I have a Gocontrol/Linear Gd00Z-4 Z-Wave Garage Door Opener Remote Controller that is in a detached garage, 100 feet from my 2nd Generation Smart Things Hub.
Will 1 ZW117 Range Extender boost the signal enough to reach the hub?
Do I need 2 of them (1 plugged in at the garage inside outlet facing the home window where there is an inside outlet line of sight)?
Zwave range extenders were useful with the early generations of zwave. However, we are now in the fifth generation (“zwave plus”), and at this point pretty much any mains powered Z wave device will act as a repeater. That includes light switches, plug in pocket sockets, plug in sensors, etc. you no longer need a single purpose “range extender,” and in fact any zwave plus device will have a significantly longer range than the old Z wave extenders do.
A zwave plus device (any zwave plus device) should have a range of about 150 feet through clear air in dry weather. There are a number of factors that can degrade signal, including architectural issues like brick walls, metal objects including cars, and humidity. So we typically use a rule of thumb of about 60 feet for one hop for Z wave plus and about 40 feet for classic zwave or Zigbee. But you can just experiment and see what works in your specific location.
So if I were you, I would just get any zwave plus plug-in pocket socket. You’ll get better range then the extender and it will be still be able to be used for other purposes as well.
100 feet is going to be pushing it, but you can see if it works.
http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Repeaters
Also note that after you add whatever repeater you end up choosing, make sure you run a Z wave repair so that the garage door controller is aware that the repeater has joined the network. It can take a little while for address tables to update, so you may not see improvement until the next day.