Question how does the Zwave mesh work ? I have a rather stout Zwave network in the home and I have just expanded it into our rather large front yard by powering a ZSE-70 (still not sure why that is not showing up as a repeater/router now that it’s mains powered) and beyond that in the center of our main yard I have a ZOOZ Toggle Dimmer which will be connected to a flood light for a flagpole. For now I have it connected to a enclosed outlet that has a TP-Link Range Extender for some testing. I noticed that the ZSE-74 will not pair with the coordinator unless there is a LOAD connected to it for some reason.
Anyway we have a couple of 4 button remotes (looking for something more durable like a car remote) we use to turn outside lights on and off. Do devices BIND to a router when first paired or can they roam around and communicate with ANY repeater/router that is paired to the system? Once all the electrical in the yard is totally complete I expect to have at least 3-4 mains powered devices out there which should be MORE than enough with the wide open space and very few sparse isolated pine trees.
Z-Wave uses static routing which means the route messages will travel is already predetermined.
A route will only change if something fails
When you include a device into the network it does a neighbor discovery to figure out the nodes its in direct range of then sends that info to the controller. The controller then uses its algorithm to calculate a set of routes for the device to use then sends them back to the device. The device then uses those routes until they fail then goes through the process again to get a new set of routes.
Moving devices around may cause problems
Here are some things that I learned about Z-Wave routing from experience.
Just because a device is physically close to a repeater doesn’t mean it will use that device as a repeater.
I have a ZEN37 remote. When I roam around with it in mesh mode it sometimes stops working the starts working again. I think its switching routes when this happens.
Z-Wave Long Range works great for roaming devices. I can move anywhere with my remote and it will work.
Thank you… yes I do have the remotes in LR mode for now but was hoping to switch to just Z-Wave mode to reduce interference and increase performance since I believe LR mode is just higher power adding to the clutter in the air. Am still waiting for an answer from ZOOZ as to why the Mains powered ZSE-70 Outdoor motion sensor is not showing up as a repeater. I know it’s mains powered for sure since I took the batteries out on purpose for this test.
Z-Wave Long Range uses a different frequency then regular Z-Wave. Z-Wave uses 908.42/916MHz and Z-Wave Long Range uses 912/920MHz so there shouldn’t be any interference.
Also when you include a device in Long Range mode it can not use repeaters or be used as a repeaters. If you have the ZSE70 included in Long Range mode thats why its not showing up as a repeater. How are you checking to see if the ZSE70 is a repeater?
Negative the ZSE70 is set up in Zwave nor LR mode. I am aware of that.
I am checking by clicking on the dimmer and trying to set the path manually by the pull down that lists all my options. THE zSE70 is the only one that does not show up.
If you included the ZSE70 on batteries then it will never be a repeater, that is set during inclusion. Swapping the power source won’t change it. You can try excluding it and re-including while connected to mains-power (and leave it connected).
Yes it was excluded and re-included while on mains power and it also did not have batteries in it when I added it back in. I have a few screen shots, also if it behaves as a repeater I was told it will show beaming, well not too sure about that since I have others that have NEVER been on mains power and are showing beaming.
As a note the Flagpole direct to the coordinator inside the house is at -100db while the motion sensor is at -87. I like my RSSI’s to be at about -90 or better. Physically it’s about as zimple as you can get LOL! The coordinator is point A in my office window, straight out is the motion sensor line of sight, then at an equal distance the dimmer is point Z in a straight line. I’ll attach an overview photo I am standing roughly at the coordinator but just outside the window on the porch taking the photo. The Dimmer also shown in a photo on the post is at the end of the disturbed dirt which is the trenched power conduit. I don’t have a photo of the motion sensor but it’s on the FAR end of the driveway opposite the sidewalk.
BTW the beaming information came direct from ZOOZ, am waiting for a reply where I ask her if she is sure since many of my battery powered devices show beaming which they should not ie: a Water Leak sensor.
From ZOOZ:
The JS UI will show if a device is “beaming” (aka repeating) in the network. The screenshot below shows a LR device, which is not beaming. If your device is a mesh device, it will have a green check under beaming:
No, that’s not what beaming means. A beaming message is a special type that includes repeated frames to extend the time of the message (for either 250ms or 1 second), allowing a FLIRS device (e.g. lock) to receive the message. It does not mean a device acts as a repeater.
Also, the beaming flag shown in ZUI does not actually indicate a device supports beaming, not to mention repeating. Take a look at all your battery powered devices, don’t they all report beaming support? Yet it’s impossible for them to be repeaters. Every node in my network supports beaming according to that, except for LR devices. Seems like a bug or misused flag in the Z-Wave SDK to me. Or, maybe it actually means a device is capable of receiving beamed signals.
If you want to see if a device is actually reporting that it is a repeater, then check for "isListening": true in the node debug info. If this is reporting false then it’s not setup to be a repeater, and you’ll have to (continue to )engage Zooz support. perhaps it’s a bug on their part. This is not the first of their devices to exhibit this behavior, BTW:
Thank you your explaination makes more sense than the information given to me just an hour ago by email from ZoOZ support. I will need to mess with it more on a drier warmer day…i know i am moaning about 40 degrees but its a wet damp 40 and i have been out of the great white north for over 35 years! LOL
You might want to file an issue at either the zwave-js-ui or node-zwave-js project to receive official confirmation that there is an issue with the device, and not just take my word for it. If you mention you are using HA, Zooz will blame HA or Z-Wave JS, whether it’s true or not. So having confirmation from Z-Wave JS will have more impact than referring to a random unknown user in the HA forums, and once in awhile it actually is a Z-Wave JS bug.
