Hi folks
So it looks like I need a z-wave repeater as I have some battery operated devices that can’t reliably see the ST hub.
I understand that only permanently mains-powered z-wave devices can act as repeaters - I guess that powered sockets fall into this category but what other devices would function as repeaters?
Thanks
S.
well i would just say go with light switches. perfect solution.
I thought I already gave you this link, but in case not, here it is:
Unfortunately the OP is in the U.K., but is using US Z wave frequency. I don’t think he’s going to find a light switch option in his case. He can use a pocket socket or a mains-powered motion sensor with a power adapter if he needs to stay with the US zwave frequency. Anything that’s directly wired is going to have a problem with the voltage differences.
https://shop.homeseer.com/products/homeseer-hsm200-z-wave-multi-sensor
@JDRoberts I read through the wiki link and still have a few questions.
1: I see that zwave and zigbee repeater devices only pass along their respective signals. Will this zwave siren shop.smartthings.com/products/aeon-labs-siren-gen-5, when plugged in close enough, help extend the signal for one of these shop.smartthings.com/products/samsung-smartthings-multipurpose-sensor-samjin in my detached garage?
2: I’ve been thinking I needed to extend my wifi so the garage device could talk to the hub, but is extending the zwave or zigbee signals actually what’s important?
3: Will it help if I get one of the sirens (or other plug-in thing with compatible signal) for both ends, in the house and in the garage, or just on the house?
.1. It’s like The old pony express mail carriers. Each carrier can go a specific distance and then they give the message to the next carrier to carry for the next leg of the journey.
So any given repeater device only carries a message for about 40 feet from where it is. It won’t have anything to do with devices which are further away than that. At the end of that 40 feet it has to pass the message to another repeating device or to the hub.
So you need one repeater for Z wave about every 40 feet. And you need another repeater for Zigbee about every 40 feet.
If you are using z wave plus devices, they have a somewhat longer range, so you only need one about every 60 feet. Z Wave plus devices can repeat Messages for any other Z wave device, whether it is zwave plus or the older zwave classic. But they still can’t repeat for the zigbee.
The Samsung SmartThings branded devices are all zigbee. So a zwave device like the Fortrezz will never see any of their messages and cannot help repeat them.
.2. For your second question, yes, you are correct: Wi-Fi is a different protocol and cannot help your Z wave or Zigbee devices.
.3. A repeating device doesn’t boost the signal strength like a Wi-Fi booster does. It’s just able to pass along messages for other devices. But all the devices have about the same signal strength whether they are battery operated or mains powered. So you don’t need a second repeater close to the battery operated sensor. As long as the signal from the first repeater can reach the battery operated sensor, then that’s good enough.
You have been immensely helpful. Thank you for the clarifications.
So the Aerotec siren page on the Smartthings store says:
"The Aeon Labs Gen 5 Siren is a Z-Wave device that is fully compatible with SmartThings."
They mean it’ll work because it can talk to the hub and therefore the app, but they don’t mean fully compatible with smartthings devices.
