I use 4 Yale YRD 226 locks via ZWAVE with HA. Way back in the SmartThings days I had communications issues with the lock not reporting status and not accepting codes on the first attempt. I read a lot and I needed range extender/buffering repeater. So, I bought 4 Aeotec ZW189 buffering Repeater/Extenders. It worked like a charm! So much so I overkilled with the Aeotec Repeaters and some ZWAVE outlets that are, everything works so well now.
My locks are actually 25 feet away from the HA machine, you would assume there’s no problem, but once the repeater was added, I never had the problem again. The locks are 10 feet away from the repeater, 5 feet away from the zwave outlet (overkill, you don’t have to do that), the repeater is 15 feet away from the HA box.
There are many posts on the Internet or Smartthings forums on why you need a buffering repeater with a ZWAVE lock.
Ther repeaters/extenders/powered nodes, in between a battery powered devices and the hub\HA works so well, I’ve done it for my Zigbee network also.
You don’t need to buy a range extender or repeater, any AC powered device will work as a buffering repeater.