Defective c-7 zwave radio

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1

I have a defective c-7 hub on the latest firmware. I can pair a zwave device within 2 feet of the hub, but once that device is more than 10 feet away it loses connection. I have 2 inovelli red series dimmers, 1 resideo switch and 1 leviton dimmer(wall wart). One of the inovelli's paired correctly, child class showed up for the dimmer bar. The second inovelli shows up as a generic dimmer. Once I move the hub away from the switch, the signal strength of the dimmer switch goes red.
I've factory reset the hub, reset the zwave. Used a URC trr-zw1 to exclude the switches and re-pair them with no changes.

This is the third hub I've installed and have not had any issue like this with the other 2.

Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

2

Interesting. I wonder if the antenna is not properly connected to the board. I believe someone posted about certain C7 hubs having issues with internal antenna soldering.

EDIT- Found it, it was the FB group

3

Did they crack it open to investigate?

I sent a message to support and they emailed back stating that the devices had paired - no problem...

I sent in another support email, no response, but it's only been 2 days.

4

Yes they did. The article a user here linked had a very revealing picture of the hub,
The picture is triple ΩΩΩ rated

5

I would not open while it is in warranty. @support

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6

Any suggestion for something else to try?

7

Maybe pair a switch to your z-wave stick to prove it works fine at a distance, the same distance the hub can't reliably operate at?

8

I paired one of the inovelli switches at my house and played around with it before taking it the end users house. I don't currently have any of the reds and wanted to get familiar with it. It paired and operated correctly.

I brought the Leviton dimmer back to my house and paired it with my Hub - works correctly.

Installing this C-7 at a customers house. Did all their low voltage and they were kind of interested in automation. That's why there are only a few switches, so far...

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9

Power cycle the Hub by doing a proper shutdown (Settings:Shutdown) then Unplug it from the wall. There are older C-7's that have had the MicroUSB damaged by messing with that end... so we always advise you to use the wall end of the cable to remove power.

The Z-Radios do NOT shutdown via the shutdown command, they need a power cycle to get them unstuck. I don't think your symptoms match this, but it's a "free" step to take and other than the 3-4 mins lost doing it, is harmless

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10

Is the hub with the issue a new hub?
Has it worked previously?
Has there been any indication it might have been bumped is a way a marginal connection could give way?

If it's not under warrantee do feel comfortable taking the case apart? If you look at the threads for external antenna there will be photos showing what an unmodified C-7 looks like inside.

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11

Can you post the z-wave settings/table from this hub?

While it is possible that this hub has an antenna issue as suggested by @Rxich, I would be surprised if that were the case. C-7 hubs have been sold for 2 years, and the post linked to by @Rxich was the first with that particular issue (and even in this case, there is no indication that the central conductor break didn't happen in the course of opening the hub).

The more common soldering issue is with the microUSB in older C-7 hubs; that solder being reinforced since then.

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12

Thanks Aaiyar, I hadn't realized it was a 2 year old post

EDIT- Being dyslexic is hard. Hub sold for 2 years and that was the first reported issue. Not necessarily the only time the issue occurred, but the only one we've been made aware of

14

I agree, hardware issues seemed to have been from the first off the new C-7 "line".

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15

May want to follow up with @bobbyD they’re usually pretty good about staying in contact.

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16

Update on NEW C7 hub... firmware update did not work. Ordered a new hub, took to customer house, installed and worked perfectly.

Contacted hubitat support again, they sent me a replacement hub.

Thanks for all the comments and help! Turned out unit was defective.

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