I'm not a Zigbee guy or a Z-Wave guy. If anything I'm a Lutron Clear Connect guy.
In reality, it's hard to find all the devices you will need to do an entire house automation if you constrain yourself to only one wireless protocol. I go best of breed. My lighting controls are all Lutron. It's fast, highly reliable, and if I'm not around a Lutron electrician can figure it out. My motion sensors are almost all Zigbee. The Zigbee sensors just seem to be quicker to respond. The rest is a mix of Zigbee and Z-Wave - water sensors, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, door/window sensors . . .
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There are more z-wave items available, or so it seems. That is a problem in some cases. In the US, I couldn't find a zigbee 60amp 2 pole relay. And the radio distances are shorter. But if you can get your mesh right using wired zigbee devices then you end up with a lower-maintenance, self-healing network.
Okay, just ordered a pair of these. As I expand my network, these will allow me to easily test range to help fill in my mesh. They were pretty inexpensive, and specifically stated that they act as repeaters. Appreciate the help, all. now back to my Blue-Iris and Sharptools projects.
1-step forward, 2 amazon purchases back | 1-step forward....
But first, out to plow Snow before it gets dark and drops to -10 tonight.
6 degrees now, and that's the high for the next 5 days.
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Yes. Same for Zigbee or Z-Wave. If it’s powered by AC, the general rule is it repeats ( there are exceptions, but few).
If it runs on battery, it is an end device and does not repeat because the power required would drain the batteries in no time (Z-Wave has a some devices that will repeat when joined connected to a power source, but will not repeat if joined while running in batteries).
Like others have said, you should be good the distances you're talking about.
And know that in a worst case scenario you can take that Ikea Repeater and separate it from it's USB plug with a USB cable (not too long) and then stick the repeater/antenna module in a weatherproof plastic box under an outside eve and avoid whatever signal blocking you might have in that shop. I have a fully metal outbuilding where I did this. (Side note: I was still amazed how much of that signal still got out through vents and seams to reach local devices outside...but still, the repeater placed outside was a big help)
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