Is it time to upgrade to the C8

Why Hubitat Elevation
#1

I have a C7 which I have successfully used for simple automations for a few years now. After many years in IT I have learned to give new items a little time for issues to be worked out. The biggest issue I have observed in the forums is associated with zigbee devices and the radio seemingly kicking in and out. How likely is it that this is a hardware issue which will be resolved with an updated C8 hub release instead of software and programming issues?

Update 5/15/2023. I am pretty sure I am basically a tinkerer by heart having started as a kid trying to fix every Timex watch I got my hands on, old record players, and many hours testing tubes for old radios and black and white televisions. Old habits die hard so I've purchased a C-8 which has yet to arrive. My main concern was missing out on a minor hardware revision which doesn't appear likely based on feedback here. My first foray into "smart home" was with the bit "G" with a home hub, home speaker, and home mini speaker. After numerous experiences with the spying related to that platform I am very keen to support the local automation ideology of Hubitat. Maybe I will end up meshing the C-7 and C-8. I found in my business when I started with Hubitat that I was able to create simple alarm systems along with simple automations which proved very practical. Thanks for all the input.

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#2

I would be very surprised to see a hardware update to resolve the issues that some of the users are seeing.

The 3 C—8 hubs that I have setup are working pretty well at this point.

If your current setup is working like you need it, is it worth it to update?

4 Likes
#3

The greatest attraction for me is the improved range for the z-wave with the external antenna. If I understand correctly z-wave long range is better supported with the C8. Let me know if my understanding is in error. Thanks

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#4

The C-8 has external antennas which helps with the connection of Z-Wave and Zigbee devices. That is definitively an improvement over the C-7.

Z-Wave Long Range is not yet implemented on the C-8. As I understand it, both the C-7 and C-8 should be able to support it, though it will likely become available on the C-8 first.

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#5

Having a house full of Iris V1 devices I would say no. It doesn't look like the C8 is going to support these.

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#6

It is not unfortunately and that will be reflected in the compatibility list. @mike.maxwell worked on it and just couldn't find a way.. Apparently they will not work with a 3.0 controller.

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#7

I completely agree with @Sebastien. Getting more distance with antenae but at the risk of more / new problems wouldnt be good science.

#8

In worst case, If someone have a lot of devices that are causing issues, solution could be to keep one hub for such devices (c-4 to c-7) and use c-8 for new functionalites (z-wave 800, zigbee 3.0, in future Matter/Thread).

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#9

Or use my C5's for zigbee and z-wave controllers for Home Assistant.

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#10

Sort of correct. The Z-wave range should be better due to the antenna. As far as Z-wave 800 and LR there doesn't seem to be many devices taking advantage of the spec. Ever since the Silabs disaster that was the 700 series, I plan to wait 1 full year after any new Silabs chips are released or until such time that the platform is stable. The 700 series still has hampered ghost removal issues with the C7. I've lost enough time to troubleshooting, so I'm staying on the C7 for now. I'm actually very tempted to upgrade, but each time I recall the time suck and major WAF downgrade, I put my wallet away.
To each his own.

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#11

I bought the C-8 to improve the connections from my C-7 with my 49 devices, of which the majority are Inovelli Red Series and 5 of their Fan+Light, as I cannot get several to update the firmware, and to preform better. I live in a one story 2,500 foot condo. All of them sit in metal boxes due to condo regulations. I do have 1 Zigbee device, which is a Hue motion sensor and 2 of their light bulbs that work through their hub.

I waited until early/mid-April to set it up as I too read all about the Zigbee and Z-Wave issues. The number of devices connecting faster went up by a few, but many more dropped to 9.6 for a significant decrease. After waiting weeks and even doing a Z-Wave repair and trying to do an exclude-factory reset-include routine with several of them I’m still at a significant decrease in the # that connected directly and faster. Of the devices I did the exclude-factory reset-include routine with, most connected at 100, mostly directly, only to fall back to 9.6 with one or more hops after a few days. i have 3 Fibaro key fob 6 button devices and when initially connected to the C-8 they were at 100 and the Inovelli Fan+Light it controlled turned on virtually instantly. After a few days the furthest one went to 9.6 where it is stuck at, and now I a have a multi-second delay turning on the light. BTW, I did connect them where they would end up, so the speed loss isn’t because I moved them. I have no idea why they would be directly connected at 100 for days only to drop to 9.6 with multiple hops.

BTW, they had me swap the antennas in case that was the issue, but it doesn’t appear to be the case Also I’ve been very pro-active doing the ongoing software updates, I installed 2.3.5.138 yesterday.

Because of all of that I just installed a new pair of 9 dbi antennas. As mentioned above, I live in a one story condo of about 2,500 sq. ft., so the loss of verticle range will, hopefully, not matter vs. the increased horizontal range I hope to gain. But, my bottom line so far is that my performance of the C-8 is significantly worse that the C-7 was.

#12

A lot of people do this anyway..

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#13

Is there going to be an official announcement on this? Also some instruction on how to proceed with using the C7 in a mesh for the workaround Zigbee connectivity. I have 56 devices to move!

#14

The mesh instructions in the documentation apply to both c4, c5, c7 and c8. Very few people are having issues with the migration. All you can do is the migration and see if you have any issues with your devices.

#15

I installed and migrated to the C8 with zero problems. As I have only z-wave devices at this point my main interest was reaching devices further out on my property which, unfortunately, the C8 has not resolved yet. I have been considering some zigbee devices. One of my next projects is extending power from an existing sub-panel further back in my property. I think that will ultimately be the solution to my tinkering frustrations and entertainment. Thanks to everyone for all of the input.

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