I have recently bought a Fibaro Wall plug (FIBARO System FGWPE/F Wall Plug Gen5 ). I have it working perfectly as a switch. However, I was under the impression that it would also work as a Zwave network extender. Is that correct that it would also work as a Zwave extender? If not, skip the rest of the post…
However, if it should work as a Zwave extender, then I need your help. I have placed the wall plug relative far away from my Hassio box (Aeotec ZW090 Z-Stick Gen5 EU), in an area where my window sensors (Neo CoolCam Door/Window Detector) only work 9 out of 10 times. What do I need to get it working as a Zwave extender?
I have tried to heal the network without any luck. The wall plug is the last Zwave device I added to the network, is that a problem? Do I need to remove the failing window sensor, and add them to the network after the wall plug is part of the network?
Does the wall plug Zwave extension capabilities work even if it is OFF (it is powered, but the switch is in OFF mode)?
Should I have added the wall plug as a secure node? I am 99% sure i didn’t do that.
I hope someone can point me in the right direction.
It’s not an extender per se, it’s a node on a mesh network, so will pass messages on to nodes not directly in contact with the hub
what you need is to use this as ia as a ‘bridge pylon’
If a bridge will pass over a river in 1 span you do not need a pylon
If you can’t communicate over the river you need a bridge pylon so the messages cross 2 spans to communicate (one side to pylon, pylon to second side)
Putting the pylon with all the other devices will just mean that it can’t hear either
Put it mid way
Yes - it will pass on messages. I have one doing exactly that for my smoke alarms. If you look at one of the zwave graph scripts it will show you what your mesh looks like and you should see the plug sitting between your stick and your sensors.
I have the same plug and stick as you have, my smoke alarm is Fibaro also.
what you need is to use this as ia as a ‘bridge pylon’
How do I do that? I can see that the failing window sensors already list the wall plug as a neighbor and the wall plug also lists the failing window sensors as neighbors.
If a bridge will pass over a river in 1 span you do not need a pylon
Approximately 9 out of 10 times the direct path is OK, but this is not good enough. So I need the message relayed since the wall plug works everytime.
Putting the pylon with all the other devices will just mean that it can’t hear either
Put it mid way
It is put approximately midway, at least it works every time.
The wall plug is device 12 and the failing window sensors are devices 10 and 11. I have had this script installed for several weeks/months and I haven’t rebooted Hassio for a week or more, so the graph should be updated.
All I can suggest is healing your network and trying again
If that doesn’t work, plug it into an extension lead and move it in 1m increments towards the hub healing and testing each time.
You could also try moving the hub further away or blocking the path between window sensor and hub (not easy)
You are aware that the window sensors (usually battery) go to sleep and only report when their status changes ?
What are the battery levels like ?
Is only one window sensor not acting correctly or are there more than one doing it?
If it’s only one then I would say that you have one sensor that is the problem and not necessarily the network/mesh.
if that’s the case then try removing that node and re-adding it.
The wall plug should act as a mesh node and relay messages (as verified by @jhhbe above). And it will work even the output from the plug is off since all of the internal electronics are still powered even if the output is off.
And whether you added anything securely or not should be irrelevant since the network comms will auto adjust for how the node was added (…I think…)
I also checked my “zwave graph” and almost all of my battery powered nodes show as “disconnected”, too, even tho they are all working fine. So don’t take that graph as the absolute truth.
You can’t force devices to take a specific route. If they think they can talk to the controller directly they will do so even if there is a safer way using a plug nearby. Routing adds delays so they probably tweaked the devices to avoid that if possible. It can also depend on things like open/closed doors, interference, etc.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ve tried healing and testing the network and for five minutes I kept opening and closing the window, but the two window sensors never use the wall plug as a relay. I have two failing sensors and 5 reliable sensors. The reliable sensors are all closer to the hub.
I’ll try removing and readding the failing sensors, if that does not work I think I have to buy some Fibaro sensors as other people also have struggled with the Neo Coolcam sensors Is the z wave signal really that bad?
I’m just surprised not more people have Zwave issues, I can’t be the only one with sensors close to the network edge.
I’m sorry your experience has been so bad.
I’ve found z-wave, to be very good, even with neo (shenzen) / aeotec equipment. Though I do use mainly fibaro now.
(and much better than zigbee)
I hope you get some stability and please post back the results (positive or negative) just to help the next guy.
Cheers
