Z-Wave Long Range Pros & Cons
- CON: Any device that is included in long range mode cannot be used as a repeater in your mesh network
- PRO: Z-Wave Long Range Devices do not use repeaters
- CON: You lose the ability to use Device to Device associations
- PRO: Devices included in Long Range mode are able to current draw based on the noise floor so that they use as little as power as possible. This means that they should have better battery life.
Z-Wave Long Range Requirements
- You need to be using version 3.4.2 and newer for the Z-Wave JS UI addon or Z-Wave JS UI 9.10.0 or newer for everything else
- CONTROLLER HARDWARE: You need a 700 or 800 series Z-Wave Controller
- END DEVICE HARDWARE: Your end device must have a 700 or 800 series Z-Wave chip in it.
- END DEVICE SOFTWARE: Your end device must have Z-Wave Long Range firmware installed on it. If your device doesn’t support Z-Wave Long Range it can get a firmware update to support Z-Wave Long Range.
How to Tell if Your Device Supports Z-Wave Long Range
- The easiest way to tell if your device supports Z-Wave Long Range is by looking at the logo on the device and packaging. Here is what the Z-Wave Long Range Logo looks like. If you see this logo your device supports Z-Wave Long Range.
- As I stated earlier if your device has a 700 or 800 series chip in it and it doesn’t support ZWLR it can support ZWLR via a fw upgrade. For example the Zooz ZEN5X relays have 700 series chips in them and they recieved ZWLR support in FW 1.50. The new Shelly 800 series relays also do not support long range but will receive a fw update to enable it. Not all devices will get ZWLR support as thats up to the manufacturer.
Overview on How to Setup Z-Wave LR and Add Devices in LR Mode
- Using Z-Wave JS UI Change the region of your controller to USA Long Range
- Add your DSK to the provisioning list in Z-Wave JS UI
- Change the protocol to Z-Wave Long Range
- Toggle the switch in the active section
- Wait and your device will be automatically included into the network within 10 minutes
How to Change the Region of your Controller in Z-Wave JS UI
- You can change the region of the controller in the node settings of the controller or in the Z-Wave JS UI settings
- Click the gear icon to navigate to the Z-Wave JS UI settings page
- Expand the Z-Wave Section
- Search for RF Region in the Default Radio Configuration section
- Select USA (Long Range) for the region
- Click Save
How to Add your DSK to the Provisioning List
- Z-Wave JS UI provides 4 different ways for you to add your DSK. You can scan the smart start qr code, upload a picture of the qr code, convert the qr code to a string using a bar code scanner or manually type out the dsk.
- Here is a picture of what the dsk and smart start qr code look like. The smart start qr code is outlined in blue and the dsk is outlined in red.
- Option 1 is to scan the qr code. This method requires you have https setup. If you do not have https setup your browser will not allow you to use the camera
- Option 2 is to take a picture with your phones camera then upload the picture to Z-Wave JS UI. Some people complain about this method not working. I found if it doesn’t work just keep trying it until it does.
- Option 3 is to scan the smart start code with any bar code scanner app. When you scan the smart start code it should output a code that starts with 9001. You can then copy and paste that code into Z-Wave JS UI.
- Option 4 is to manually enter the dsk
How to Change the Protocol to Z-Wave Long Range
- Once you add your dsk to the provisioning list the entry should look like this.
- Click on the word Z-Wave to change the protocol from Z-Wave to Z-Wave Long Range
- Click the toggle switch in the active column. Your device will be automatically included in Z-Wave Long Range mode within 10 minutes.
