Problems with multiple locks in a repeater setup

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

I am now trying my 4th doorlock, all of which have failed. My setup is Vera3 => AeonLabs Repeater => AeonLabs Repeater => AeonLabs Repeater => Kwikset 912 doorlock. The final AeonLabs repeater is only a few feet from the door lock and responds perfectly to commands.

However, all 4 of the door locks I have tried (2 Schlage and 2 Kwikset) have been sporadic at best, and many times will not respond at all. I have been on many calls with tech support and they have not been able to help. All of the locks have worked perfectly in range of Vera, however it is a big house and Vera can’t be close enough to all of my doors so I have to get this working on repeaters. Tech support told me that the Aeon Labs repeater was the one to use.

I have done many full network heals which have not fixed the problem.

Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? Why are the locks failing when they are placed so close to a working repeater?

2

It’s a much more complicated protocol sending encrypted commands (which the locks use) between the controller and the locks.
There are multiple messages send back and forth for a single command such as Unlock I can’t remember how many messages.
But a failure in one individual message probably causes the whole cycle to repeat. If there are N messages to this request … the probability of
a failure increased by a factor of N.

If the distance is too large for your Z-Wave network … it might be better to partition the house with multiple Z-Wave networks … with a Vera for each network … and let the Vera’s talk to each other over Wifi. This is a supported Vera configuration.

3

Thanks for the response. I did not know that setup was supported. I will try that out if all else fails (I’d rather not spend the money for a Vera except as a last resort).

So if I understand you correctly, you are saying that even though the repeater responds perfectly when I trigger it in the Mios web app, the encrypted command could still fail?

Is there any other way of increasing the odds of an encrypted signal getting to the doorlock? Would more repeaters in the mesh around the lock be better or worse?

EDIT: If I do purchase another Vera, would a VeraLite do in the setup you have prescribed? Or do i have to go with another Vera3?

4
Would more repeaters in the mesh around the lock be better or worse?
I do not have enough experience with the various Z-Wave mesh network options to provide the best answer.

I know that the LOCKS are much more complex for a single command. I (and other before and after me) have tried to reverse engineer the lock protocol using and open source Z-Wave library. If someone has done it … they have not made the results public.

If I do purchase another Vera, would a VeraLite do in the setup you have prescribed? Or do i have to go with another Vera3?
Currently you can mix a Vera 2, Vera Lite and Vera 3. The requirement is they all run the same firmware. It is rumored that the next firmware release will not be available for the Vera 2. But I have not seen anything official.
5

FDB, have you run a network heal? If so, what was the results of the report?

6

I have done many, many heals on this network with various configurations of the repeaters. I never knew what to make of the heal report, it says “Hover over a device to see which devices it can see” but that does not work. Perhaps someone here could tell me what it means? Here is a screenshot of some of the report