[quote=“cdrracing, post:3, topic:48075, full:true”]
Thank you for the quick response JD!
I had already read a couple of those threads but they didn’t seem to have any updates or solutions so I thought I’d start a new thread (thank you for moving it to the proper category) where I could (hopefully) figure this out and give some solutions for others that may stumble on it.
Two questions:
Does Z-wave Plus repeat Z-wave signals (I thought I read somewhere they don’t but I can’t find it anywhere now)?[/quote]
Yes. All zwave generations are backwards compatible, it’s part of the spec. So zwave Classic devices can repeat zwave plus and Z wave plus can repeat Z wave classic.
Do you think the biggest problem is the exterior wall of my house (sandstone, fiberglass insulation & two layers of 1/2 gypsum drywall) or the metal on the building?
Both of those are bad. Seriously bad. Sandstone is essentially the same as concrete, although it can vary depending on the specific mineral content. gypsum drywall again varies, not as bad as sandstone though. The issue here is that while metal per se is worse then sandstone, it sounds like the sandstone is thicker.
I think you’ve got to look for either air gaps or materials that the signal can pass through. Clear glass is good so I’m assuming that you have windows in the house? As long as they’re not tinted, you can put a repeater near the glass.
For the metal shed, as discussed in the other threads, if there’s a window, use that.
If not, if rubber stripping on the doors is an option, that can help a lot.
If the rubber is not an option, if you can put an electrical outlet on the outside of the shed you can probably get signal through it to the other side.
Or, as discussed in the other threads, if none of those are an option sometimes the only thing you can do is run an Internet cable and put a second hub as a second account inside the shed to handle signal to things inside the shed. That gives you the best signal but logically is a lot more complex to set up and keep track of.