Heck, I would like to get one for US frequencies. LOL
Zwave controllers with external antenna are few and far between.
FYI, not sure if their final product will have an external antenna but the prototype Z-Wave Controller USB radio adapter stick that Nabu Casa (Uwe and Dominic) has tested does have an external antenna, see picture of their Z-Wave Controller USB dongle prototype in green color with external antenna in the blog post → Z-Wave is not dead - Home Assistant
Zoom from
Left: Dominic, slightly jetlagged, with our stick prototype (green). Right: DrZWave with the controller reference design (purple). Background: Uwe, 0.7 miles away.
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I think the green color is the bare PCB board. From looking at teardown photos of other controllers they are also the same color Internal photos Internal Photos
Yeah but the point is that specific Nabu Casa prototype clearly has an external antenna, the color does not matter.
What we are asking and hoping for is that their final Z-Wave Controller will have an external antenna.
You can pick any color for your bikeshead as long as it is black 
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Whatever they release had also better be IP-connected. I’ll never buy another USB-connected radio for Z-Wave. PoE or nothing.
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Do you have any Zen26 (switches) or Zen27 (dimmers)? Those are the only ones that crash and become unresponsive after a power failure over here.
But all models, going back to the 3x series have failing LEDs, and a few with plastics that start to show cracks around the bezel.
Zen 27. I have never had iossues with Zooz switches
I’m envious. I’ve had this issue with every one of my 6 zen26 switches and one zen27.
Now it usually happens to one particular zen26 and the zen27 most often. Rapid/quick power failure/recovery (which happens at least once a month here) makes both of them hang.
The zen26 is the biggest pain because it’s the switch controlling the basement lights that illuminate my way to the loadcenter where I have to power off and then on the breaker to get the switches rebooted.
I am not as technical as many in this forum, but I wonder whether the issue is not the switches themselves but possibly range or something else in your Zwave mesh.
No, because as I’ve mentioned, the software on the switches crashes. The switches can’t even be used manually by clicking their rockers. It has nothing to do with Z-Wave specifically, just crap firmware.
I’m going to get rid of them eventually. The dimmer (in the dining room) is super annoying to have die regularly.
Sorry to hear this. As I mentioned, (so far) I have not had any issues with my some 10 Zooz devices.
Oh! this sounds familiar. my story is also z-wave but a different brand, and in short: stay away from Eaton z-wave switches, everyone.
The Eaton RF9640,
… that are (or were) available at Lowe’s and other places, also have this symptom, and the only remedy is to go to your panel and flip the switches off and back on from there.
I got the issue around 30 minutes after install, I reached out to the customer service at Eaton immediately. After some tests as requested by CS and 3 emails later, Eaton acknowledged that this is a known bug, where they have fixed it with a newer firmware.
So far so good, right? Nope!!
I asked them to send me the firmware file and I can update my switches → no can’t do they said.
Fine, give me the procedures of how to update the firmware → no can’t do. Have to be done via approved hubs.
Fine, so what are the approved hubs? → we do not have that kind of information.
What? How about I send you my switches and you flash the updated firmware and send it back?? → no can’t do.
How about we do a swap, I send you mine with old firmware, and you send me another switch but with newer firmware? → no can’t do either.
I was like, WHAT? What kind of customer service is that? There is literally no fix.
So in the end I of course went to Lowe’s and refund the thing.
Again, everyone, stay away from Eaton z-wave switches… regardless how good or bad quality their switches could be.
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My experience as well. I stay away from Eaton.
Discussion here seems to concentrate on Z-Wave vs. Zigbee. But I’m curious why no mention of Bluetooth BLE.
My experience is that BLE devices are priced in the Zigbee range (or below). And reliability seems to be as good as the BLE coverage I can provide. Which is easy and cheap, by scattering BT Proxy (“gateway”) devices all over the premises (connected mostly by wired Ethernet, but a few on Wi-Fi).
