Help! Horrible Z-Wave Performance w/ Raz

[IrishHayZeus]

I finally got my Raz/Pi to talk to all of my Z-wave devices (about 7 dimmers, an energy monitor, and a multisensor). My house is actually a 900sqft condo, on a single floor. After joining everything, I have horrible connectivity with my devices, and most are unresponsive unless my Raz/Pi is within inches.. literally, inches.

The RaZ was intended as an "upgrade" (along with OpenHAB, which is not yet running) from my Wink Hub, to give me a lot more flexibility in control. I still have one or two devices (in-line lamp dimmers) that are connected to the Wink, but all of the in-wall dimmers and sensors have been moved to the Raz. The Wink works fine, but the Raz is just horrible. I even tried turning off the Wink thinking maybe there was channel interference. No luck.

I'm been pouring through the z-way-server logs, looking for things that would impact the performance. There is a lot of traffic in the logs, but I've not noticed anything that stands out as problem-matic.

My question is, are there things I should be looking for in the configuration of the Raz and the Network within Z-Way to ensure that I'm getting the best performance from the Raz? Best Practices?

As an example of my problems, I went into the ExpertUI/Network/Routing page. Everything is green, or light green. However, when I try and update the graph, all but the very closest (again INCHES) fail to respond, eventually timing out with the 'update time' turning red. When I go into the Devices tab and check the connectivity of all the devices, they all immediately respond green (connected, yeah!), but if I try and do anything more with any of them, they time out.

I have no idea even where to begin at this point... I'd love some guidance, or even suggestions.

[PoltoS]

Please show routing table (after update of all lines) and communication statistics (also in Expert UI). Both will give some info.

We have noticed that RaZ works with RPi 2 worse than with old RPi B. So, we are planning a redesign. Anyway, check that there are no metallic parts around RPi, some other bojects around. Also deal with "optical length", not metric length, since RF sees walls as thicker than they are due to attenuation.

After all, you can solder a good L/4 antenna to RaZ (there are example in the internet) to make it way better.

[andyg]

Razberry with antenna added

IMG_0001.JPG (240.8 KiB) Viewed 8242 times

Hi,

Just a started with z-wave and RaZ but experienced in RF. So far only one Fibro plug with energy meter, but experinced short range 10m and erratic operation.

Soldered a couple of wires to get total of lambda/4 wires (86.4mm EU 868.4 MHz) to both Ground connection and antenna connection. Started with the antenna part, got a small improvement in connectivity, but when connected the lambda/4 to GND as well much better improvement. See attached picture of installation.

[IrishHayZeus]

Thanks Andyg and PoltoS. I'll try and post a picture of the routing table later tonight.

As a solution in the interim, I ended up placing my MultiSensor on (quite literally) my RPi, and then let it do the relaying out to the rest of the devices. This is not quite as fast as I would like, but so far, its been fairly effective.

Andyg, I was considering a similar strategy, but I'm no RF guru, so I was hesitant to go mucking with stuff, and risk making it worse. Can you explain the strategy of the lambda/4 wires? You mention 86.4mm for 868.4MHz, is that for each wire? or is that split between then? Should this measurement also include the length of the antenna trace on the PCB?

[Torulf]

Please show routing table (after update of all lines) and communication statistics (also in Expert UI). Both will give some info.

We have noticed that RaZ works with RPi 2 worse than with old RPi B. So, we are planning a redesign. Anyway, check that there are no metallic parts around RPi, some other bojects around. Also deal with "optical length", not metric length, since RF sees walls as thicker than they are due to attenuation.

After all, you can solder a good L/4 antenna to RaZ (there are example in the internet) to make it way better.

Dont want to hijack the thread but are you talking about a hardware-redesign or a software-redesign?

[andyg]

Thanks Andyg and PoltoS. I'll try and post a picture of the routing table later tonight.

As a solution in the interim, I ended up placing my MultiSensor on (quite literally) my RPi, and then let it do the relaying out to the rest of the devices. This is not quite as fast as I would like, but so far, its been fairly effective.

Andyg, I was considering a similar strategy, but I'm no RF guru, so I was hesitant to go mucking with stuff, and risk making it worse. Can you explain the strategy of the lambda/4 wires? You mention 86.4mm for 868.4MHz, is that for each wire? or is that split between then? Should this measurement also include the length of the antenna trace on the PCB?

Yes 86.4 mm is for each wire including the trace on the PCB. This is effectivly an half wave dipole which has been around for 100 years or so and is the most fundemental antennas and one of the best.