I have a ZOOZ ZST39LR Controller along with a Echolink Z-Wave PLUS Garage Door Opener/Tilt Sensor and for information also a Minoston Mini Plug MP31ZP on the network which is a Home Assistant Green.
PT1- ALL my devices are connected directly to my controller, none are connected to my light switches or a Shelly 2CH relay which is also a repeater. I have sent the command several times to Rebuild Node Routes and also Rebuild Routes with no change. I have also added my devices at their final locations so that should not be it but I have added MORE MAINS powered devices (switches and the plug) so I thought best to rebuild after the additions. WHAT am I doing wrong ? I have Zwave devices (Light/Motion Sensors) no more than 6ft away from a Zwave Enbrighten switch, that for sure should connect to the switch vs the controller about 50-70ft away.
PT2- The controller in the JS UI shows Zwave and Zwave LR, none of my other items show LR. Am I missing something here to make the other devices LR. I know certain ones can not do long range but I do believe many of my items are LR capable or am I wrong ?
Why do you think it should connect to the switch instead of the controller? If the device has good signal to the controller even if it is 100’ it will go to the controller. Only when communication is poor will it look for other pathways. I have devices that are 150’ away that connect fine to my controller.
I do not have a newer gen controller so cannot help with part 2
Because I was under the impression that in the MESH network your device, guess it’s called NODE in this application would chose the strongest signal and a router that’s 10ft away would have a stronger signal than a controller on a different floor and probably 60+ feet away vs just a good or marginal signal.
Another example is we have a home which is 2 parts divided by a 40ft hallway. I have had a repeater in the hallway half way between both the controller and the water sensor (placed it in the attic next door under the water heater) and it would not work (in this case a Zigbee devices controller, smart plug/repeater, 3rd Reality water sensor) kept on coming closer till it finally connected to the controller while I was IN THE HALLWAY? That is very confusing.
Now that I have learned a little bit I am leaning towards Zwave products vs Zigbee… I am having a LOT better luck with them even though I have about 6 smart plug/repeaters all over the house. Faster to lock in and just seems more reliable.
There is no channel conflict and I have my Router and Zigbee Devices as far away in channel spacing as possible with no overlap in the bandplan. BUT true, the noise floor may be higher but with only 2 AP’s in the home which is larger and only 4 people living here I don’t think it should affect it that much to cause as much trouble.
I would consider upgrading your ZST39 FIRMWARE. There is bug with the 7.19 firmware that causes the controller to lock up making your network useless. ZOOZ recommends to only upgrade if you experience this issue. So if you ever experience the locking up issue upgrading your firmware will be the solution. Zooz OTA Firmware Files - Zooz Support Center
Z-Wave LR has special requirements to use and you need to go through a special process to get devices included into Long Range Mode. You need the following in order to use Z-Wave Long Range
700 or 800 series Z-Wave Controller
Your end device must also have a 700 or 800 series Z-Wave Chip in it
Your end device must have Z-Wave Long Range Firmware installed on it.
This means not all 700 or 800 series devices support Long Range
Manufacturers sometimes provide Long Range FW updates so check with support
You need to use Z-Wave JS UI version 3.5.0 and up for the addon and version 9.10.0 and up for the standalone version.
To Include a device in Long Range Mode you need to do the following:
Set your controller region to Z-Wave Long Range
Scan your QR code on the smart start page of Z-Wave JS UI. If you try using the normal menu in
Click the Z-Wave Long Range option the smart page
Click the toggle switch on the smart page and the device will automatically get included within 10 minutes.
Just because a device is physically closer to another device doesn’t mean it will use that device as a repeater. I think the controller prioritizes direct routes over using repeaters. If you want to get more information about the quality of your routes I would click on a node to view the signal strength to the controller. Then I would run a health check from the device to the controller then from the device to another node in the network then compare the two values. This should give you an idea of why the device is taking certain routes. If you are still not satisfied you can manually assign routes to devices.
