- The number one reason that zwave devices won’t pair is because they are still paired to a previous controller. This can happen even with a brand new device if it was paired with the test bed at the factory. It can also be the result of a failed pairing attempt.
So the first troubleshooting step is usually to do what is called a “general exclude” which will clear out any old Controller information and get the device ready to pair with the hub.
This can’t be done from a distance, however, because the individual Z wave devices will have to be physically manipulated in some way (usually a button press pattern) in order to accept the exclude. This was considered a security feature since it meant you had to have physical access to a device in order to reset it.
( in the future, please include brand and model of any device you are asking questions about and we will be able to give more specific answers. In particular, it would be helpful to know if these are z wave or Z wave plus devices.)
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range extenders for Z wave don’t do anything more than any other repeating device does. These were useful back in the third generation of zwave about three years ago when not all devices operated at four transmission power. But these days pretty much every device does, So it’s usually a better use of your money just to get any mains powered z wave plus device Like a plug-in pocket socket so you can get dual use out of it. So tell your friend to go ahead and return that device, it’s not really helpful anyway.
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I strongly recommend reading the FAQ thread on range and repeaters. Start with post 11 in that thread and after reading that go up to the top and read the whole thread. ( this is a clickable link)
Smartthings itself doesn’t really provide us as individual customers with any signal strength tools. There are some third-party items you can buy but they’re pretty technical to set up and use, and they cost anywhere from $50-$200, and they’re really intended more for professional installers. And you still can’t use them from a distance.
I know most of that isn’t of much help for the immediate problem, but I would start by just picking one of the devices that isn’t being working, come back here and tell us the brand and model, as well as the model of the hub that’s in place, and then we can see if the next logical step is a general exclude or something else.
It could just be that everything is too far away from the hub. So we are going to need some more details.