Zwave devices showing offline after moving location of hub

Devices & Integrations
1

I move my ST hub from my office (1st floor) to my basement (mech room) over the weekend. One thing I notice is a couple of the z-wave devices are now showing offline. One of them was a z-wave lamp module that came back online, but the other one which is a z-wave thermostat (2gigi) that keeps going up and down, and response is really slow. So questions I have are

  1. Is this due to distance? I have a bunch of z-wave devices in the basement also, even a light switch right in the same room as the hub.
  2. When a device becomes offline, what is the recommended fix to get it (or force it) back online? reset the breaker for that room?
2

You might need repeaters (many mains-powered devices are repeaters).

You might also want to check where you placed the hub and in what orientation, as they affects the signal strength of the radios.

This article has lots of good information:

3

You may want to try doing a Z-Wave repair. Also it helps to have a few mains powered Z-Wave Plus devices around to help the mesh and connectivity.
Some 2GiG thermostat models have the ability to act as repeaters for the mesh but require them to be paired with the C-Wire connected. You can find more details about it here: [RELEASE] Enhanced Z-Wave Thermostat Device Handler with Z-Wave Plus

Note that most “lights” do not act as repeaters but “switches” should, in which case doing a Z-Wave repair can fix most issues.

4

I heard about the repair feature but never used it. How long does the process takes and/or how long would my z-waves devices be interrupted?

5

It can take from 10 minutes to an hour depending on how many zwave devices you have. You may see slight delays while it’s repairing the mesh but generally it doesn’t interfere with the operations.

6

ouch, thanks for the heads up

7

Quick update, I end up having three devices drop off the Zwave network after I moved the ST hub from the 1st floor to my mechanical room in the basement.

  1. Front door lock - after a power cycle on the lock, it seems to hold without issue
  2. However, the following 2 devices are problematic
  • 2nd floor thermostat - I remove the battery and put it back in. It will come back online, but disappear again at a later time. This is the farthest away from the hub in term of distance. What’s interesting is the z-wave light switch in the same room is not exhibiting the same problem
  • z-wave lamp module in the 2nd floor master. This will drop in and out. But this is also one of those module that you plug into the wall outlet versus hard wiring. I am sure that has something to do with it

So in short, I have two questions, prior to me rebuilding my z-wave network.

  1. when you power cycle the z-wave devices, does it cause it to find a new pathway to the hub?
  2. Does a z-wave repeater , aeotec, works?