Hello good people, hope you all are having a great weekend.
I’ve been moving my z-wave devices to HA from Hubitat.
I know that z-wave devices supposed to work as a mesh network and when connecting all devices just start with the one closest to the hub, and move away from it.
On Hubitat each device configuration, had an option to make that speisifc device(e.g switch/blinds/dimmer etc) to his own hub in the mesh.
From my understanding this made all the devices work well the further away I get from the HA z-wave hub.
Is there a way to do that in HA? or its just automatically make each device a continuation.
The reason I ask, is I noticed the further I get from the hub, the slower the new inclusion takes to start and finish.
Thank you for your insights and help!
Edit:
I’ve dig a bit into all settings I can find, and went into statistics of each switch.
It shows two things:
“Last working route” and “Next to last working route” and they show that the use they went through the switch closes to them.
So I assume it does work like a mesh automatically but would still like to hear some excerpt thoughts just to be safe.
From my experience working with SmartThings and now HA, all AC power devices act as Nodes. As nodes they forward and repeat messages, thus creating a mesh.
Devices like locks, sensors, and other Zwave battery powered devices do not forward and repeat messages.
Devices like light switches, outlets, repeaters/extenders, and other Zwave devices plug directly into the the AC power as forwards and repeats.
For me, my devices that are battery powered, I have a Zwave outlet, switch, or repeater between them and the hub. With my personal experience with Zwave locks, I try to keep a battery powered Zwave device no more than 20 feet away from a node that forwards and repeats.
Many times there are Zwave outlets that have nothing plugged into to them, just being used as a mesh.
I found this helps with battery consumption for both Zwave and Zigbee devices, they batteries last much longer!
There’s nothing you need to do in HA to get this done. The Zwave network will build itself and devices will connect to the node with the strongest signal. If after initial setup you feel the network is not efficient, you can go the ZWAVE integration, select configure, then rebuild network. Give it at least 24 hours before rebuilding the network.
Don’t rebuild the entire network unless you have a specific reason and you know why you’re doing it. Full network rebuild is incredibly chatty and in some cases can basically halt communication for hours while the build happens. Instead, Go to individual nodes that are not working correctly.
If you want more control you can also move to the ZWaveJSUI addon which offers more tools including a visual map.
But I cannot stress this enough. Don’t try to micromanage your ZWave mesh unless you are experienced at ZWave network engineering. It’s designed to be hands off. Many people make things worse tinkering not understanding how the mesh builds.
Ensure you’re using a supported coorditor, is connected by a short usb extension cable or USB hub to prevent interference and make sure you have many powered repeaters… Build the network devices in place from the coordinator out to ensure a strong backbone… Add your endpoints Then let it be.
@Rodrick
Thank you for the detailed explanation, I understand everything!
I dont have any battery powered z-wave yet, just those damn 82 plugged devices which took me the whole day to set up T_T
Finally finished.
From personal experience, the closer hubs are to the sensors(not only in z-wave, but any other protocols too) the less battery they drain, like way way less!
@NathanCu
Thank you for the input, good to know I shouldn’t touch it.
If all works well I wont even touch beside maybe look at the visual map.
I think it should be ok I have so many power connected switches that they should all communicate well enough.
I am using ZOOZ zac93, on HA yellow POE. Works well so far.
@vreihen Thank you, i dont have any LR devices but ill remember for the future.