I'm curious what experience everyone has had with having their hub in a non centralized location?
I moved my C7 hub to the basement with all of my other network equipment because that is where I have my battery backup for that kind of stuff. I have tons of zwave and zigbee devices that I should have a solid mesh network. I have my wifi mesh network in a noncompeting channel setup.
With that said, I feel like the responsiveness of my devices has taken a hit. Some devices occasionally take a while to respond to commands. The HD+ app has struggled with tracking some device states.
I may try moving my hub back to the middle floor to confirm the performance problem. If performance does improve, I'd be disappointed with the mesh and/or repeater capabilities of the whole setup.
I think the signal is formed to go more laterally than vertically in relation to the hub. When I first started adding devices to my second floor with a C7 they also struggled while the first floor worked fine. Even a device right above the hub on 2nd floor sometimes had issues.
So, if you do not have a lot of repeating devices in the basement on a similar plane with the hub a lot of things might be re routing through devices that are closer to (and above) the hub.
I think the combination of getting more 2nd floor devices and also upgrading to a C8 with the antenna has helped my 2nd floor. Everything works pretty flawless for me now.
Also - check your Z-wave details page and see if you have an Update Firmware button on there. The available Z-Wave firmware updates on the C7 are game changers. No button means you are up-to-date.
I have the Zwave firmware button but pressing it gave me an error. You've piqued my curiosity on the firmware update though.
Did you have to do anything to get it to work?
Yes follow those instructions exactly and you should be able to get it updated. Depending on what version you are on now it may or may not help a lot. The last update was pretty minor but the first ones that came out were game changers for me.
Be aware environment contributes to that hit too. More pipes and electrical in the basement. In older houses you have plaster and lathe to deal with, not to mention power and position of the hub itself has shifted. A C8 might improve things especially with being able to adjust zigbee power.
