Since insteon items are so hard to come by these days, I ordered a few zwave plus to hook up to some of my lamps my wife wants to get on some scenes and programs.  

My ISY is in the attic of my house (the only place I could place it).  I have a zwave outlet plug in right near the controller.  The plugs x2 on the 2nd floor of my house are able to communicate but once I try them on the first floor, I am losing the signal.  I am adding them to the ISY plugged very close to where the starter one is and them unplugging them and then moving them to my location of choice.  

I just dont understand the best way to get signal to my first floor.  I am spoiled how easy my insteon stuff is to setup.  

2 hours ago, astark said:

Since insteon items are so hard to come by these days, I ordered a few zwave plus to hook up to some of my lamps my wife wants to get on some scenes and programs.  

My ISY is in the attic of my house (the only place I could place it).  I have a zwave outlet plug in right near the controller.  The plugs x2 on the 2nd floor of my house are able to communicate but once I try them on the first floor, I am losing the signal.  I am adding them to the ISY plugged very close to where the starter one is and them unplugging them and then moving them to my location of choice.  

I just dont understand the best way to get signal to my first floor.  I am spoiled how easy my insteon stuff is to setup.  

See zwave tips and tricks at the top of this sub-forum

21 hours ago, astark said:

Since insteon items are so hard to come by these days, I ordered a few zwave plus to hook up to some of my lamps my wife wants to get on some scenes and programs.  

My ISY is in the attic of my house (the only place I could place it).  I have a zwave outlet plug in right near the controller.  The plugs x2 on the 2nd floor of my house are able to communicate but once I try them on the first floor, I am losing the signal.  I am adding them to the ISY plugged very close to where the starter one is and them unplugging them and then moving them to my location of choice.  

I just dont understand the best way to get signal to my first floor.  I am spoiled how easy my insteon stuff is to setup.  

Does you ISY have the 300 or 500 series Z-wave dongle?

The ISY Z-wave signal has a limited range so your best bet would be to install a Z-wave repeater within 20 feet of the ISY. The Aeotec repeater is both a repeater and signal amplifier. Keeping in mind that the Z-wave mesh network is RF it's best to keep the repeater plugged into an outlet that is high up and free of obstructions.  

You may need more than one repeater depending on you layout.

The Z-wave outlets have their antennas buried in the wall which reduces the RF signal range.

8 minutes ago, Techman said:

Does you ISY have the 300 or 500 series Z-wave dongle?

The ISY Z-wave signal has a limited range so your best bet would be to install a Z-wave repeater within 20 feet of the ISY. The Aeotec repeater is both a repeater and signal amplifier. Keeping in mind that the Z-wave mesh network is RF it's best to keep the repeater plugged into an outlet that is high up and free of obstructions.  

You may need more than one repeater depending on you layout.

The Z-wave outlets have their antennas buried in the wall which reduces the RF signal range.

I have the 500 series and the plugs Im using are 700 series.  They work great but I  guess Im going to need at least 2 repeaters.  thank you!

I've been playing with ZWave devices of late. Here are some tips:

1. If you have the means to relocate your ISY to the very center of your home, I would do this. You'll generally have more uniform coverage this way over the long run. Having the ISY located in a place with an outlet nearby that's easily accessible makes it easier to add a ZWave device.

2. It's best to add any new devices close to the ISY for the best results. You can always move the device where you want, provided it's within the range of the ISY or a repeater device.

3. Plug In devices seem to have the best range compared to devices installed in wall.

4. If the device you are attempting to manage is located in a place where the ISY cannot communicate with it, either directly or with repeater devices, add some plug in devices between the target device and the ISY to create the mesh between them. The plug in devices don't necessarily have to do anything, other than to act as repeaters. Best to make sure no one unplugs these devices any time so as not to compromise the link.

5. 500 level devices are faster in responding than the 300 level devices. If you have a latency issue where a light doesn't turn on as quickly as you want and it's a 300 level device, swap it out with a 500 or 700 level device. The latency drop is noticable.

Edited January 18, 20223 yr by matapan

Something I thought I read elsewhere on this forum - when Z-wave devices are added, the other devices in the mesh network add the new device to their routing tables, including preferred routes/paths to get to this new device.

So for example if device A is within range of device B, and then you add device C that is out of range of A but close to B, then A and B know that any future comms with C must go through B.

What this implies to me is that if you add a new device C near A, but then move it to its final location (away from A but near B), the "learned" routes will not work as well because A will try to communicate directly with C.

Basically, the lesson being you should learn a new device while it's in its final location.

Am I misunderstanding?  I'm a long time Insteon user but am just getting into Z-wave (and am trying to learn things myself).

That’s a really good point.  I just got the extenders/repeaters today. 
 

they need to create a zwave antenna similar to the unifi ap’s.  You can mount them really cleanly and they make this process a lot easier.  

Programming the new Z-wave decide you are adding should be done near to the ISY. 
 

Relocate to its final location but then be sure to Refresh you Z-wave network. This allows the final routing tables to be updated.

All is well and working.  Thank you everyone for your input and assistance!