Are light switches better repeaters than lamp modules?

Community Playground General Discussions
1

My experience with z-wave stuff has left me with the impression that in-wall light-switches are better repeaters than lamp modules that plug into a wall outlet. For example, the z-wave light switch in our garage is some distance from our house. There’s a z-wave light switch inside of the house that’s within maybe 10 feet of a sliding glass door that faces the garage. I could not control the garage switch. So, I tried a z-wave lamp module in an outdoor wall-plug outside the glass door, which I figured would be close enough to the garage to act as a repeater. No such luck. After removing the lamp module I installed a z-wave light switch inside the house next to the sliding glass door (for the back-porch light). THEN the garage door z-wave switch started reacting to commands. So, even though the lamp module was outside and maybe 2 feet closer to the garage, it did not successfully reach the garage light switch. Yet a light switch inside the house with a brick wall between it and the garage switch is able to reach the garage light switch.

I’ve encountered this before in another installation.

Is there any technical reason why a wall-switch would be a better repeater, or has my experience just been random luck or idiosyncrasies of the devices I happened to use?

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It’s likely more about physical placement, Wall materials/effective thickness, along with how well the Vendor made their internal Z-Wave antenna than about a specific type of device (Wall wart, Switch or Socket). In my network, for example, I’ve tried to stick to one manufacturer as much as possible, assuming that they’re more likely to have tested their devices working together, have consistent antenna design (etc, etc)

At various points, the Z-Wave network determines the best ‘path’ from A to B within the Z-Wave network. This seems more fussy to get right when the Network is smaller (and harder to maintain an accurate one once the Network get big)

Z-Wave, and RF in general, is definitely an odd mistress in this respect :wink:

PS: I have about 4-5 Appliance modules around the house, they were part of my original system and they all seem to participate in some of the hard-to-reach devices. They’re Appliance modules though, not Lamp modules, so that might make a difference (3-pin, not 2-pin)