I just migrated from a C4 to a C7. All went smoothly although questions now arise.
I use a single hub with 27 devices. My house is 3 levels with cement walls. My old C4 was in my server room ground floor. Now I moved the C7 to the middle floor away from all the server "noise". Also it is mounted on a wall away from other devices. All my devices are Fibar. They are 4-5 years old, only a few are newer (2 years). Nothing is plus.
That being said, all my devices have hub nesh off. I thought since there is no second hub, no need for a mesh.
But EVERY device runs at 40kbps. I also have some crappy nodes and even a failed node in the mix. Seems as if the C7 being centrally located, fairs a bit worse now. Also using the physical mono switches on many lights don't work. Dashboard works, but after a light is turned on, Dashboard does not report change to the tile. (Light on but tile shows off)
So all in all screwy stuff going on now. Even after doing a few zwave repairs.
Should I be using mesh or not in my case?
I thought even if my hub is shut down, I should have control of a light via physical switches?
Z-Wave Mesh is a not an option (today). All ZWave devices mesh themselves. (Future ZWave LR will only connect in a star topology, but those devices are just barely beyond the "they don't exist" line.)
IF you are talking about:
Then that toggle only alters the devices in this:
Settings: Hub Mesh will allow you to choose which devices get mirrored to your other hub.
Once you tell the two hubs to be willing to mirror devices, you can then choose which devices actually get mirrored.
Thats what I understood originally, Hence I did not use the mesh button in my case. But my comm situation seems to have downgraded since getting my C7 up AND relocated centrally in my house. That part makes no sense to me. This is causing a fair bit of problems with most of my devices, including a bed light that is 6 feet away from the C7. And it's node FAILED during a Zwave repair!! Go figure. I repaired that node only again and it worked, but the swith itself does not. Only by RM or dashboard will turn it on.
Migration part, Im happy. Actual C7 performance, lots to be desired.
as much as i'd hate to say it, i think it's time for an upgrade to zwave+ devices, they work so much better.
doing hub mesh can work if you have some weird distance between certain floors, then one hub can manage the lower devices and the other hub can manage the upper devices, but overall i would look into getting newer devices
I solved my other problem. It was the physical switch. Even tested it with a meter and it checked good! Out of desperation I just replaced it anyway, and now all is working like before.
