C4 - C7 Migration Experiences

Why Hubitat Elevation
#1

I wanted to share my experiences with migrating from a C4 to a C7. I had wanted to migrate to a C7 hub for a while, but just did not have the time. So I picked up a C7 over the Christmas break and started migrating my devices. I used the great guide that @bravenel created for migrating Z-Wave devices from a C4-C7. I have about 40 Z-Wave devices and despite taking a while to complete I was able to successful migrate all of the devices without touching any of the apps/rules.

I also have around 50 Zigbee devices to migrate and was able to reset and re-pair all but 1 device to the C7. One of the Iris Motion Sensor V2's refused to reset, so I had to swap it with another and add the new device to a couple apps/rules.

I would say it took at least a good 5-6 hours to migrate everything over. With the Z-Wave devices I would only migrate one at time and then test and remove the old device. Although this was slow, it ensured that I did not forget to remove a device with the old network ID.

I have noticed that the C7 seems to be more responsive overall. Automations also do seem to be firing faster. I am also hoping that over time the hub does not slow down like my C4 did, but time will tell.

To give you an idea of just how much more consistent the C7 is , look at this graph from before/after. You can clearly see a lot of latency spikes with the C4 hub which is almost completely non-existent on the C7 after the migration around Dec 24th.

Here is 30 days.

Response
Response3392×968 553 KB

I really think there are still some large performance issues with the C4 hub that need to be addressed.

9 Likes
C-4 + 2.2.4 Web Interface Speed
#2

This is very encouraging since I am on the fence as to if this is a worthwhile task.

#3

How did you measure that?

#4

I am using node-red which checks the hub through HE's websocket for latency. I also use it to grab more info from the hub like energy, motion events, battery levels, memory usage, etc.

I use the below node to monitor performance. This also allows notifications and auto-rebooting when latency increases above a certain threshold.

Performance Monitor

1 Like
#5

My migration from 2 C-4s (upstairs/main floor) to a C-7 (Z-Wave) and a C-5 (Zigbee) went well too. I've had the usual inclusion issues etc but generally most of the stuff is working as well as it did before - even with combining 2 sets of Z-Wave devices into one.

I know I kinda have a "short loop" on this but the C-4's 64 bit JVC potentially consumes memory faster than the C-5/C-7 (32 bit) so would seem to be more prone to performance issues.

I have not implemented the performance monitor yet but it looks very cool also Node-RED is awesome. :guitar:

1 Like
#6

I'm in the process of migrating from a C3 to a C7. The few zigbee devices I've added have worked without a hitch, but zwave has been hit-or-miss.

I've had reasonable success including Aeotec nano switches and dimmers, Aeotec multi sensors, and some GE dimmer modules. I have some more distant Jasco in-wall switches that have been more problematic (it's taken several attempts for them to pair). I also had some issues adding a couple of battery-powered Aeotec sensors. I have yet to successfully pair any of my Ecolink door and motion sensors (they've always been temperamental).

Problem devices will sometimes be partially added, and will show up in the zwave devices list with a "discover" button the device column. Running discover a few times will sometimes result in a full defined device, but sometimes won't. The "remove" button will sometimes be present for partially added devices. Clicking it will sometimes remove the device, but often will not. (Repeatedly trying to remove the device generally works, though.)

The more significant issue I've run into is that the C7 has, on a couple of occasions, been unable to send commands to most of the devices in the zwave mesh. Running a repair will show most or all devices in the "failed nodes" list. Sometimes running another repair after a few minutes will resolve the issue, sometimes not.

I'm hoping the issues I've run into are just due to the mesh establishing itself, and things will operate more smoothly once the mesh has had some time to stabilize. Hopefully.

#7

What security are you pairing the non-S2 stuff as?

By default some of older devices like the Aeotec Recessed Door Sensor Gen 5 will force pair to S0 even if trying to pair with no security i.e. one tap instead of 2. If this happens then the resulting paired device will not be responsive.

Also you don't want to have too many S0 devices on your system as my understanding is it can bog things down as it is very chatty.

#8

At the moment nothing has security (security is "None"). I did pair a sensor with SO, but excluded and re-paired it with no security after reading that S0 could big things down.

#9

Yes that's what I've done as well. Everything for now is with no security. I can't help you with the Ecolink stuff - I don't have any of those devices.

I've played around with adding repeaters but have had mixed success. Also the powered devices should be repeating but don't seem to. You might try this anyhow if you have a few repeaters on hand.. add one close to the router then one a little further away and then try and exclude/reset/include a device or two after that.

As you mentioned it may also be that you have to let the mesh settle for a bit. Unfortunately that could be a week or more as some have reported so it's hard to tell when to stop waiting. I thought it was supposed to be like 48 hours or so - so that might be a good point to take a systems check and see where the mesh is.

1 Like