I just installed one of these units to control my well pump. It is Z-wave Plus and is a repeater according to the docs. It paired just fine with Hubitat.
For some reason it is not listed as a repeater. Being that it is mounted high on the wall and has an external antenna and hard wired it is an excellent repeater. Yet units around it don't see it as a repeater. The distance to the Hubitat is about 130 feet through two walls but nothing else is in the way (in the middle or a desert).
I have 3 more of these units that I am installing and need to have them work as a repeater.
You can't force a device to be or become a repeater. The way Z-wave routes is a closely guarded secret, second only to the nuclear launch codes. It is mysterious in how it chooses to repeat for a device, and whether another device likes a particular repeater.
The best you can do is let the Z-wave settle for a few hours or overnight to let it find the optimal routes. You may be able to things along by running a repair on an individual device, but that doesn't force a device to route for other devices or even change its current route. Repair is more like a polite asking of a device to possibly consider searching for a better route.
Yes Z-Wave can't be forced to repeat. I have those silly Aeotec 6 repeaters and nobody wants to play with them.
I put them in years ago to get my 3 door locks to stop changing routes 100's of time but they just get ignored 2-3 M away.
It was easier to get the nuclear launch codes. "According to nuclear safety expert Bruce G. Blair, the US Air Force's Strategic Air Command worried that in times of need the codes for the Minuteman ICBM force would not be available, so it decided to set the codes to 00000000 in all missile launch control centers. Blair said the missile launch checklists included an item confirming this combination until 1977." (Permissive action link - Wikipedia)
