Hubitat and Z-Wave Long Range

📰 News and Updates
21

This is great news and one that keeps piling up on my C7 upgrade ambitions (what would put my ambitions to rest and initiate kinetic energy?: an easy way to transfer all my devices to the new hub!)...

So I was wondering whether it be worth it to initiate my new Z-wave device purchase now or wait till I see mfg's detail the LR spec in their devices?

I'm in the middle of planning and budgeting a whole house switch, dimmer, outlet upgrade to Zwave devices and wanted to know if I should wait or not...?? Your well regarded and kind thoughts, please?

22

That I can’t answer.. I suspect the OEMs will jump on this.. But I can’t answer for them on their timelines..

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23

A guess/initial thought.

How big is your house? If it's fairly large, then you might see notable benefits from LR.

How big a hurry are you in? If you want something early/mid this year, then you will probably need to start before LR is widely available. A with any new technology, expect it might need some "shaking out" initially.

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24

Thanks for th response!

No big hurry as this was in the works for the past 3 years. There are about 90+ devices I am looking to add that I have tallied up so far to cover about 5k ft. LR is probably bleeding edge but the main point for this house is reliability and I totally agree with your point on the shake out....

I will send a note to Jasco to see what there plans are.

Appreciate everyone's feedback on this!

25

Be sure to spill the beans! I'm super interested in that, too.

In general, their stuff seems a bit more stable than many others. And, they have a pretty decent market I think.

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26

What is max output available for LR CH4 on HE using your 700 series chipset ? Is it the quoted +30dBm or the reduced +14dBm or something else ?

As a star topology siting the controller in a good position is increasingly important.

27

About that "star" topology.

It's built into the LR spec as the only option,

Is there any possibility of pushing that as a "strongly preferred" configuration on a ZW+ network? Just wondering--my house isn't that large (maybe 30' to the farthest place from the hub). The hub's on the main floor with an open basement and loft. Not a lot to it.

Yet, there are times that the routes bounce all over the place. I think it has gotten a bit better with more recent releases. But, it seems like things should work better in an environment like mine if they did less bouncing around.

28

Can a Z-wave device operate in LR mode for device to hub communication, but also act as a repeater to allow other devices to mesh with it?

If the hub is in the worst possible part of the house (such as a closet in the basement), where it's not possible to have a direct connection to every floor, this ability would be huge.

29

The standard currently does not provide for this..

30

More importantly, I want to know what devices you are using to test the new LR firmware. LOL

Need devices! :slight_smile:

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31

A couple of these:

image

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32

That's no fun. Need real devices - of course the dev kit works.... :slight_smile:

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33

The developers kit will simulate all the “standard” device firmware examples.

34

I wish there was some real devices to test with.. But I think the OEMs are waiting for hubs that support it.

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35

And ALL the devices built by everyone will work exactly like it. :stuck_out_tongue:

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36

No.. But.. The underlying SDK and command classes are identical.. So it’s mainly just getting the communication right with the new larger node id’s

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37

Cool stuff though! And I'm sure you're right that manufacturers may be waiting for hub support before getting too energetic on the device firmware.

38

I'm assuming that following a firmware update for LR, existing 700 devices will need to be excluded and re-included to switch to LR, correct?

39

Nope

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40

Seriously?!!! Wow. Just wow.

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