I bought an Aoetec Range Extender 7 and placed it where I thought it would do the most good. Well, I was wrong. None of the nodes around it are using it as a repeater.
So how do you place these? Do I place it near nodes that only have 1 or 2 neighbors? Or maybe nodes that have poor RSSI values? Note: I bought this as an experiment to see if I can improve my mesh. Currently, all my devices are working fine despite the crappy RSSI's and neighbor counts.
People are finding the aeotec's are not the best. Most will recommend the ring v2 extenders. That said, you can try doing an individual repair of the device you want to try and have route through it. Or force it by excluding then re-including the device near it.
I'm paraphrasing @csteele here (perhaps incorrectly), but a repeater is most likely to be effective if it is between the controller (hub) and devices that you want it to repeat for. My own empirical observations are that repeaters that are about 1/3rd the distance from the hub to the device work really well (i.e. closer to the hub than the device).
I have a few Aeotec repeaters, and they seem to do a good job on my network. While most of my devices are connected directly to the hub, of the 9 devices that are one hop away, 7 go through Aeotec repeaters.
My Aeotec 7 repeater is doing absolutely nothing more than a year.
I have Aeotec Range extender 6 and they work well. Apparently the 7 is not getting great reviews on this site (no idea what users of other systems/platforms are finding). The Ring Range extender doesn't require a Ring hub and is just a z-wave repeater. It seems to work well. Place any range extender as far away from the hub as possible while still retaining decent signal (something to repeat). I find that two repeaters per average size home works well.
Generally, Z-wave devices will not change routes if the routes they are using are working; in this case, it is not unusual to see that new devices are not being used as routers. That being said, having more routes available (seen as neighbors of other devices) does improve the robustness of your mesh, even if they are not currently used as routers.
If you are having problems including devices, or seeing errors (PER) or route changes (RC) from devices, this would be an indication that the nodes are having problems communicating and adding repeaters may be needed.
The Z-Wave Network Installation and maintenance Procedures User Guide (INS12712) provides these instructions for installers regarding repeaters:
... insert a repeater node 30 feet away from the troublesome node in the direction towards the gateway.
a. Convenience may dictate a location less than 30 feet from the troublesome node.
b. If the repeater node gets closer to the gateway than 30 feet, the node may be placed less than 30 feet from the troublesome node.
If the current routes are working but you still want a device to use a different route, there are a few other options you can try (you may still not end up with your preferred results):
not recommended) Remove power from a current router for the device (unplug, air gap, breaker, etc.) and then activate the device to trigger some messages; this will often result in a route change. This is not generally recommended because it could cause more problems than it helps (especially if multiple devices are using the router), so approach with caution.Thanks- lots of good info here.
I've had Aeotec 6 and 7 repeaters, and at least on my mesh they never have repeated for any device. They sit there dumb and happy, doing nothing for some reason. I moved them to a second hub w/just a few devices and placed the repeater directly between two of the devices and hub, closer to hub than the devices, and months later still nothing.
Others may have better luck, not working so well for me.
I guess @dennypage and I must be the outliers then! Mine seem to be happily repeating away ....
I have 4 RE7s total -- 2 are routinely repeating stuff I'd expect them to. The other 2 have picked up things here-&-there in the past once in a while, but more typically, those two aren't routing anything.
I have the 4 placed strategically in case I ever make big changes to my arrangement of other devices. If other devices are happy routing elsewhere or direct, that's great. I still like having the peace-of-mind that my RE7s are ready and available as a backbone if needed.
Same here. I will note that, after the recent Z-Wave Radio firmware update, my mesh’s routing seems to continually churn. Whatever, it works fine, so I don’t fool with it.
What LOVES to repeat for me are two wall-wart plugs I use, one by Jasco, and the other from Hank. (I know, no one has heard of a Hank plug, but it's real, and I got one.) 
These are the two top repeaters by far on my mesh, nothing else in my mesh repeats for more than 2 devices.
I wrote up a story about the Hank a while back...the ugly little plug that could. 
If your other z wave devices are installed first and a repeater is added later, is is likely that the deviceswill ignore the new repeater. Thus, it more effective to add the repeater first. However, people often add repeaters as an afterthought if the have mesh issues. It is generally best if connections are direct with the hub. Repeaters are useful when such direct routes arenot possible.
I've been messing around with this and found a way to make my Repeater actually function as such. I don't know if all these steps are necessary but here is what worked for me:
If your Repeater is still not being used, try a new location and repeat the steps above. Again, this worked for me so your mileage may vary.
Above are the key steps (and the waiting/patience is very important), HE has said that doing a repair on a device/devices causes actions that enable devices to look for/find new routes. FWIW it should work if you just do the repair directly w/out the other steps, but doing the shutdown will not hurt.
I do still subscribe to the "if it ain't broke" approach, and try not to worry about routes, what repeaters are being used, etc., unless I see an actuall issue w/my devices or automations. You can drive yourself crazy trying to get Z-Wave to make routing changes just for the sake of it "looking right"...ask me how I know.
Download the Hubitat app
