External antenna / booster for Z-Wave?

Wait, is that the repeater ? Something is seriously wrong with your mesh.

Thatā€™s a health check on the pump switch from the usb stick, assuming I understand the settings correctly.

And hereā€™s the same test run on the repeater:

OK, that makes more sense. The repeater is well within range of the controller, the pump switch is not within range of the controller. That is not unexpected. The problem looks like the pump switch is not using the repeater.

Well you may be right about problems with the mesh - this test is of the upstairs deck outdoor light outlet adapter. Itā€™s further away from the pump than the repeater, and itā€™s directly above the USB stick physically in the house by one floor.

Well like I said - 2 more switches to install tomorrow. I might try to strategically replace the backyard flood switch in the upstairs kitchen that faces the pool, and the front porch light switch to spread the mesh around just a bit.

Currently the other three switches (not counting that outdoor outlet one) are all right by the garage.

That could be due to RF absorption by metallic materials in the floor / ceiling.

Your earlier health check for the pump switch was from the controller directly to the switch. A bad result was to be expected here, thatā€™s why you needed a repeater. A more interesting metric would be the signal health from the repeater to the pump switch. Can you control the pump switch without errors after doing the two heals ? If not, try the unpair / repair thing. The switch needs to be in its intended final location for this to work.

Pump choosing repeater as the node to check from is not getting anywhere from the looks of it so you appear to be right - itā€™s not able to talk to the repeater and all this time I thought it was using it.

Still working on the test though. And this is why I always change it to three roundsā€¦ lol.

Alright so my current plan tomorrow is (A) install the other 2 switches in the house to spread the mesh a bit and (B) move the repeater upstairs in the kitchen on an outside wall to see if it makes any difference. If neither helps, Iā€™m going to proceed with adding a GFCI outlet on the back patio outside that I can put the repeater in - and use for all the other things I wish I had an outdoor outlet on the back of the house for. Thatā€™ll eliminate the walls as a cause of range loss.

If I had these problems with my wifi Iā€™d be building a Yagi antenna or somethingā€¦ lol.

Before you do that, try the unpair / repair on the pool pump switch. It might simply be the switch being a bit sticky on its route when you originally paired it directly with the controller. Sometimes devices do that. Pairing it at its final location with the repeater present will fix that (if thatā€™s the problem).

I actually did that today because I was trying to activate the S2 on it - which I failed, the app never actually prompted for the code and the QR method doesnā€™t work with my cellphone because the web app wonā€™t focus on those tiny QRā€™s. But I may have sabotaged myself based on what weā€™ve discussed because I had put the extender on an extension cord to bring it outide the garage for testing. Sounds like these things expect a fixed distance that doesnā€™t really change after pairing with somethingā€¦

Oh yeah absolutely. Thereā€™s some flexibility in mesh rerouting after the fact, but as far as possible you should have them in their final locations when you pair them (which can sometimes be a pain in the ass). With all repeaters running.

Iā€™ll give that a shot again tomorrow. For now, gotta crash. Thanks for the feedback and Iā€™ll report more when Iā€™ve done a few more tests.

It actually could be as simple as a bad/weak switch.

I bought a GE Enbrighten dimmer switch a month ago and it wouldnā€™t even pair at all brand out of the box at 25ft from the controller. I found that is a common problem with those switches.

I returned it and bought a Zooz dimmer switch and no issues at all since then.

I know itā€™s not exactly the same scenario but I donā€™t think I would rule out that itā€™s simply a bad switch.

Reading this thread so far, I am leaning towards this also.

1 Like

Well this is surprising. I installed an enbrighten switch in the upstairs kitchen for the back floodlights.

After healing everything I did a test from that switch to the pool pump:

Basically it just looks like the repeater is weaker than the switch.

Iā€™ve also got a z-wave switch I bought at Home Depot in the exact same spot but a floor lower in the house (ground level) that didnā€™t help my situation at all. It was the first z-wave switch I deployed (late last year) and it doesnā€™t support S2. Had no idea that was a thing when I bought it.

I know you guys said this drawing is useless, but it does show the pump connected to the switch I just installed:

image

Whatā€™s the brand / model of your repeater ?

This is sidebar, but from my mapā€¦ I donā€™t know how to interpret what I am seeing hereā€¦

My ā€œPlug for Networkā€ in the map shows it is going through 1 hop to reach the usb controller, but then when I click it, I have got ā€œdirect connectionā€ to the lower left cornerā€¦ where the mouse-over popup does not even recognize the garage door opener being a neighbor.

Soā€¦ like I said, I am not sure how to make sense of what I see.

Donā€™t even try. The network graph is useless. It represents a potential routing possibility, meaning that the signal could take that route, amongst thousands of other potential possibilities. It doesnā€™t mean that the signal will take that route, rather than some other completely different one.

The health check feature is much more useful.