Zwave plug/mesh

I bought a Zwave plug to help with some connectivity issues with sensors that seemed to be out of range with my Zwave stick and am wondering if it is possible to tell what devices if any are actually using it as a mesh connection. Since then, I upgraded my Zwave controller to a Zooz S2 700 which seems to have a much better radio and I am not sure if the sensors are using it or the plug to talk.

Basically, I want to move the plug outside to reach my shed for another sensor but don’t want to move it if the sensors that were out of range before are actually using it. The plug is a Minostone MP21Z.

Thanks in advance.

It depends what software you are running for the server. I use ZWaveJS2MQTT and that has a map in it so you can see exactly what the route is that everything is using.

I thought that map just showed reported node neighbors. I am not aware of any way of figuring out what routes are used for each piece of traffic. The map would just give some ideas. Any ghost nodes can affect routing even if not reported as neighbors.

Well yes, it does just report neighbours, which is the most that any ZWave Software can manage to report. But you can see which nodes it is NOT potentially routed through, which would help in OPs case.

But no software will ever be able to report what route is in use, because it’s a mesh network, and it changes whenever it has to. When I turn my Garden light on, which is at the very extreme edge of the network, I know it takes different routes, just because of the length of time it takes. Sometimes, it’s pretty instant. Other times it can take as long as 10 seconds. And I know from how ZWave works, that the times it takes as long as 10 seconds, it has tried multiple routes before finding one that worked.

that has not been my experience or those I have helped identify ghost nodes on a different Z-Wave system. A device could try routing through a node it did not report.

Indeed, especially with newer ZWave generations, which are better at “healing” without intervention, because they don’t need the assistance of the controller to fix a broken route, which means over time, the list of neighbours the controller thinks a node has, and the actual neighbours a node has, will not necessarily be the same.

I have actually looked at the Network Graph before but I never really have seen it work. Below is what I see:

I just tested the back door sensor and leak sensor and they are working fine. Maybe I do not understand how to read the graph?

That is good to know in regards to the time differences. Something I will keep in mind, thanks!

i believe graphs like that do not fully populate until after a network heal.

I did just attempt a heal and it seems the plug failed. The other devices are in progress from what I can tell and I have no clue how long it takes. #2 and #5 just went green and both show connected to the controller now. It’s been going for about 15 minutes so still waiting for the other 3.

Any idea why the plug would fail? I can still control it just fine.

In the end, the network graph never did change, even after a full heal.

I decided to put a motion sensor out in the shed and it seems to work so I suspect it has to be using the plug for a mesh connection. It is 100’ away through 1 wall where the controller is 200’ through 3 walls.

LOL, the sensor did fall to the ground and while the motion sensing works, it says it is -52 degrees while it is actually 20 degrees. Arghh.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I learned a bit!!