wdhille Posted March 8, 2021 Posted March 8, 2021 This post will be longer and more detailed than most... I am finally 100% satisfied that my four Schlage Z-Wave Locks and my ISY 944 running V5.3.2 are reliable and work all the time. I have been testing the current configuration now for 72 hours and there have been no/no communication errors or failure to communicate issues. So here is what I have learned in this long and expensive process. 1) The Schlage locks work best when they are a direct link to the ISY. Range Extenders or Repeaters, regardless of who's you have, can be problematic when used with older Schlage locks that do not have the latest firmware. (I tried Domes, Aeotec Gen6, Gen7 and Inovelli) 2) The newest Schlage Locks using Z-Wave Plus (Model BE469ZP Firmware Version 0.11.0) seem to work when a repeater is required. Thank you to Schlage for stepping up to the plate and sending me two of your latest locks. I guess the squeaky wheel does get oiled.... 3) The newest Schlage locks that are Z-Wave plus have greater range than the older Z-Wave BE469 locks, so using them can (it did in my case) eliminate the need for a repeater. 4) While in theory we should be able to have several repeaters inline (three hops max), if you have a lock that is several hops away from the ISY it might be more cost effective and less time consuming to just put another ISY next to the lock. That is the only way I was able to get the lock in my external shop to work. 5) The Z-Wave products tool kit provides usable information in troubleshooting connections. The software/firmware is not professional grade, there are lots of anomalies, but for me at least it provided detailed technical data to troubleshoot and improve the system. It is kind of cool to play with, and it was on sale last month. So with that said, below is some data I have from the Z-Wave Products Tool kit. The first picture is the map of my Z-Wave network. I have simplified the network as much as possible. The number in parenthesis is the number of nodes each device sees. So at the top is my ISY, and it sees six nodes. The "old garage door" is in yellow because it only sees two nodes, but one of them is the direct link to the ISY.... And that link works... Pic 2 shows the "basement door" that sees three repeaters. In the ISY, "Z-Wave>show information in event viewer>all" you can see the basement door lock connects to the ISY via one Aetoec Gen7 repeater. The third pic shows how I got the lock in my detached shop to work. I ran a new Cat6 cable to within a few feet of the door and installed a second ISY. (Suggestion to Universal Devices: Can you make the ISY's POE powered...!) Now, for the first time in history.... when I use the Z-Wave tool box and do a "network health test" on all devices, I have have 100% success in almost every node all the time. That didn't happen before. The basement lock in the picture achieved 58/60, but in reality the ISY will resend that command several times if that happens. Thank you to Michel at UD for a lot of help and advice on this! Wayne 1
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