As a follow-up to my prior post, I did try swapping the two plugs. The one that previously recorded a slower data rate at 25 ft open air distance did transmit at 100k bps when 12 feet from the hub. And sadly the other one reverted to 9.6kbps when it was 25 feet away.
Still might be some quirk of my environment, but this has me wondering if this drop off in transmission speed at range is related to some of the reported issues with this plug when used as a Z-Wave repeater. I use these all over my house and have never noted any Z-Wave problems, but I have relatively few Z-Wave devices (and only a handful of them are sensors) so probably would not be sensitive to performance problems.
If I already have these plugs paired for Zigbee, should I assume I have to reset/remove them from HE and start over to add on the Z-Wave functionality? Is there a "lazy-cheat" that works to just add the Z-Wave side, if you have already paired it for Zigbee?
No, do not factory reset the outlets and do not unpair the Zigbee portion.
There are numerous threads with instructions on how to pair the Z-wave repeater in these outlets.
It involves starting z-wave inclusion on the hub, and then pressing the button on the outlet 8 times extremely quickly...so quickly that the internal relay of the outlet does not change states (until maybe the 8th button press )
I find moving the outlets to the same room as the hub works best during the pairing process.
I've been wondering about the zwave on these. My network shows nothing routes through them except for the other iris plugs.
Pretty much put them in place to help with my schlage zwave lock. When it doesn't route directly to the hub it likes a the ge zwave plus switches in my bedroom.
As has been noted here, it appears that depending on the FW version on the plugs they can be helpful or a potential hinderance. Did you update yours, or did you use Ogiewon's suggested check to narrow down which FW you have on yours?
I'm going to add the Z-Wave side on one of mine at some point and see if I notice any issues, and watch some of my routings to see if they adjust at all. Mad scientist experiment time.
seems like a waste as they are old from the get go, and even if i have old firmware i dont think i have a way to update them. Did I miss something. If i put them on smarthings will they update?
Won't update on SmartThings, and no longer updatable on Iris as they are shut down.
Plugs appear to be likely to have the new FW will have both the large Z-Wave Plus sticker, as well as a second smaller regtangular bar-code sticker, on the back. No guarantee, but appears that combination usually signals a plug w/the newer FW.
ok thanks will look at the 2 i have here in mi when back at the house later this week. at cottage.. fricking cold.. 41 low last night.. lake too cold for a sauna. just know that as soon as i added it last time.. devices started acting up.. so think at least one of them are fubared.. so happy to leave it as a zigbee switch..
You can use this driver to check the Z-Wave side of the Iris plugs. It will do periodic online checks, etc. Which reminds me that my farthest out plug always reports as offline. Need to move closer and determine if it is the unit itself or the distance.
