Z-Wave LR

[Angus_M]

VentureBeat: Z-Wave Long Range protocol supports up to 2,000 smart devices on a mesh network.

Z-Wave Long Range protocol supports up to 2,000 smart devices on a mesh network

[marktheknife]

@Angus_M

supports up to 2,000 smart devices

I’m gonna need a bigger drawer for devices I “need” but haven’t figured out where to install yet...

[JasonJoel]

It will be years before there are devices (or hub support - as SiLabs has to roll that into the SDK 1st) for this. But still sounds like a step in the right direction.

[Chris_C]

Z-Wave LR boasts a range of 400 meters and bumps the number of supported devices to 2,000 on a single network, up from the previous limit of 232, while still operating on such low power that some sensors will last 10 years on a coin cell battery.

The bump in the number of nodes and focus on low power seems like a logical evolution. Not sure I need a 400 meter range as the mesh seems to work well enough, but I guess it's a nice enhancement too (maybe for mailboxes or those edge cases on the edge of the mesh).

The Alliance says that Z-Wave Long Range (Z-Wave LR)... is backward-compatible with both existing Z-Wave networks and previously installed Z-Wave devices.

[danabw]

Long range, just great...now all of my neighbors will be trying to open/close my blinds, turn on my smart oven, defrost my smart freezer, and change my smart TV to the "Cat Videos!" channel...

[jvm33]

@JasonJoel

It will be years before there are devices (or hub support - as SiLabs has to roll that into the SDK 1st) for this. But still sounds like a step in the right direction.

Exactly. The Z-Wave 700 series was announced at CES 2018, and its taken nearly 2.5 years to get out the first hub (Hubitat) that uses it! By that pattern, we have 2-3 years before they get the silicon and SDK software ready for commercial use.

[JasonJoel]

If it takes new silicon, definitely.

If it is just software, maybe a bit faster.

[ingvar]

Will Hubitat C-7 work whit Z-Wave Long Range?
z-wavealliance org/z-wave-alliance-announces-new-z-wave-long-range-specification/

[bertabcd1234]

It will definitely work with Z-Wave LR. This on the same page you mentioned:

The Alliance says that Z-Wave Long Range (Z-Wave LR) [...] is backward-compatible with both existing Z-Wave networks and previously installed Z-Wave devices.

Whether Hubitat will "be" Z-Wave LR, we will have to wait and see (my assumption is that it will require new hardware, though details seem sparse at the moment--but again is both forwards- and backwards-compatible as Z-Wave has always been).

Personally, given the above and the fact that current, 700-series Z-Wave works well enough for me (and most people are still using 500-series at best), I'm not overly concerned right now.

[mraz.camren]

So when are we getting a new Hubitat that supports this

Z-Wave Alliance Announces New Z-Wave Long Range Specification - Z-Wave Alliance

[rob9]

Sweet!!

[gparra]

Cool! I guess this will require a new 800 series chip?

When is the C-8 hub being released?

EDIT: just read an article that stated this new specification falls short to the competition: Zigbee can do 65K devices and the forthcoming Amazon Sidewalk has been reported to work with devices up to a mile away. If I ever move to a house a mile long with 65K devices, I will probably get cancer just walking from the bedroom to the kitchen...

[Rxich]

Dam, another freaking hub? I already have a part time job with 5 hubs, another would kill me.
Oh wait, it's 6 I forgot one.
Just got the C7, should have waited...

[JasonJoel]

@mraz.camren

So when are we getting a new Hubitat that supports this

My guess - 2024. It won't even be a final spec, let alone included in the SDK, until probably 2022.

[1/2021 EDIT: Looks like it may come out sooner than I expected. Nice to be wrong in that direction]

[mailtomatte]

Ezlo Plus and secure have Long range in hardware... They have tested and it works good... It has the 700chip as Hubitat has. Wonder if its a software thing... @bcopeland can you answer??

[JasonJoel]

CAN he answer? Yes.

WILL he answer?

As you really need device support to get the true benefit of LR, there really isn't any hurry to answer other than marketing.

Now if/when vendors release firmware updates for their 700 series devices that support LR, the pressure will be on to announce something for the hub side....

The non-hubitat, non-official answer is that I think all 700 series chip based hubs can support LR (from the hardware side of things).

Still takes firmware/software support though. But again - chicken and egg of SiLabs firmware availability and SDK/ZAF support versus device LR support.

(I reserve the right to be wrong, and will retract/correct if I am)

[bcopeland]

Hubitat and Z-Wave Long Range

We were going to save this for a surprise but our community sleuths have put 2+2 together. As many of you may know, Z-Wave Alliance recently announced the release of Z-Wave Long Range, which will open new opportunities for the Z-Wave protocol. I am happy to announce that we designed Hubitat Elevation to support Z-Wave Long Range with a firmware update and naturally a software update on the hub side. Currently this is a planned feature for 2.2.6. We have the new Long Range developers kits in ha…

[gparra]

This is awesome!

Sadly, none of my Z-Wave devices has the 700 chip but the new C-7 hub I just migrated to... The wife will kill me if I continue spending money on new devices or replacements for a while...

[JasonJoel]

There is sadly a disappointing dearth of zwave 700 devices, period.

It'll get there, though. Takes time...

Although, not as many CES 2021 zwave announcements as I would liked either.

[mailtomatte]

Thanx for the answer!