make sure i am doing it right, i put the OLD altid in the OLD unresponsive device, then i put the OLD altid in the NEW working device, reload luup and hard reload the browser, right?
Not quite… like this:
Note: all get/set steps are done on Advanced > Params for each device. Do not change any other parameters or make any changes to the device in other parts of the UI.
- Go to the NEW device and copy down its NEW altid;
- Go to the OLD device and copy down its OLD altid;
- Set the NEW altid recorded in step 1 on the OLD device.
- Go back to the NEW device and set the OLD altid recorded in step 2.
- Reload Luup Engine (Advanced > New service)
- Hard-refresh your browser (religiously, often)
- Delete the NEW (yes NEW) device (which has the old altid on it as of step 4).
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Many thanks for the replies, i will misspelled the first message, i meant put the NEW altid in the OLD unresponsive device 
i will try it and see, hope all will work well till they fix the Replace failed !
phew!!! I started to pull my hair reading this… 
Hello All, I just want to confirm that it worked, followed the steps by rigpapa and all went well… Thank you all
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I wanted to report to all that RigPapa’s directions worked perfectly for me too just today!!
FWIW, “Replaced Failed” may actually work. At least it appears that it did for me.
I had a dimmer that was working, but wasn’t talking to my Vera Plus. I was getting “Can’t detect device”, and although I was able to run some luup code found elsewhere on this forum to clear the error, it still wouldn’t connect.
I tried deleting the device and re-pairing it, but it got a different device and altid, which messed up my scenes and existing configuration.
So I restored from backup, put the Vera in exclude mode to remove the recent association. The dimmer was now flashing. I went to the device’s Advanced->Commands tab and clicked “Repair Failed”. It responded with a popup, “Command Sent”, but no add-new-device-wizard.
I then went to the dimmer and pressed the button. The light cycled, but the LED was still blinking. A second tap and it cycled again but this time the LED was solid. Looked like a successful pairing.
For good measure, I then clicked the “Configure node right now” (same Commands tab), and got the same “Command Sent” confirmation.
Lo and behold, my dimmer is now responding and my scenes are intact!
I’m not sure if the “Configure node right now” had anything to do with my success, but I wanted to record my steps for posterity’s sake.
And for reference, I’m running 1.7.5364 (7.32).
Not sure about the altid but you can change the device id of a device. And that is what the scenes reference I think.
I’ve done it loads of times, deleted a device that was playing up then paired it again and then changed its device id number back to what it was originally.
You can also change the parent id number for any associated child devices.
You can’t do this on Ezlo hubs but works on the old Vera hubs.