I have had a C-7 for a year and a half so I am not a complete novice. I bought a C-8 directly from the hubitat website to provide insight on a house I am inheriting while it is empty. It was a horrible experience. ZWAVE wouldn't pair or unpair reliably. I have three devices which reliably pair/unpair with my C-7. They were complete disasters with the C-8. I was using POE (with one of the tested and verified adapters). So I said OK, maybe it is a power problem, I will ONLY use the included USB wall-wart. It was still unreliable. I soft-reset. No change. I ZWAVE reset. No change. I factory reset (while using the factory USB) . No change. I finally ordered another C-7. I don't have time to waste with the C-8 or with RMA. I thought the C-8 would be fairly "well baked" since it has been out for a while. Disappointed is an understatement.
Z-Wave is substantially similar between the C-7 and C-8. While the hardware is upgraded (800 series from 700 series), they share the same SDK, and the early 700-series quirks (and there were quite a few...) have mostly been worked out by now. All this to say, your experience with Z-Wave is unusual.
I don't see any other posts from you with more information about your Z-Wave problems. While using your C-7 is certainly a fine path if that works for you, if you are interested in troubleshooting your C-8, I would suggest sharing more details about your network and devices (make/and model of the devices and the contents of your Z-Wave Details table are good places to srtart). I'm also unclear on how you're "migrating," as it sounds like you might be doing a manual process; there is a one-time free cloud migration between upgraded models that should do everything for you without needing to pair/include/etc. anything on the new hub in the first place.
Your POE adapter could indeed have been the problem, so replacing it with the factory adapter, at least for testing, was a good step. If you decide to troubleshoot more, I suggest starting with the above; otherwise, again, there is no reason to change if the C-7 is working for you now.
Good luck either way!
This wasn't a migration, since it is a completely new location. I am NOT replacing my C7, I am adding a 1500 mile away second geographic location. I successfully unpaired devices from my C7 and attempted to pair them with the C8. I had a Zooz tilt/shock and a Aeotec Trisensor and a Minoston plug. None of them would reliably pair or unpair. I powered OFF my C7 to ensure there was no confusion of the devices. I verified that they didn't exist in Smart Start on my phone. I even added my phone to the C8 and added them in Smart Start. Wouldn't pair/unpair.
Do I have an RMA case? Possibly. Do I have the time to mess with that? NOPE.
Everybody values their time. If you don't want help with your situation I don't know why you're posting here and causing others like Robert to waste their time trying to help you.
This topic should be moved to the Lounge since it's not a request for assistance.
Thanks for your feedback. We are equally disappointed about your poor experience. It is definitely not what we want to hear our customers share. Fortunately for us, we don't hear horror stories like yours very often.
Unfortunately for you, seeking help with your problem, while it may seem time consuming, it could actually be more time saving in the long run and cost effective than fighting the issue on your own, or returning a hub that may otherwise be at fault and perhaps getting a replacement would resolve the problem. Also bringing these kind of issues to our attention may help us understand better what the problem was, so we can improve the experience for other users who may feel the same way as you.
If you'd like to give your C-8 another shot, please send me a private message along with your hub ID.
I moved it into the Feedback section. We welcome feedback from all users regardless if they seek help or an avenue to express their frustration with a product that should provide convenience not headaches.
Buying a C7 is the quick fix. Will I choose to revisit the C8 in the future when I don't have a time deadline to configure and ship the unit? Probably. But right now, time is much more important than ZWAVE radio range.
Follow up. My C7 came overnight from Amazon. Everything has just worked. All my ZWAVE and Zigbee devices just unpaired (as unknown) then paired. Night/Day difference. Is it because I didn't update the firmware immediately? I don't know. But I am happy with the C7...
Now I can build up the rest of the device with the user and hubitat apps.
Hey, if you do give the C-8 another shot you may want to exclude the device on the C-8 before pairing it again. So if it’s a device on the C-7, unpair it from the C-7, then exclude it from the C-8, then pair as normal. That has worked for me, but don’t know why.
I have the same frustrations as you with my C-8, except with the Zigbee radio. Not happy at all and no time to troubleshoot right now.
I have definitely learned that lesson before. I always unpair before attempting to pair.
Typically a factory reset of the device, then an unpair, then a pair. That is definitely the most foolproof method.
Were you using a poe splitter with your C8 or were you using the OEM power supply?
Both. I started with one of the listed as tested and approved splitters from the C8 & POE thread. Then I switched to the factory USB adapter. I did a factory reset with the factory USB. It still was unreliable.
Sounds like something else is at play.... The majority of people don't have issues like yours. You may want to think about getting a warranty replacement
I have both of these devices, the Zooz Tilt/Shock sensor has been remarkably unreliable for me on both a C7 and C8, so much so that I eventually took it out. Same with the Aeotec Trisensor. While I am generally a fan of Zooz, they do have a couple turkey products out there, the Tilt/Shock sensor being one. As for Aeotec, I think they get away for chanrging a premium price for the name, but their products really arent that good. I have had the trisensor and two of the range extender7's , and neither of these have lived up to even the most basic expectations. I know this doesn't answer your C7 vs C8 question, but it may provide some insight that the problem could be the devices rather than the Hub. When i first migrated to the C8 I also had various issues that i chalked up to a bad migration but rebuilding everything cleaned all of that up. Since you said you didn't Migrate but built a new mesh from the ground up, that couldn't be your situation. Did you have problems with any other zwave devices? or is it limited to just those three?
Those were the only "spare" devices I had to test. When even the mains powered Minoston plug (I have 8 of them in use) would not pair/unpair, I gave up. ALL of the devices were within 10ft of the hub while attempting to pair/unpair. I even thought "maybe the signal is too strong" I moved the hub into a different room. No change.
If this had been a migration, I would have expected it to be more difficult. This was a completely independent setup. NO dependencies on anything. Just trying to add a few simple device with a completely blank hub.
I have a fair number of Minoston Devices, and while all have been reliable, I did have one (an outdoor plug) that I had to throw out. I could not get it to Include/ exclude or reset. So not unheard of for them to go bad, but I don't think it's the norm either. I agree with @rlithgow1 that you may have gotten a Lemmon of a hub. It couldnt hurt to open a warranty ticket but being that you are so far from where you want to use it, it doesnt help your immediate situation until you can get back there to swap them out (unless you haven't installed it where it's intended to be used yet). I have mostly Zwave (and a lot of Zooz and Minoston. After rebuilding my mesh it has been rock solid n a C8)
I even do this with Brand new devices.
Have you tried swapping the antennas' positions yet? Move the Z-Wave to the Zigbee position, and Zigbee to Z-Wave position. They are both dual mode antennas. In a few cases that has resolved issues.
After I did my remote install with the C7 I was back home and powered up the C8. Since I had boxed it, I don't know if I swapped the antennas or not. There was also a couple firmware updates. I will say that it is MUCH improved. I need to get some spare Zigbee devices to test with, but Z-wave seems to be functional. Pair/unpair is consistent even with the ZSE43. I was even able to update the firmware on the ZSE43 with the C8.
