External Antenna

📢 Feedback
61

External antennas helped my situation dramatically.

Thanks again @lewis.heidrick for setting me down the path. Much appreciated.

5 Likes
62

Thanks, was it better than the 5 dBi you originally mentioned?
I found this one, not sure..

Look familiar? Supposedly has VSWR <1.5

63

Can’t wait! Things were stable for the last few weeks but now everything is back to working about 80% of the time. The hub just changes routes over and over until it successfully screws it up. I’m hoping everything arrives by the weekend so I can wire it up !

3 Likes
64

EXACTLEY!!!
Really wish there was an option to disable the nightly z-wave route destruction.

6 Likes
65

Direct connection ftw.

6 Likes
66

@672southmain

Found out why my mesh is down

image
image1242×2688 468 KB

8 Likes
67

Everything arrived. Gonna cut it open and perform surgery this weekend. I’m excited to see if the device that is line of sight to my hub and close enough that I can touch the switch with one hand and the hub with the other changes from 3 hops at 9kb/s to a direct connect with 100kb/s!

9 Likes
68

If it doesn't change immediately, hit it with a bunch of refreshes.

4 Likes
69

I’m a pro at clicking that button over and over!

2 Likes
70

In my experience, the z-wave repair is pretty useless. The devices seem to store their preffered routes and don't change that just cause the hub suddenly has a new antenna. I have had much better luck with cutting power to each device. When it is powered back on, it frequently attaches directly to the hub. In some cases, i have needed to cut the power of the device that is still acting as a repeater, and then power on the device you want to connect direct.

4 Likes
71

Thank you so much for posting this!!! Such a simple solution for anyone with basic soldering skills. It has improved my z-wave significantly. I first cheaped out and bought a 900mhz antenna in Amazon because it would arrive sooner and it only slightly improved my signal. Decided to order the ones you used from L-com and the signal is much much better now. Nearly all my devices are now directly connected to the hub vs before only about 65-70% of my 85 devices. Everything is so much quicker now.

I also did the Zigbee antenna but don't have nearly as many devices and its harder to see the routing tables like I can with Tony Fleisher awesome z-wave app.

5 Likes
72

Glad it could be of help to so many others. I wish I would have done it sooner. I haven't had to touch my hub since doing this mod.

8 Likes
73

(really wish I could give multiple likes to this post)

4 Likes
74

Hi guys, as I am waiting for the antenna parts I would really appreciate some pictures from your projects to make sure I am not doing anything stupid.

75

About 12 hours after adding antennas, jumped from 49 directly connected (48%) to 62 (61%). Also went from 12 9.86kb/s devices down to only 6 and 2 of those make perfect sense, they're very far away. I also see a lot less illogical routes based on physical distance. Things also react a lot faster so far So far so good, hoping it keeps up. For me though, this definitely says "it's the hub" vs "zwave is just that way"

5 Likes
76

I didn't take pictures, but some things to keep in mind:

  1. A solder remover will make life easier when removing the existing antennas. They're pretty cheap on Amazon for a junky one, Tabiger Solder Wick & Desoldering Pump

  2. Make sure the U.FL connectors are oriented properly when you solder them on, note that on the bottom the lead only connects to one side
    image

  3. Watch your soldering iron temperature! The U.FL connectors are usually plastic so they melt easily

  4. Make sure where you screw the SMA connectors into the case won't come in contact with anything on the PCB when it's all closed up. I also decided to wrap the metal portion of the SMA connector that is inside the case with some electrical tape just to add a little extra protection in case something ever touched it

  5. Take your time. There is certainly the possibility of destroying your hub if you're not experienced with soldering, go slow and make sure you don't accidentally desolder anything else or use so much solder you short things out

6 Likes
77

It took a day or two for everything to connect up for me. I ran a couple of repairs on individual devices as well as resetting the breakers for a few devices.

1 Like
78

That tiny centered pin connector on the ufl connector gets connected to where the previous antennas center wire was connected.
On my c5 that pad on the circuit board has little wavy lines next to it. The other connector on the opposite side, that looks identical, has only straight line markings.
I almost put mine in backwards.

2 Likes
79

So... it turns out this topic has been pretty active, and has resulted in consistent and significant RF improvements for those implementing external antennas.

While I love Hubitat, it would seem that Hubitat has been obsessed with the HE software to the exclusion of the HE hardware. The Hubitat software is really great, but in the end, it all works, or doesn't work, via RF.

So while @bravenel said "This has actually been under consideration" (for the next hub), I would suggest that it be elevated from a "consideration" to a mandatory design requirement... Along with a high sensitivity Receiver and transmit power that is absolutely at the maximum allowed by the FCC.

I am hoping that the next HE hub has an outstanding RF section to go along with its outstanding software.

@bcopeland

10 Likes
80

Can I ask those users that have done this:

  1. Is this a Zwave enhacement, or both Zigbee and Zwave?
  2. Is the improvement better in Zwave or in Zigbee devices?