Z-net

Forum and Topics about Z-Wave devices.
Post Reply
Bastiaan
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1257
Joined: Sat May 24, 2008 11:36 am
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Z-net

Post by Bastiaan »

Received my Z-net EU units last week and installed them on a fresh HS3 to experiment. Few surprises so far:
It turns out they don't really work wel together. You have to make a choice to run them independent or use one as the primary and the others as secondary controllers but then loose the optimization options.
Very weird that a moderns Z-wave plus system has already these kind of troubles.
I have opted to keep them separate so now I have front, center and back units but lost the ability to use my hand remote everywhere in the house.

Hope I am totally wrong with this so would love to hear how others deal with multiple Zwave controllers.

PS did a little experiment with shipping from HS by USPS and Fedex: Fedex is a little more expensive but way faster. USPS uses PostNL in the Netherland and they always charge extra for importing. In the end the faster Fedex was cheaper than USPS so be warned (again) about PostNL....
Akatar
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1134
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:25 am
Location: the netherlands

Re: Z-net

Post by Akatar »

i recieved one z-net (i orderd one to test)
you should (if you are using hs3 pro) push the button: add interface

i tried that with a couple of usb zwave sticks and there was no master/slave sticks
all sticks had there own zwave network
Bastiaan
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1257
Joined: Sat May 24, 2008 11:36 am
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Z-net

Post by Bastiaan »

Thanks but I am a bit further than including the interface. That all goes fine. Easy install and easy firmware updates. They integrate very well with HS on VM machine.

My issues concerns using multiple controllers in a large (or even remote) house. I was expecting a tighter and smarter integration. For example if I add a switch to the 'center' unit but find out that my 'back' unit has better receiption, it could do an optimize and rearrange.
Reading the material on the HS forum I can only conclude there are two ways of using them and none of them is optimal (it seems).
Akatar
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1134
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:25 am
Location: the netherlands

Re: Z-net

Post by Akatar »

that is correct, every zwave stick (or znet) has it's own zwave network and do not mix
John
Member
Member
Posts: 145
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:00 pm

Re: Z-net

Post by John »

Bastiaan wrote:Thanks but I am a bit further than including the interface. That all goes fine. Easy install and easy firmware updates. They integrate very well with HS on VM machine.

My issues concerns using multiple controllers in a large (or even remote) house. I was expecting a tighter and smarter integration. For example if I add a switch to the 'center' unit but find out that my 'back' unit has better receiption, it could do an optimize and rearrange.
Reading the material on the HS forum I can only conclude there are two ways of using them and none of them is optimal (it seems).
Bastiaan, I also ordered muliple Z-Net's because I planned to put one in the house and one in the garage. However the network coverage is much better as with my previous interface. So I just installed one in the house. This will covers the total area to be covered (length 80 m).

The other one will I use as back-up.

---
John
Bastiaan
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1257
Joined: Sat May 24, 2008 11:36 am
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Z-net

Post by Bastiaan »

Hi John, my house is 40 mtrs long with lots of alu foil isolation and Zwave never gets very far. 5-10 mtrs max. But I see the whole Zwave setup as a test for a new house we are going to build in Thailand.I will need less isolation there :-)
While building I might put some sensors there already and connect to my Dutch HS3 system. So far not impressed with the Zwave but I agree that the Znet boxes work well.
It is just surprising that a whole new system is setup and those relative simple issues are not solved. Mesh networking with root devices but not with the controllers. Can't get it.
Not convinced it is a secure and good system for larger houses.
John
Member
Member
Posts: 145
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:00 pm

Re: Z-net

Post by John »

Alu foil will not benefit to a good network coverage. In my case the house is 15 meters and outside at least every 4 meters there is a z-wave node (approximately 100 nodes in Total of which 70% Will repeat the signal). Maybe an option to wait for zigbee support but I don't know if that network has a better coverage


Verzonden vanaf mijn iPhone met behulp van Tapatalk
Akatar
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1134
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:25 am
Location: the netherlands

Re: Z-net

Post by Akatar »

there were several znet updates, we are now @ 1.0.17
how do you know there is a update, exept checking the device it self (webserver)

and still no complete working universal bin sensor
Bastiaan
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1257
Joined: Sat May 24, 2008 11:36 am
Location: Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Z-net

Post by Bastiaan »

Good points. Also did not notice the update. Doesn't show a change log either.
Still better dan your HC 2?
Akatar
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 1134
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:25 am
Location: the netherlands

Re: Z-net

Post by Akatar »

Bastiaan wrote:Good points. Also did not notice the update. Doesn't show a change log either.
Still better dan your HC 2?
let's say, 340 devices @ hs3 en 20 @ one hc2
the last hurdle is the fibaro ubs
it's working for a couple of hours (well, one input) but after a couple of hours the ubs is not working anymore, only thing that works is restarting hs3

so when that is fixed, the last hc2 can go out the window
Post Reply

Return to “Z-Wave Forum”