Moving from Alfawerks to Comfort2MQTT

[DavidJ]

I've semi successfully migrated from Alphawerks to comfort2mqtt on my Home Assistant setup and wanted to share what I've done and ask a few questions.
My setup:

Cytech Comfort II Ultra (CM9001) with UCM/ETH03
Home Assistant running on Intel NUC
Comfort firmware: 7.183
comfort2mqtt addon: latest version

What I did:

The Alphawerks module used a separate UCM with custom firmware (confirmed it cannot be repurposed)
Unplugged the Alphawerks ethernet cable to take it offline
Started comfort2mqtt connecting to the ETH03 at 192.168.0.50 (1001)
Successfully connected, logged in as User 1, CCLX file detected and loaded
All 24 zones, alarm panel, outputs and fob buttons are now live in Home Assistant via comfort2mqtt

Current issue — reconnect loop:
After connecting, comfort2mqtt logs the following repeatedly approximately every 22 seconds, I had trialled if I could get Comfort2MQTT working a few months ago and dont recall the errors maybe this is now appearing due to a change:
ERROR    Comfort II ULTRA detected (Unsupported Firmware 7.183)
ERROR    Error sending command 'cc00', closing socket.
ERROR    Lost connection to Comfort, reconnecting...
It reconnects immediately and successfully each time, and the system appears to be currently stable and connected, but the loop is a concern for reliability.
Questions:

Port 1001 vs 1002 — I'm currently connected on port 1001 rather than the recommended port 1002 (which is suggested for HA use, leaving 1001 for Comfigurator). Is there any operational problem with staying on port 1001 for comfort2mqtt? I chose this because port 1002 failed to connect — possibly a timeout setting issue in Comfort Server Manager.
Firmware upgrade — I can see the latest firmware is 8.030 (November 2025) and as stated am currently on 7.183. Will upgrading to 8.030 fix the cc00 reconnect loop? I assume so however, is it safe to jump directly from 7.183 to 8.030, or should I upgrade in stages through intermediate versions?
Risks of firmware upgrade — Are there any risks to my existing Comfort programming, zone configuration, or responses when upgrading? Will I need to do anything in Comfigurator after the upgrade? Is there anything specific should be backed up or check before proceeding?
Serial Number: Invalid — The log also shows Serial Number: Invalid after each login. Is this something to be concerned about?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Ingo]

The firmware 'might' be an issue, it wasn't tested on that old firmware so I can't say. As for 1001 vs 1002 it doesn't make a difference except that 1002 get's disconnected when using 1001 for programming. The App will then try and reconnect automatically which might affect Comfigurator on 1001. The best practice is to stop the App when doing any programming, you don't want two cooks in the kitchen stirring the same pot at the same time.

The serial number invalid only means either nothing has been programmed at the factory or the serial number is a collection of random numbers not following the standard. It makes no operational difference, it's used for system information inside HA.

Firmware upgrade is always a personal choice and is usually well documented. I've never had an issue with upgrades, you have to make that choice. Always have a backup before changing anything.

[DavidJ]

Thanks so much for advice - I assume the constant restarts is down to the old firmware and therefore presumably theres no option to ignore the firmware version? Or perhaps that breaks other things. Hopefully Chiu can give a better understanding of the risk in updating the Firmware.

[Ingo]

Thanks so much for advice - I assume the constant restarts is down to the old firmware and therefore presumably theres no option to ignore the firmware version? Or perhaps that breaks other things. Hopefully Chiu can give a better understanding of the risk in updating the Firmware.

No, the 'restarts' as you call it is actually connection retries. 'cc00' is a keepalive packet, if it doesn't receive a response it assumes the connection is broken and retries the connection setup over and over.

You need to make sure you are on the latest Comfort firmware as well as the latest UCM and Eth03 firmware. All three should be the latest. I can't recall when the cc00 keepalive command was introduced but that was quite some time ago so.

[slychiu]

I dont think the Comfort firmweare has any  effect, because the add-on sends messages according to the Comfort Protocol and no new commands are used (except for the Arm firmware where you have the battery and ac voltage queries). If you upgrade firmware perhaps the UCM is a better place to start

[DavidJ]

Thanks Chiu — to confirm, is it safe to upgrade the Comfort panel firmware directly from 7.183 to 8.030 in one step, or should I go through intermediate versions? And will my existing programming and zone configuration be preserved after the upgrade? Obviously I will take a backup.

[slychiu]

No it does not help to go through multiple versions. But if yours is not the Arm processor, it may not help to upgrade at this point

[DavidJ]

Ok ill upgrade the UCM, check if its ARM, the board is circa 15 years old, so unlikely. 
Is the newly released Pi board a potential resolution,  if so is it available in the UK?

[DavidJ]

Ok Ive successfully updated both UCM and the firmware but unfortunately the  Error sending command 'cc00', closing socket problem persists . Interestingly before I fully transitioned from Alphawerks I tested this a few months ago and aside from clashing with Alphawerks I'm (nearly) sure I didnt get these issues so its possibly due to some recent changes.
Ive also opened an issue on Github, hopefully it can be resolved as this would be superb.
Thanks

[Ingo]

Ok Ive successfully updated both UCM and the firmware but unfortunately the  Error sending command 'cc00', closing socket problem persists . Interestingly before I fully transitioned from Alphawerks I tested this a few months ago and aside from clashing with Alphawerks I'm (nearly) sure I didnt get these issues so its possibly due to some recent changes.
Ive also opened an issue on Github, hopefully it can be resolved as this would be superb.
Thanks

Did you upgrade the Eth03 firmware as well? Make sure you don't have a duplicate IP, or even another device trying to access the same IP and Port.