Reach of the Circles ?

[YogiBear75]

Hello fellow Plugwise users,

I have a question. On the ground floor I have the Circle+ and 3 Circles.
2 circles are within reach of let's say 3 meter. 1 is within reach of say 4 meter. The last one is not acting as good to measure the power usage.
The last Circle is on the first floor and within reach of the Circle+ of let's say 10 meter, but from another Circle let's say 5 meter.
I get the feeling, the Mesh network is not setup, only the Circles within range of 3 meter will act to Power Measurement requests. Does anybody have the same setup / response ?

Solution of Plugwise is to buy more Circles.... just to extend the range and not have any 'use' for this extra Circle..

Please help for any other solution.

Thanks,

Yogi

[sebastiaan]

I had the same problem in the beginning.

what i did.. i stopped the source..changed possition of some plugs and started source again.
source would look at the routing table but will see there are changes and renew te routing. this worked for me and my range was growing.

( just for info..some of my plugs works in open field over 50 metres..so it IS possible but tricky )

without walls the plugs will do easy 10 metres. with walls, trees, chairs, anything in between distance will shrink. some people do have the circle+ next to the pc..remember the pc is made out of metal and forms a shield.. my thing is that if you can SEE the other plug ( in a direct line ) it will communicate in the mesh.

Hope this helps ya out..good luck

best regards Sebastiaan

[YogiBear75]

Hmm,

So I have to exchange the Circles with eachother?

TV becomes Dishwasher, Quooker becomes HD-video Computer etc. etc. ?
And then it will work ?

Yogi

[evja78]

You may not have to do ALL of them, just a few. The key is that by doing this you are forcing the source and the mesh network to renew it´s internal routing table.

[YogiBear75]

Hi there,

Just fixed it myself. Walked around with a laptop and Source installed and the Plugwise USB key.
And then just take a step towards the circles which were not found and then a step at a time away from the Circles.
This worked. I think the MESH network learns from the surrounding Circles.
So no need to unplug the Circles.
Just walk around the house with a laptop and Source installed with the USB key.

So this might be a tip for others

Yogi

[Louis]

Thanks for sharing this tip!
It is surprising though, I thought the USB stick only 'talks' to the Circle+

[sebastiaan]

stick talks to all the plugs, not only the circle+

in fact the circle+ is like a normal plug..just..it keeps all the data in memory and does the setting of the clock.
so yes you can walk around with the stick in ya laptop and read the other plugs.

indeed its a way to learn the plugs..did it too but changing possition even does a better job.

glad it worked out

greatz sebastiaan

[xAPPO]

It would be great to be able to examine the routing table and the relative quality of the interlinks such that any large segments of the network that are only linked with the rest via one mesh path can be (physically) adjusted to improve reliability and speed.

K

[Darwusch]

I totally agree, that would be a great addition to the program.

[Jeffrey]

I hear Z-Zeer for plugwise....something like --> Plug-Zeer or P-Zeer

But seriously, z-zeer for Plugwise would be great, as now we are in the dark about the communication and possible problems with it.

[evja78]

That would indeed be an excellent way to troubleshoot Plugwise. Not sure though if Plugwise is going to play ball with working on this.
They seem to be very much focussed on the green element and making power usage known to convice people to save energy (and make a few bucks in the process), the home-automation benefits seem to be a nice add-on market for them, but not their prime target audience.

I am still looking for an alternative to my Xanura stuff, but Plugwise product range is not mature enough to make the switch-over.
There
I are obviously still missing a few key features like a dimming plug, a single/dual switch (althoug I think that the single one is on it´s way), and a local button on the plugs to switch on/off including status update.

Cheers,

Evja

[YogiBear75]

Hello,

I know Plugwise is focussing on energy savings, but they do know about home automation.
Otherwise.. why would they sell kits with 9 Circles ?
You can always use the same Circle to measure power usage of a machine, and then somewhat later another device...etc.

I hope Plugwise is reading this forum and wants to program a way to 'see' the routing table.
Better yet, you can force a routing table.

Yogi