I am wanting to install the Smartthings WiFi mesh system in my house in order to improve the internet reception throughout the house. I have a couple of questions:
Do I need to eliminate the current Hub that I have installed? I know that you are not supposed to have Hub’s right next to each other and the current one is right next to the modem where I would most likely install the 1st of the mesh extenders.
Will each of the new units installed act as extenders for the hub as well? For instance, I have the Iris Z-Wave garage door controllers that are constantly losing connection to the hub. SO much so that I have given up on them. If I install one if the extenders in the garage should that make the connection better?
RW
tgauchat
(ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)
2
I’m currently running a SmartThings V1 and Samsung WiFi Mesh.
Yes: You can keep both Hubs and even add them to the same SmartThings “Location” (using the New App), but there definitely is a greater chance of RF interference. I am not 100% sure that the “main Hub” of the Mesh has to be the “SmartThings” Hub, so that might give you some wiggle room by using one of the sub-Hubs as the “SmartThings” Hub. Still: Having more than 1 Hub in a Location is actually dis-recommended by SmartThings these days. Not sure if it is just a complexity issue or if they actually have bugs related to this configuration.
The sub-Hubs of the Mesh do repeat Z-Wave and ZigBee signals like any other plain powered Z-Wave or ZigBee device (outlet, wall switch, etc.). Z-Wave and ZigBee are not tunneled over the WiFi or LAN connection though - so don’t expect much more improvement than if you just added some powered devices around your home anyway.
I’m happy with the system so far. Plume seems to be doing its “AI” job. But I have not joined very many devices to the new “SmartThings” hub yet. My old Hub is a tad less reliable from an RF perspective - so I really ought to just get it out of the picture and fully migrate.