Plaster could easily have chicken wire in it. pipes, electrical etc. That said, given the route changes and RTT, you definitely have a signal issue. Can you swap antennas on the hub? This would eliminate it being a defective antenna on the hub.
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I suspect Google's ability to sometimes control it is just a coincidental fluke, and all of that is on Google's side of things.
First thing to focus on is improving the HE connection reliability. Once that's done, the Google stuff should improve correspondingly.
Have you tried a full habitat shutdown (shut down via UI, the pull power at the plug) for a few minutes? That could help give the ZW radio a refreshed kick in the pants.
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I've been in the walls. None of it is constructed with chicken wire. The wall closest does have some 120v and PVC pipes. The wall with the water valve in it has some copper, but by and large the obstruction is 1 piece of drywall, 1piece of Sheetrock, 1" of plaster/wood lath, some tile, maybe a shower door.
Giving it a closer eye it may actually be under 12' direct.
Issues existed with a C7 before switching to the C8, I could order some new antennas, but I don't believe I have any to swap.
I have tried a full shutdown before, but I can give it a go again.
The C-8 comes with 2 antenna.. they are identical so you could swap them just to confirm the antenna itself is not contributing.
In one case, you see no change.. but in the other, you can get a warranty replacement for the antenna.
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Will do.
Didn't seem to have any effect.
I'm still a bit hesitant to the repeater idea, though that may be my own stupidity. Having gotten a tape measure out, we're talking on the order of 90 inches between the hub and the valve. The valve is half way in a wall, meaning the only contiguous barriers are a tiled sheet of sheetrock, a shower door, a sheet of drywall and around 3/4" of plaster wall. That's assuming the signal isn't bouncing off walls and whatnot, slightly out of that line and the barriers would effectively become a quarter inch of plastic, and 3/4" of door.
Are there not other issues here that might be tied together?
Can you unplug the Dome, unmount it from the valve and put it in another room at roughly the same distance? Looks like just two bands to unscrew based on the pictures.
Again, this is just an experiment to see if the Dome works anywhere.
Obviously at the end of the experiment, put it back on the valve. 
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My inclination is to go the opposite way which I'll test out probably tomorrow, it's a lot easier to get a coupler and just put the hub next to the valve to sample. That should have the same effect, right?
Now if I do get an extender, I'm honestly confused where I'd put it. The hub is in the hallway, and it goes hallway -> bathroom -> closet with the valve in the wall between the closet and bathroom. I could put the extender in the closet easily, but that wouldn't be any closer than the valve is currently. I could throw it in the bathroom too if that made more sense, we're just talking like 1 wall and 6' from the hub.
I don't think you need to put the extender between necessarily, but in the proximity of the valve. The same room, or even a nearby outlet in another room would be something to judge whether it works or not. You can move the repeater about the area of the hub or valve, and see if anyplace makes a difference after a day or two.
I think this is just an issue with only having one valve and nothing else on the mesh, and I use the term "mesh" loosely because you don't have any semblance of one. While Z-wave probably should work with just one device, anecdotally it takes a many (usually close to a dozen) devices to really stabilize things.
Look at it this way, if the repeater (even an outlet would work) helps, you fixed the issue for about $25. If it doesn't fix it, you know it isn't a signal strength issue, it is more like a bad device or very unlikely but possibly a bad hub.
So far I can say one repeater has not helped, though it has at least done more to imply a weirdly bad signal. I don't think there's any situation where I'm ending up with a dozen, but I will try one or two more repeaters. I know outlets may be a better idea, the only thing that has inclined me towards repeater is that I haven't seen many 800 series outlets, if there's something you'd recommend I'd consider it. I ended up getting a Zooz repeater, along with a second arriving tomorrow. It also doesn't help that I don't really have any more devices that would benefit from a smart plug.
2 repeaters in and ai can say that despite every bit of 'this shouldn't be a problem' the range issue seems likely to be a real problem. Attempting to pair the second repeater so so close to line of sight 6' away from the first, and bam, failure. As it is, it's looking like maybe I'd need 3 repeaters just to get a good connection across 12ish feet, which seems obscene. And that's before we get to an assessment of if it actually works when I do that.
At this time, I would suggest that you should be filling out a warranty claim. Reason would be "Z-wave radio offline".
Took your advice and have a new hub in hand.
Hoping to avoid any issues going forward, what would the recommended process be to set it up? I would prefer not to re-pair all the zigbee devices, but I can, recreating all the apps would be a nightmare. Support suggested they would advise against a cloud migration.
Would a backup potentially carry over the same issues? Any best practices here?
Once I get the hub set-up minus zwave, would you recommend starting with the dome valve and add repeaters if that doesn't work well? Or start from the beginning with the two (still returnable) repeaters?
Thanks!
I can't speculate whether it would work. I suspect support thinks the radio issue would migrate over, whereas backups don't bring radio information over. Myself, I would try the backup method, it typically is a pretty safe option.
I would follow this guide first thing after migrating. Migrating a Z-Wave Network This will ensure you don't lose your devices or mess up and have the wrong device tied to the wrong automation/dashboard. The DNI is critical to change (make unique) on the Z-wave side of things when trying to use the backup method to change hubs.
From there, I think you need to do what this says. These are best practices. How to Build a Solid Z-Wave Mesh | Hubitat Documentation The last section Tips for designing your Z-Wave mesh are especially pertinent.
- When installing several devices, install Z-Wave mains powered repeaters first, beginning closest to the hub and working outward so other devices will be able to use them to reach the hub. Once the Z-Wave routers are installed, add your battery powered Z-Wave end devices.
That's been pretty much my impression. The question re building a z wave network is if we've determined something was off in the initial range, should I start with the basis of let's try it with the minimum devices required? I do have the repeaters, but ai can also return the repeaters and would rather both have the money and not have extra otherwise useless devices plugged in if they're not necessary.
I guess you could try the one device, but the chances of a device consistently working with only one device is pretty marginal from what I have seen on this forum, and through my own experience with Z-wave.
Myself, I would at least add one repeater in the proximity of the hub and the valve. It doesn't have to be exactly in-between. That is just my opinion, and not what will (or will not) work good in the real world. My observation is that it takes a few devices that repeat (not necessarily a dedicated repeater) to form a solid and stable mesh.
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Got a new hub all set up. Initially it seemed like everything was fine, valve paired almost immediately, as did one repeater. Gave it a week and tried throwing the other repeater on just for giggles and that seemed to work fine as well. Topography was showing all the devices connected to each other, and the route being direct from the hub.
This morning woke up and wasn't able to control the valve. Tried refreshing and none of the two repeaters nor hub are seeming reached. A repair completes immediately with no effect. Only obvious change besides it not working is that the valve's route is now through the closest repeater.
I like my Zooz Titan valve.
The only thing that makes me wonder if it's the valve in this instance is that refreshing the repeaters leaves them on "pending" as well.
