Z-NET Network Z-Wave Plus Controller with built-in 700 or 800 Series Z-Wave Module

[upstatemike]

I see the 800 chips are now shipping. Is that what is going into the next version of Z-Net?

https://www.eejournal.com/industry_n...-and-security/

[paul]

Long range is point to point and supports up to 4000 nodes. This is targeted more for commercial. We totally intend on supporting it but it requires major changes to our controller so it will be a while.

Just out of curiosity, are those major changes to code or to hardware? ie. if I were to buy a 700 or 800 series Z-Net when it becomes available, and then down the road LR capability is added, would that be a just a firmware update to the 700 or 800 series Z-Net, or would that be a hardware change?

regards,

Paul

[rjh]

Most changes are in the software. The interface will technically work, but the antenna should be modified. So we will probably offer a different interface when we support LR.

Just out of curiosity, are those major changes to code or to hardware? ie. if I were to buy a 700 or 800 series Z-Net when it becomes available, and then down the road LR capability is added, would that be a just a firmware update to the 700 or 800 series Z-Net, or would that be a hardware change?

regards,

Paul

[mulu]

They mention Matter for the 800 series. Since rjh mentioned that it is mostly software I assume the 700 will also support Matter. Only if you want to have the (even longer) range capability of the 800 you have to upgrade from the 700 to the 800 HW. Is that correct?

[upstatemike]

Maybe if LR needs some new hardware anyway it could also be engineered to allow a Zigbee USB device to plug into it and also act as a Thread Edge Router. This will make it a super flexible Swiss Army Knife of a radio that should stay viable for many years.

[TC1]

They mention Matter for the 800 series. Since rjh mentioned that it is mostly software I assume the 700 will also support Matter.

No, and I'm not sure where you got that. Z-wave devices operate around 908Mhz, and Matter, which has a Zigbee foundation, is around 2.4Ghz. Two very distinct radio transceivers.

Many Zigbee devices manufactured in the near future will be Matter upgradeable.

[rjh]

Matter is just a protocol, it does not define the actual control technology. We plan on supporting matter but it will be by us exposing all of our devices to the matter protocol. Se we will act like a bridge.

No, and I'm not sure where you got that. Z-wave devices operate around 908Mhz, and Matter, which has a Zigbee foundation, is around 2.4Ghz. Two very distinct radio transceivers.

Many Zigbee devices manufactured in the near future will be Matter upgradeable.

[TC1]

Matter is just a protocol, it does not define the actual control technology. We plan on supporting matter but it will be by us exposing all of our devices to the matter protocol. Se we will act like a bridge.

Yep, totally understand about being a bridge... my point was that a Z-wave 700 series based controller does not mean it will be able to control a Matter device when the majority of them will be operating in the Zigbee radio spectrum around 2.4Ghz and different packet transmission characteristics. "Something" will have to bridge the wireless networks.

[George]

Yep, totally understand about being a bridge... my point was that a Z-wave 700 series based controller does not mean it will be able to control a Matter device when the majority of them will be operating in the Zigbee radio spectrum around 2.4Ghz and different packet transmission characteristics. "Something" will have to bridge the wireless networks.

Most likely people will need something like the Nortek Zigbee/ZWave stick that HST is selling. If it's all in the same stick then it would be up to HS to manage the interoperability.

[TC1]

Most likely people will need something like the Nortek Zigbee/ZWave stick that HST is selling. If it's all in the same stick then it would be up to HS to manage the interoperability.

Not even that possibly... since Amazon and Google have both pledged to support Matter devices, any Matter/Zigbee devices connected through one of their hub devices could then be spoken to from HS via software bridging. The icing on the cake would be if those hub manufacturers allowed a local connection API.

But this is all speculative for now. Matter ain't gonna matter in the near-term and this is a thread about Z-wave network controllers.

[ewkearns]

rjh I noted, here, that the new Z-Nets, which are available for pre-order and will begin shipping by Wednesday, June 22nd,
do not have the 700 chip. Is the 700 chip still in the future plans or was it just not justifiably advantageous?

[rjh]

I posted elsewhere on this, but with our testing we are getting errors with the 700 series and the ZNet. It looks like maybe it does not like the delay with sending commands over the network. The 500 series works better here. There really isn't any advantage to the 700 series in a controller. Most likely we will be moving to the 800 series. Also, we can still get 500 series chips for the ZNet but 700 series is next to impossible to find. Silicon Labs wants us to move to 800 series since they can more easily make those chips (uses a different manufacturing process).

rjh I noted, here, that the new Z-Nets, which are available for pre-order and will begin shipping by Wednesday, June 22nd,
do not have the 700 chip. Is the 700 chip still in the future plans or was it just not justifiably advantageous?

[John245]

I posted elsewhere on this, but with our testing we are getting errors with the 700 series and the ZNet. It looks like maybe it does not like the delay with sending commands over the network. The 500 series works better here. There really isn't any advantage to the 700 series in a controller. Most likely we will be moving to the 800 series. Also, we can still get 500 series chips for the ZNet but 700 series is next to impossible to find. Silicon Labs wants us to move to 800 series since they can more easily make those chips (uses a different manufacturing process).

If the 800 series Z-Net is available I will purchase 3

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John