I have a ST V3 Hub on the 2nd Floor center home, along with 2 Samsung motions on the 1ft Floor and Zwave Leviton plugs. My issues are that they constantly go offline, which I believe its due to the range of the Hub and the devices. Other devices closer to the Hub works fine.
With a few Samsung Motions and door taps, along with Leviton zwave+ plugs, whats the best way to try to extend my range to the 1st floor? Is there a repeater that works well and where should I place it? Is the Samsung Motions Zwave protocols?
The SmartThings brand Motion sensors are zigbee, not Z wave, so you would need devices that can act as Zigbee repeaters.
Many people use the IKEA Tradfri plug-in pocketsockets which are available in many countries and very inexpensive, typically $9.99 when bought directly from IKEA. they work well with smartthings and do not need any custom code. They are kind of clunky and only have one socket, but you can’t beat the price.
If you have a smartthings pocketsocket, that will be either zigbee or Wi-Fi, so check to see if you have a Zigbee one of those. It’s another good repeater.
Thank you. I was able to buy 2 of the Tradfri outlets from Ikea and it worked great. Ill also be adding a new of the Smartthings water sensor so I hope the Tradfri will extend to the other rooms.
Do you know if the smartthings small, battery powered sensors like the motion or the water sensors act like a extender/repeater too? Or is it still best to add more of the Ikea Tradfri outlets?
I’m glad to hear the IKEA plugs are working well for you. Many people in the forums have reported that they are excellent zigbee repeaters in a smartthings set up.
Normally battery powered devices do not act as repeaters because it would shorten the battery life too much. There are one or two exceptions but they will be very clearly marked as having repeating capability. And most often they are plug-in devices which fall over to a battery if the power goes out.
I’m not aware of any sensors that also act as a repeater, and definitely the smartthings ones do not.
Thank JDR. Since Im using these Ikea plugs are repeaters, do they still work as repeaters when the plug is “OFF” or do I need to keep them “ON”?
They will work as repeaters whether the plug is in off or on status. As long as the device is still drawing power, which it needs just for its own radio to hear the next “on“ command from the network, it will act as a repeater. So you can go ahead and plug something into the plug and create automations just as you would for any smart plug, the repeating capability is just a bonus.
