I have a C7 hub and everything seems to be working just fine. I have plenty of Zigbee and Z-wave repeaters for a strong mesh. My WiFI Router is centrally located so connecting my HE hub to the router via Ethernet is not an issue.
I just ordered the C8 hub as I tend to be an early adopter of new technology. I know it can do everything the C7 hub can do .... and more. Now the question is whether I should migrate everything to the new C8 hub or just migrate some things and leave others on the C7 hub, using hub mesh to tie the two hubs together.
I have a mix of Zigbee 1.2 and 3.0 devices. While the 3.0 devices work fine with the HA1.2 chip in the 7 hub, the newer 3.0 chip in the C8 might be an advantage, so I am thinking they should be moved to the new hub.
I have a mix of 500 and 700 series Z-wave devices. I have no 800 series devices and there are few such devices available at this time. Since Z-wave devices tend to be somewhat expensive, I do not plan to replace any 700 series devices that are working. I might upgrade some 500 series devices in the future. Should I leave the Z-wave devices on the C7 hub, or migrate them to the C8 hub?
I have a few LAN integrations such as Lutron Pro telnet, Hue, Alexa Skill, and Actiontiles, but they should work just fine whether connected to the C7 or C8.
I know the C8 hub is brand new, so there is little in the way of experience. I understand that once devices are migrated from the C7 to the C8, it would be painful to move them back, Thus, I wanted to see what the smart minds on this forum think so that I can make a wise choice concerning device migration once the new hub arrives.
I migrated everything over to the C-8 and while I'm not taxing the hub at all (averaging about 2-3% load), I am considering moving all of the LAN/Cloud connections back to the now empty hub.
I would never consider migrating some Zigbee or some Z-wave devices and leaving others on the C7 hub. I know that would make a mess of the mesh. What I was wondering is if there is any advantage of moving the Zigbee devices to the C8 and leaving the Z-wave devices on the C7.
Since I have never used hub mesh, I am not certain how the UI works. I have 183 items in my device table with about half of them being Zigbee. It can take a lot of scrolling to locate the device I want. Would moving the Zigbee devices to the new hub make the UI easier to navigate? A lot of my rules involve Zigbee sensors and Lutron dimmers or switches, so perhaps splitting them across two hubs is not such a good idea.
No... in fact it makes things a bit more complicated because you have to use hub mesh to make devices visible across hubs.
It's a bit of a pain if you do this... device swap will be your friend!
Based on my somewhat limited experience (a month or so) there are some advantages to moving to the C8. While the chipset may not be a big deal the external antennas are. It's easier to see on z-wave. Here's a snapshot of a small portion of my z-wave routes. You'll notice a common thread:
On the zigbee side you'll see something similar, though the LQI numbers are not apples to apples to the C7 so ignore those. incost and outcost are what I look at.
It looks like migrating everything makes the most sense.
Most of my Z-Zwave devices are already connected at 100 kbps directly with the hub. There are a few devices that go through repeaters such as my outdoor motion sensors that are blocked from line of sight by my brick fireplace. The front door lock goes though a repeater as it is blocked by the furnace return duct. So those won't change.
In my Zigbee neighbor table, I have 16 plugs that have repeating capability. The lowest LQI is 230 with 13 plugs being 253 or higher. The new 3.0 chip and antennae should make this even better. All my Zigbee sensors connect through repeaters, but with plugs scattered around the house, there is always a nearby repeater.
I will have to read the instructions and watch the videos on migration so I will be ready to go when the new C-8 arrives.
I think the LQI reporting on the C7 vs C8 is different... my LQI is generally lower across the board. But incost and outcost are better.
The C8's zigbee radio also gives you the ability to vary the power output (and with it receiver sensitivity). Mine is set the same as the C7, with the antenna obviously making a difference above and beyond the radio.
I'm assuming, however, that if you have ZLL devices it would still be best to keep them isolated on a single hub vs. mixing them with ZHA devices on a C8. Correct?? Does the Zigbee 3.0 radio offer any advantages in this scenario?
No. AFAIK, it only supports 2.4 GHz networks, which is find because (W)LAN communication, even at 100 Mbps is not the limiting factor for automation dependent on serial protocols like zigbee and z-wave.
My 2 cents:
Use the C8 as a backup for the unhappy day, when the C7 someday dies - or when you find a use case that you can implement with a C8 while not with a C7.
Thanx to the really easy migration (of course: don't forget to cloud backup regularly!) this would be a matter of minutes.
I don't remember what my Incost and Outcost numbers were but I know that the LQI was 230+ on everything that showed up in the Zigbee Routing Table on my C5. I thought that was the more important number. Now, on a C8, I have a range of 140-250 but no noticeable decrease in quality of service with Zigbee radio broadcasting at 16. Incost and Outcost are 1s on 16/18 devices currently.
I experimented with Zigbee2MQTT for a while moving all of my Aqara sensors and Ikea repeaters and the LQI was more similar to my current numbers with the C8. The Z2M experiment only lasted a couple of weeks,
I think at the end of the day it's the incost and outcost that matter - at least in my experience. BTW you might try dropping the power back down to 8. 8 is what you had on the C7 and on the C8 you're getting the added benefit of the external antenna. But up to you.
Good minds think alike. I dropped mine down to 12 immediately after my previous post. If I don't notice any difference, I will go back to 8 like the C5. My Wifi AP is nearby but I haven't noticed any interference with that either.
I ran mine at 16 for a while and didn't notice either but increasing the power of the radio also increases its sensitivity, which theoretically could cause interference to the zigbee side. I backed mine down to 8 and noticed no difference.
A bit off topic and not nearly as technical, but I am a newbie and this seems to be the best place to ask.
Zooz Zen71 light switch just went up to the 800 series chip - like literally they just came back in stock @ smartesthouse and they are no longer 700 series.
I have a C7 hub, will new 800 series switch work with my hub?
