Z-Wave Reception Insanity

I've had a Z-stick on the back of my iMac basically to control 1 Z-Wave Lock for a while now. I got a new Mac Mini recently and have been transitioning everything over. I haven't had too much trouble with drivers (High Sierra) for the Insteon PLM or Z-Wave or anything, but I have been having a ridiculous time with getting Z-Wave to connect to my door lock. I think I've solved it, but partially to rant, and partially to share what works and what doesn't... here's what I found:

First of all, my lock is about 8 feet from my computer (with a wall in between). First thing I tried was just to plug the Z Stick into the Mac mini. This does not work. Just no ack from the lock. The stick is in roughly the same orientation it was on the iMac, just a few inches lower, but will not go.

I try using it with my hub. No go. Can't even see the Z-Stick. No idea what's going on here. It's an Aukey hub, but it is 10-port and I've found more ports generally correlates with less reliability. Plus Matt and Jay cautioned against using a hub.

Ignoring my experience with that hub, I plug it into the USB ports on a Dell Display I have. With this hub built into the monitor I CAN see the Z-stick. Using the downward facing ports on the monitor though, no ack from the lock 8 feet away.

However, using the side-mounted port on the monitor everything works flawlessly. This is just great performance. However, that port leaves the Z-stick blinking in my face all the time, and also given that the monitor is near the edge of the desk, incredibly likely to get bumped or broken off. Great performance, unacceptable location.

Now I decide to try the other frowned-on solution - the USB extension cable. This works. Kind of. Basically, since it's an extension cable, you can move it around until you find a place that works. Eventually I find a place that works, stick it to the wall with some command strips and declare victory.

...until today, when I find the lock not responding. It seems the command strip has let go and I can't find the secret location to mount the z-stick again. At this time, I figure that since I'm knee-deep in it anyway, I should install the other z-wave lock I have here and fight both battles at once. The second lock is located on a door more than 30 feet away. Not sure why I thought this was a good idea.

More messing around with extension cables, and hubs until finally... a really LONG extension cable. I have a 10ft long extension cable. I plugged the Z-stick into that and boom: Front door works. AND so does my new, far door lock. I tried moving the Z-Stick back to the original spot I had it stuck on the wall, and it was able to operate the FAR door lock, but NOT the one 8 feet away. This was merely a bump though, and with 10 feet to play with, I easily found a place convenient to mount it where it could communicate with both locks.

tl;dr Just get a long (10 ft) USB extension cable and move the stick around until it works.

My setup is quite similar. My Indigo server is headless and buried in my office closet and putting the Z-stick in the back USB ports was hit-and-miss until I put on a 6ft USB extension and raised the Z-stick all the way to the ceiling where it had the best range, ever since then it has been flawless.

[jay (support)]

We noticed early on that orientation of the Z-Stick was important - if you can get it in a vertical orientation you'll almost always get a better signal.

In your case, I suspect you have something that's interfering with the RF signal itself, though what that might be I don't know. Either that or your Z-Stick is marginal somehow. I have a series 2 that's about 45 feet and 3 walls away from my front door lock and it works flawlessly talking directly to the Z-Stick (as it does with all my Z-Wave devices). It is relatively high - it's on a top shelf in a closet.

I would just add that, in my experience, more Z-Wave devices are better for network reliability. For the lock’s benefit—if you choose to add devices—make sure they can route encrypted commands.

I agree that 8 ft. is a more than reasonable expectation, but depending on angles and building materials, it’s not 8 ft. when going through a wall or floor—or both.


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[jay (support)]

make sure they can route encrypted commands.

I'm pretty sure any device that routes will work - routing a packet doesn't require understanding of the payload (encrypted or not), just where it's going which is not encrypted on any message.

Thanks Jay - good to know. I thought the payload was a different size and that not all devices could handle that.


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[jay (support)]

Thanks Jay - good to know. I thought the payload was a different size and that not all devices could handle that.

Not AFAIK though I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me if I'm wrong...

I would just add that, in my experience, more Z-Wave devices are better for network reliability. For the lock’s benefit—if you choose to add devices—make sure they can route encrypted commands.

I agree that 8 ft. is a more than reasonable expectation, but depending on angles and building materials, it’s not 8 ft. when going through a wall or floor—or both.


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I wasn't really planning on adding any more devices (apart from another lock).

Doesn't Z-Wave have some kind of 'dumb' repeaters I could buy and maybe plug in near the center of the house. And if so, are these the kind of things that need to be 'enrolled' etc... or can I just plug it in and go?

[matt (support)]

Thanks Jay - good to know. I thought the payload was a different size and that not all devices could handle that.

Not AFAIK though I'm sure someone will jump in and correct me if I'm wrong...

Not really much bigger (maybe just a bit, but that can happen with non-encrypted commands too). However, encryption does require significantly more commands to perform the same action.

On routing the only gotcha is that you need a module that is close to the lock that support beaming. That isn't really related to encryption though, in that you can use encryption to modules that aren't battery powered. But practically speaking locks are the most popular module that needs/requires encryption so it is worth mentioning.