meshing.. or not?

[pilotgeek]

I now have four Kwikset 910s with four Aoctec Range Extender 6s.  Three are working perfectly.  The fourth.. which is further away than the rest.. not so much.  So I am considering yet another range extender -- after all they are pretty cheap.  I am concerned as to whether this will get the job done.

 

The nearest range extender to the "far one" is in the hallway leading to the garage (which covers the lock for the door leading into the garage).  On the far side of a 3 car garage is the 4th range extender and lock (for a door at the side of the garage).  Those are not being seen by the ISY.  Is it realistic to add yet another range extender (perhaps by the far garage door opener)?  Does the ISY properly mesh, or does everything have to be one hop?

 

Regards,

Neal

[dbuss]

I now have four Kwikset 910s with four Aoctec Range Extender 6s.  Three are working perfectly.  The fourth.. which is further away than the rest.. not so much.  So I am considering yet another range extender -- after all they are pretty cheap.  I am concerned as to whether this will get the job done.

 

The nearest range extender to the "far one" is in the hallway leading to the garage (which covers the lock for the door leading into the garage).  On the far side of a 3 car garage is the 4th range extender and lock (for a door at the side of the garage).  Those are not being seen by the ISY.  Is it realistic to add yet another range extender (perhaps by the far garage door opener)?  Does the ISY properly mesh, or does everything have to be one hop?

 

Regards,

Neal

Have you run a Heal Z-Wave Network? Have you run diagnostics to see what neighbors each of your Z-Wave devices have? Healing the network may solve your problem. Once you see what neighbors your devices have, you may find that you may be able to re-locate your range extenders to get a better mesh network.

[stusviews]

Placement of the Range Extenders seems to make a difference. I was unable to reach my first Z-Wave lock about 25' from the ISY. A Gen5 Siren solved the problem even though it was further away from the ISY. In particular the lock was between the siren and the ISY.

[MWareman]

For a reliable zwave network, the zwave alliance says you should have at least three powered devices to repeat the signal in a redundant way (the ISY itself counts as one). Each device should be a 'neighbour' to at least two of them.

 

You can view neighbour information in the event log when getting device info. If each device does not have the necessary connectivity, move your repeaters and then heal the network before testing again.

 

I, like many, have not had success with the Aeon Range Extenders - but did have good success with the Aeon Siren.

[nwchicago]

I share Michael's experience with the Z wave extenders from AO tech. The aEOTech sirens for him very well and do a great job extending my network are use three or four.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pilotgeek]

The nearest range extender to the "far one" is in the hallway leading to the garage (which covers the lock for the door leading into the garage).  On the far side of a 3 car garage is the 4th range extender and lock (for a door at the side of the garage).  Those are not being seen by the ISY.  Is it realistic to add yet another range extender (perhaps by the far garage door opener)?  Does the ISY properly mesh, or does everything have to be one hop?

I added one more range extender -- to the IOlink passthrough port on the garage door closer to the hallway -- the far lock now works 100% of the time.  The network heal thing still fails, but after the healing failure locking/unlocking the far lock got it all working.  It has been good for several days, so I am going to call it a range issue [when there was one less repeater].  That is reasonable, as the long hop has a lot of walls in the way.

 

Regards,

Neal

[stusviews]

I added an Aeon Range Extender in place of an Aeon Gen 5 Siren. So far, it's as effective as the siren (i.e, Z-Wave device that could not be reached is reliable with either Aeon device).

[Techman]

Placement of the Range Extenders seems to make a difference. I was unable to reach my first Z-Wave lock about 25' from the ISY. A Gen5 Siren solved the problem even though it was further away from the ISY. In particular the lock was between the siren and the ISY.

 

Stu,

 

Can the Gen 5 siren be configured as a low db chime in the ISY?

If so, what are the alert options, i.e. sounds and volume levels?

I'm looking for an alternative to the Insteon chime module.

[stusviews]

Techman,

 

I haven't played with the siren as I only wanted/needed a Z-Wave ranger extender. but the Aeon Doorbell has a variety of sounds available and it's easy to change the volume, all by tapping buttons on the module itself--and it works as a range extender, too.

[BigDigger]

Further to "Pilotgeek"'s question up above, does each range extender have to connect to the gateway (ISY994Zw) 1 hop away or can range extenders daisy chain off each other?

I am also trying to get a proper Zwave signal into my garage and am having limited success.  I have one extender in my main hallway (Ext #1) and it shows a "Green" status when testing the connectivity.  I have another extender (Ext #2) in a bedroom almost 20 feet direct line of site to extender #1 and it has a "Red" status. 

[Teken]

Further to "Pilotgeek"'s question up above, does each range extender have to connect to the gateway (ISY994Zw) 1 hop away or can range extenders daisy chain off each other?

I am also trying to get a proper Zwave signal into my garage and am having limited success.  I have one extender in my main hallway (Ext #1) and it shows a "Green" status when testing the connectivity.  I have another extender (Ext #2) in a bedroom almost 20 feet direct line of site to extender #1 and it has a "Red" status. 

 

If you're using the Aeotec Siren you need only plug it in and complete a heal / synchronize. Whether actually works is almost like fairy dust and magic because you will see it completes, nothing changes. It fails, and nothing changes, it never completes and hangs, and nothing changes. What has worked for many is bringing the lock set to the ISY or vice versa.

 

Complete what ever routing you need to do than bring it back and do another endless heal / synchronize. Its important to note given how many Z-Wave companies are out there not everyone is following the standard or choosing to select random things in terms of support. Moving forward those who wish to certify their wares must comply and pass the Z-Wave Alliance certification.

 

All devices of that date must also support Z-Wave Plus & Generation 5  . . .

 

I've waited to purchase any Z-Wave products myself because the bulk of hardware is just pure junk. 

[BigDigger]

I am using 2 Aeotec Range Extender 6 Gen 5.  I do have the Aeotec Siren on order but I am still looking for an answer to my question above as to whether the Aeotec Gen 5 Extenders can function daisy chained or each having to be connected to the gateway.

[stusviews]

There is no Aeotech Range Extender 6 Gen 5. There's a Gen 5 and there's a Gen 6. If you have the Gen 6, red indicates that it's not communicating. Factory reset the range extender and try it in another location.

[BigDigger]

Tried factory reset and still no luck... these extenders are crap ..

By the way there is such a thing as an Aeotec Range Extender 6 Gen 5..  See below

 

https://www.aartech.ca/aeotec-zw117-zwave-range-extender.html

[Teken]

Tried factory reset and still no luck... these extenders are crap ..

By the way there is such a thing as an Aeotec Range Extender 6 Gen 5..  See below

 

https://www.aartech.ca/aeotec-zw117-zwave-range-extender.html

 

As stated many times in this forum and many others the repeaters are next to junk. While many have had great success using the siren / door bell. Regardless of that it doesn't negate the fact the proper routing of the Z-Wave network be defined.

 

The whole routing concept is such a terrible concept I won't even go there . . .

 

Lastly, it behooves you to have every Z-Wave device that supports Generation 5 Plus firmware & hardware. At some point the ISY Series Controller will support both and my belief is the bulk of the comm issues will have been drastically reduced if not severely eliminated. Seeing homes with 12 or more wall wart siren / door bells is quite comical to me to say the least.

 

But I digress . . .