I have a ge-zwave plus outlet in a metal surface mount box out in my garage. It's connecting to my z-wave network just fine, in fact everything in the garage connects, but only the outlet seems to be working. I've repaired the z-wave network several times, that outlet works but other things don't. It's my understanding that the outlet should function as a repeater so if its got signal it should provide it to other devices, and infact that's how it all worked in the past under smartthings, thought that outlet was always a bit flakey.
Is the surface mount metal box blocking the signal? Should I put it in a plastic box instead?
Other devices are a yale lock and a z-wave relay that's hooked up to the garage door button, I forget the brand. It shows up as a generic z-wave repeater in hubitat.
Yes, both worked under smartthings for years, the repeater worked briefly under hubitat when I tested it after initially moving it over, but I just noticed this morning that its not working now.
Both were discovered by hubitat, but the lock has never worked (with hubitat). It alwasy shows up with status "unknown". I have another identical lock in a different part of the house that works fine. I even brought the hub over to the lock to try to pair it. It paired more quickly that way but was still stuck in "unknown" status. Factory reset, new batteries... nothing helped.
The zwave mesh shouldn't be that weak in the garage. I have another plug in appliance module on the wall adjoining the garage, that should be a repeater as well.
I would think that the metal blocks 100% of the signal. If this is an outlet/receptacle, then the plastic face would allow radio waves out. In effect you're turning the omnidirectional signal of ZWave into a cone pattern facing the direction of the plastic face.
So yes, I'd swap to a plastic box, if you have the time.