Seems less finicky than Zigbee or Z-Wave networks (which I also have), because BT support provides redundancy --as I understand it, multiple gateways can provide the device with connection to the BT service on HA, and it just uses the connection with best signal.
Only negative point I’ve found with BLE is more limited selection of supported devices, but that’s growing very quickly.
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As a new user…
3 weeks to be exact i stated with Zigbee and quickly found that I had issues since most of the products out there are cheaply made and also seem to be knockoffs of each other, identical packaging and the sort. Most of all the the range is HORRIBLE! I have installed at least 8 smart plug/routers and cant even get 20ft on some devices (3rd Reality Water Alarms) then Sonoff Devices like the communicator 3.0 dying 2 days after install or their Minirelay barely able to handle 14ga wire. I bought a ZOOZ 800LR started trying out some Z-wave and except for a Echolink Tilt sensor which looks as if it was made and packaged by some 10 year old in a sweat shop have been very pleased with range, performance and documentation.
I know someone stated ZooZ has poor firmware and bugs maybe that has been corrected but so far their switches have been great. Battery operated devices though CAN be a PIA when trying to make changes and waking up.
Ever heard the saying “you get what you pay for”? As yes Zigbee devices have really bad radio propagation and is extremely sensitive to interference so you need to both add loads of known good Zigbee Router products and take actions to avoid sources of EMI/RMI/EMI as well as making sure there is no overlapping Wi-Fi channels. Read and follow this → Zigbee network optimization: a how-to guide for avoiding radio frequency interference + adding Zigbee Router devices (repeaters/extenders) to get a stable Zigbee network mesh with best possible range and coverage by fully utilizing Zigbee mesh networking
Z-Wave have much better radio propagation and longer range because it uses Sub-1GHz frequency, but you still want to avoid having Wi-Fi or other possible sources of EMI/RMI/EMI too close to the Z-Wave Controller and devices as it is still possible to jam the signal causing wierd symptoms like quirk battery drain. And you still also want to add many Z-Wave Repeater devices, (especially if you live in Europe where Z-Wave signals are not allowed to be as strong).
Thank you I am aware of RF/EMI/RFI been a cellular engineer for 26+ years, 2 way radio repair for 5 years prior and a Amateur Radio operator since the age of 9.
I agree you get what you pay for and here USA based, Amazon seems to be the main source of Home Automation products and for Zigbee 3rd reality is all over the place and not quite sure I like the brand. 915Mhz is pretty decent, I have actually had in the past a 902Mhz Amateur Repeater up and on the air so familiar with the higher power range, portables though were still higher at 2-4 watts vs these IOT devices and mw IF THAT!
Would love to know GOOD brands of both Zigbee and Z-Wave, I have a bunch of ZOOZ products now on Z-Wave and so far they seem well documented, built and packaged. Zigbee products though seem generic made by 1-2 companies and rebranded by many. Also looking for good sources other than Amazon in the USA that have more variety for both technologies. Shelly also seems to be good, I have a dual channel relay from them in Z-Wave.
While different folks seem to have had various experiences with Zooz products, mine have been similar to yours. I have a couple of dozen switches and dimmers running across our 2 houses pretty much flawlessly with no failures over the past few years. They are also moderately priced. Another very solid choice is Inovelli which are feature rich, even compared to Zooz, but pretty expensive for comparable products. Both these companies also have superb customer service based on the very few times I’ve needed to contact them. I stay away from Homeseer, the first Zwave products I used, because nearly ever switch of theirs I had died within about 2 years. I have a few jasco/enbrigghten/ge switches that I inherited that are feature poor and very finicky that I’m about to finally replace with Zooz.
Agree entirely with your view on at least the Chinese crop of Zigbee stuff. I have some cheap sensors and battery powered buttons that I use but mostly in spots that are not actually or are quite close to my hub.
And I’m another old career comms/software techie so I’m pretty knowledgeable about what I’m doing.
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Installed a Embrighten switch the other day…came up as Jasco. Domt know if thats good or bad.
Jasco makes the switches for Embrighten
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