I am looking for advice or recommendations oh how to get my z-wave devices working in my garage/shed. In the garage shed, I have a adc thermostat, 2 ge switches, 21 ge outlet, and a garage door tilt sensor. I installed them into my system with my panel with me, once I left and put the panel back in the house the devices stopped working. I tried adding a repeater at the closest spot to the garage in the house but no changes. I have a zwave door sensor in the shed about halfway between the house and the garage which has been working perfectly for several years. The new devices are all zwave plus. I have two powerg door sensors that work fine at that distance.
Please see picture for reference.
The best option I can see working is run an extension cord from the garage to a tree roughly halfway to an enclosure with a repeater. It would be through brush so the extension cord would not be an eyesore. I have no power in the shed in the middle so that is not an option. I have power and ethernet ran from the house to the shed but that doesn’t help me for this. I have a iq2 secondary panel in the garage working fine since I have a orbi router out there. Is there another option? I doubt there is a ethernet to zwave device or something to that sort. Never heard of it. Powerg should put out some switches, outlets, tilt sensors, and thermostat lol. Any help would be appreciated.
Great question. The pic is extremely helpful! I wish I had a simple answer but I don’t.
I agree, there should be an off the shelf solution for bridging Z-Wave over IP and back. But I’m not aware of anything that would work with Qolsys. It would be really nice if there were a Z-wave controller in the IQ Remote secondary panel that just handled this seamlessly. I’ll reach out to Qolsys to see if they’ve dealt with this before. Hopefully, now that they’re making a push into Commercial where this kind of problem would be commonplace, they will be working on a solution. I’ll talk to some others around here too and see of anyone has any creative ideas.
I agree about having a zwave chip in the remote panel. Would be very useful in many scenarios. I appreciate you looking into it for me. I’ll also keep you updated of any progress I can make.
Following up… There isn’t anything that extends Z-Wave over IP I can find that would work with Qolsys. HomeSeer has something like this but it wouldn’t work with Qolsys.
It sounds like the only option available now is Z-Wave repeaters. Z-Wave does have a max range of 100 meters in open air, with no obstacles impeding the signal. What if you put an outdoor Z-Wave repeater on the outside of the house and the shed facing each other with an unimpeded line of sight? The 190ft link is less than 100 meters so it might work with open line of site.
Another, less desirable option would be to put an Alarm.com hub (a low cost non-security hub) in the shed and have a separate Alarm.com account for those devices but link it to the login for your main account. You could use our $6/month Surety Automate plan for the shed. You wouldn’t be able to create rules the went across the 2 accounts but you would be able to remotely control them from the same app.
You mentioned you have a Z-Wave door sensor in the middle shed. That wouldn’t work with Alarm.com. Are you using another HA system in addition to Alarm.com?
Thanks for the follow up. Once I get home from working overseas I will do some testing with two repeaters facing each other from outdoors. If I can get that to work I can put them in an enclosure with a transparent cover and make it look neat.
When I add the repeater to be used on the garage shed, is it best to add it to the system in place with the panel with me out there or add it in the house then bring it out there. Either way it would be advised to do a network rediscovery after to try and get the best route and the least hops?
I have a interlogix door/window sensor in the shed in the middle for the shed door. It’s with adc and havent had any problems with it, even in the brutal cold winters. It’s a 319.5 sensor, not zwave (908.42), my apology. Always forgetting there are multiple frequencies to consider.
My map looks like a mess but you can see where the garage shed lights and repeater are unavailable. The outlet shows it is but it’s not anymore, I think when I took this picture that one hadn’t timed out yet. If they can’t communicate at the time of the rediscovery, can they still be found? Are they always searching. I ask because if I add a repeater outside successfully, then do a rediscovery, should everything come to life after?
When I add the repeater to be used on the garage shed, is it best to add it to the system in place with the panel with me out there or add it in the house then bring it out there. Either way it would be advised to do a network rediscovery after to try and get the best route and the least hops?
Either way will work, but for a plug-in device it is probably best to just learn it in close to the panel then move it out there.
The important part is indeed to run a network rediscovery afterward.
Keep in mind that Z-wave will only make 4 hops on the way to a destination node.
If they can’t communicate at the time of the rediscovery, can they still be found? Are they always searching. I ask because if I add a repeater outside successfully, then do a rediscovery, should everything come to life after?
They would need to be working at the time of rediscovery. A rediscovery maps the best routes for signals, I believe devices unreachable by rediscovery at the time would simply have the panel as a neighbor node.
Yes, if the repeater can help get the signals out there, they would show as being linked to the panel through that repeater and it should work.
Good luck! I’m looking forward to hearing whether it works. You may already be aware but there are outdoor Z-Wave plugs that act as repeaters such as these from Jasco and Inovelli. I haven’t used them myself though.
Thanks Roy, my theory was that the dedicated repeater would put out a better signal? I am aware of switches and plus also repeating. You think it is similar and as strong of a signal?
As far as I am aware wall-powered (as opposed to battery powered) Z-Wave devices all transmit with the same signal strength and should have the same range. From the Z-Wave FAQ
It is recommended to have a Z-Wave device roughly every 30 feet or even closer for maximum efficiency. While Z-Wave has a range of 100 meters or 328 feet in open air, building materials reduce that range. The more line powered devices in your Z-Wave network, the better, as they also act as repeaters to extend the Z-Wave signal. Z-Wave’s mesh networking allows a Z-Wave signal to “hop” through other Z-Wave products to reach the destination device to be controlled. If there is a wall interfering with this signal, all you need is a simple Z-Wave repeater or other line powered device to work around the wall so the signal can continue on to its final destination. Z-Wave supports up to 4 hops so the total home coverage will grow depending on the amount of Z-Wave products in the network. The maximum range with 4 hops is roughly 600 feet or 200 meters.
Battery powered devices such as door locks will usually transmit weaker signals in order to conserve battery life but plugs are wall-powered and should get maximum range. I’d be interested if you did an experiment and found otherwise though.
I was referring to a difference in the Aeotec Repeater vs a outlet acting as a repeater if one would be better at sending the signal across the yard, not a battery powered device.
The only battery z-wave device I believe I have is the lock but I will experiment with using an interior ge smart plug vs the Aeotec Range Extender 6, both are z-wave plus. Set up in the same spot outside to see if I notice any signal strength differences. Can we see db readings on the IQ Panel 2+ or does it just show signal strength in bars? Can’t remember.
Got it. What I was trying to say is I don’t think there will be difference in range between a repeater and a plug since they’re both wall powered. But I’m interested to hear what you find when you try it.
Side note, don’t forget to do a network rediscovery after moving devices before you run each test.
Update: I attached the repeater outside the garage shed and performed a rediscovery and it picked up the zwave signal and my switches, outlets, and thermostat picked up the signal. No Outside repeater was needed on the outside of the house like I thought. Its picking the signal up from devices already in the system.
Very nice work! Thanks for following up with the photos, and glad to hear it is working for you.
Let us know if you run into any issues. Operating temps floor at 32 I believe for that repeater, but with it in a sturdy enclosure and always on I imagine you should be fine.
