I'm having trouble getting my hub to see my zwave devices unless it is directly "on top" of at least one of them. If the hub is 3 meters (~10 ft) from a device it will not see it but if I put it on the same wall but opposite sides it will.
I have reached out to support regarding this but have not heard anything from them yet, any advice on how to troubleshoot/fix this? Pictures attached.
The strength of the signal is subject to the number of walls and the wall construction, number of wires, pipes, etc. between the devices. As a example, my house has walls made of 3/4+ inch plaster over metal lathe which in essence makes every room a Faraday cage. Instances like these require that you add additional repeaters to build the mesh. May want to read over:
I will read through that for sure however for the last picture that is an open space with direct line of sight so I'm not sure why I would need a relay between the hub (bottom left of the picture) to the switch (top right of the picture). Prior to that test I installed the exact same model switch and the hub was 3 meters (~10 feet) away from the switch with direct line of sight and it did not see the switch until I put it much closer to the switch. I would expect at that distance the hub would be able to see the switch just fine.
In that configuration the signal strength looks pretty good. Everything is routing through the hallway switch via the garage relay, and it looks like the hallway switch can only see the hub and garage relay. Good speeds though.
A side note unrelated to your issue but... most of us don't bother with s2 security for things that arent actually life/safety. It adds overhead and the risk of someone hacking your upstairs hall lights is probably pretty low. Garage controls... different issue, s2 security probably the right approach.
I'm afraid it comes down to creating a robust mesh. I have one repeater right next to my hub, which is placed out of sight. And is not in the direct line of sight for any of my z-wave devices.
I think you just don't have enough devices to form a mesh. The battery powered sensors aren't (and can't be) repeaters. So you really only have 3 devices contributing to the strength of the mesh. I would start with something like the Ring Range extender, and see if it helps things. Or just more light switches to act as repeaters. It typically takes 10-12 repeating devices to get good mesh stability.
I would go a step further, and say that in the past, some of the Zooz sensors have been mesh killers due to how often they report, and especially if they are misconfigured to send reports too often. Not sure which model sensor you have there, but maybe post which one it is and maybe someone will know if these are problematic.
Because the Z-wwave antenna is crammed into the case of the Hubitat, it is somewhat directional. I believe there may be a null in the antenna pattern directly above and below the sensor. From your photo, you have the hub mounted vertically against a wall. I have my hub mounted horizontally on top of a six ft high cabinet. At one time I had the hub mounted vertically on the back of the cabinet and had poor signals. With the horizontal placement, 24 of the 28 Z-wave devices have direct connections with my hub. The devices that are connected through range extenders/repeaters are positioned such that a direct connection is not possible. For example: my front door lock has a HVAC return duct between the hub and the front door and my patio motion sensor has a brick fireplace and chimney between the hub and the sensor.
Try mounting your Hubitat horizontally and see if that change in antenna orientation improved the Z-wave connectivity.
@neonturbo Totally understand the need for more repeaters to have a strong mesh. The switches that i'm using are S2 TOGGLE SWITCH ZEN73.
@rwclements228 I tried the horizontal placement (last picture) however even with the hub and switch in the same room (the hallway in that last picture) the switch would not connect unless I was less then a foot away from it (holding it in my hand) OR through the zooz universal relay (as pictured). The current vertical mount is temporary until I can resolve this issue.
I do plan on getting more devices so that the mess is stronger but I am trying to understand why when it's only the hub and one device in the same room it has to be practically next to the hub for it to work?
That is strange. My first thought was that there is something wrong with the antenna in your C-7. However, the signal strength appears to be pretty good (10-37 dB). Tagging @bcopeland@support.
Thanks for reaching out, please send me a PM with your hub's MAC address along with your hub's purchase order details. I'd like to make sure that you are not dealing with a hardware malfunction.
A problem with switches is that they are usually mounted in metal electrical boxes and they have wires and perhaps conduit running to the boxes. When you place the hub behind the switch, there is very little pathway for entrance for the Z-wave radiation which has a wavelength of approximately 12.8 inches. You might find better reception if the hub is placed in front of the switch.
Remember, also, that a Z-wave device can be too close to the hub. They should be at least a few feet away. Most procedures for including new Z-wave devices to a mesh suggest having the device about 10 ft away from the hub. If your hub and switch are mounted on opposite sides of the same wall, they are too close.
One trick to establishing a good Z-wave mesh is to have a strong z-wave repeater placed in close proximity to the hub and then have signals route through that repeater. Although Z-wave switches do function as repeaters, I am not how proficient some of them may be that task.
