I am having trouble connecting my z wave devices that are located in my basement/garage. I live in a 3 story house so I have by hub on the ground level (0) in order to be in the middle. I am afraid that the concrete between level 0 and level -1 is too thick and this is the reason why I can not get any z wave signal down there. I have wired running through all the levels and the ability to add new wires as well, so ideally I would like a wired z wave extender in order to extend the z wave to the basement/garage.
One other option commonly used for basements is to use a zwave light bulb as a repeater and try to bounce signal down the stairways that way. This can be a good choice for some situations.
Just to clarify, I do not really need the extender to work with ST, I just want to use it as a stepping stone for bouncing the signal. It is important for me that the devices further down the line to work with ST
No. In order to be able to repeat the signal, the repeater has to belong to the same zwave network as the other devices. So it has to work with SmartThings and be a recognized device on that network. It will ignore any other transmissions.
Just remember that in both the US and the EU this is only an unlicensed band if you stay below very specific power transmission levels. And these days almost all zwave devices transmit at maximum power. If you can’t use a regular Z wave repeater in the location, you may need to get a license to use a more powerful device. This is because the signal can interfere with other devices in the area, including systems that your neighbors may have or even ambulance or first responder communication devices.
If you’re willing to switch hub vendors… Hubitat has built-in support for synchronizing multiple Hubitat Elevation hubs together over Ethernet. Typically, you would designate one hub as the primary. This hub would run all whole home automations, provide dashboard access, perform cloud integrations, etc… The second hub would be used in the remote location, and would have its own Z-wave and Zigbee networks. These devices would then be mirrored to the primary hub as virtual devices. If desired, local automations on the secondary hub are possible, assuming all of the necessary devices are connected to this hub.
I had this issue automating a swimming pool at a friends house. With all the concrete and rebar, It was just too far from the house. I solved it by putting an additional Z-Wave module in the middle. I used a Fibaro Dimmer, but I would suspect any powered Z-wave module would do the trick. The key is to include it near the hub so you get a secure inclusion, move it to where you need it and then do a Z-wave repair.
Had this issue recently with an install in an outhouse.
Fortunately, I was able to easily run some Romex from a junction box and connected a Z-Wave Plus Outlet at the edge of the signal. This gave me enough boost to establish the needed network in the outhouse.
The outlet will more than likely never be used as it only acts as a repeater.
So in essence, we already have wired repeaters…you just have to “wire” them…
Unfortunately there aren’t any Zwave over wire devices that work with SmartThings.