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    Multiple Z-Nets & one HomeID

    I have the opportunity to set up automation in a 7000 sq/ft office/warehouse and figure I'd need about 4 Z-nets to give adequate coverage.

    I wanted to try what I'd read about multiple Z-nets working as primary and secondary controllers on one Home ID network

    Today I configured the S6 automation controller and 4 Z-Nets, it's been a bit of a Hot Topic of discussion so I wanted to take some screen shots and post it to share with the forum.

    Here are some shots of how the system configured.

    Controllers, as you can see there is only one Z-Net network running
    The 2nd 3rd and 4th Z-nets were added as Inclusion networks.
    You have to add it first as a regular Z-net,
    then under activities there is an option to make it a secondary inclusion controller

    Click image for larger version

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    Device Manager, the 4 Z-nets show up in the device manager all on the same network

    Click image for larger version

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    Device Z-Wave Tab has a new option to select which remote interface controller to use

    Click image for larger version

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    After Inclusion of Node 5 (a jasco switch), check out the automatic updating of all the controllers.

    Click image for larger version

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    So lets see how it goes from here, right now I have 4 Z-nets with a green light "On".

    When installing new devices to the network it can all be done in the tech room using the Main Znet (primary) and the device information will be updated out to the secondary controllers.

    I will come back to this post and add more as the project develops.
    Blair

    HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
    | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
    Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
    BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

    #2
    Super helpful. I'm coming back to HS after a few years with SmartThings. I have to cover 5800 sq ft over 2 acres and SmartThings can't deal with that. I'm going to start with two Z-Nets.

    One question, I have a bunch of zwave duplex NON-zwave plus outlets already in-wall, will I be able to include them if their closest controller is the secondary controller, meaning will the update of network info work from secondary to primary just as you show it working the other way?

    Thanks for the post!
    Last edited by gbdesai; May 5, 2018, 07:34 PM.

    Comment


      #3
      The secondary controller aka inclusion controller . So I guess you can !
      Also realize you should probably get your new controller to "Exclude" these from their previous controller
      Last edited by BlairG; May 6, 2018, 04:12 PM.
      Blair

      HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
      | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
      Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
      BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

      Comment


        #4
        Yup. I was planning on using my old SmartThings to do a general device exclusion on all devices before I bring em into he znet / hometroller network. Thanks for the help. I'm still deciding if I should keep separate zwave network or combine them as you did. Right now I have 50 devices but am unsure if I'll go over 100, another thread suggested potential issues once you go north of 100 devices in one network.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by BlairG View Post
          The secondary controller aka inclusion controller . So I guess you can !
          Also realize you should probably get your new controller to "Exclude" these from their previous controller
          And If that method was having trouble, you could probably take the primary Z-Net, powered by a USB battery, over to the devices which need inclusion and perform inclusion nearby.

          Comment


            #6
            Ahh good idea. Forgot znets, being rp devices run on 5v microusb. Nice!

            Comment


              #7
              What if you already have one Z-NET, can you add a second and follow the same basic procedure? Will the nodes figure out which Z-NETs they need to route through?
              HomeSeer Version: HS3 Standard Edition 3.0.0.548
              Linux version: Linux auto 4.15.0-72-generic #81-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 26 12:20:02 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
              Number of Devices: 484 | Number of Events: 776

              Enabled Plug-Ins: 3.0.0.13: AirplaySpeak | 2.0.61.0: BLBackup
              3.0.0.70: EasyTrigger | 1.3.7006.42100: LiftMaster MyQ
              4.2.3.0: mcsMQTT | 3.0.0.53: PHLocation2 | 0.0.0.47: Pushover 3P
              3.0.0.16: RaspberryIO | 3.0.1.262: Z-Wave

              Z-Net version: 1.0.23 for Inclusion Nodes
              SmartStick+: 6.04 (ZDK 6.81.3) on Server

              Comment


                #8
                Once it's added as a new znet, on a new network, it will have an option to bring it onto your existing network.
                Now on each devices Zwave tab you'll see a drop list with options for which znet services the device.
                Blair

                HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
                | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
                Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
                BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

                Comment


                  #9
                  Ok, so if I understand you correctly.

                  The original Z-Net named Home-A, network A000000, currently has all the nodes assigned to it.

                  You then add the second Z-Net named Home-B and its network becomes B000000.

                  You then go to Home-B and include it into Home-As network and at that point network B000000 disappears and both Home-A and Home-B are on network A000000.

                  All the existing nodes are still connected to network A000000 and at this point I assume are still communicating to Home-A.

                  How do the nodes know which Z-Net to route through? Do you just fully optimize the network and then the nodes get set to the strongest Z-Net or is there something else you need to do such as manually set routes?
                  HomeSeer Version: HS3 Standard Edition 3.0.0.548
                  Linux version: Linux auto 4.15.0-72-generic #81-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 26 12:20:02 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                  Number of Devices: 484 | Number of Events: 776

                  Enabled Plug-Ins: 3.0.0.13: AirplaySpeak | 2.0.61.0: BLBackup
                  3.0.0.70: EasyTrigger | 1.3.7006.42100: LiftMaster MyQ
                  4.2.3.0: mcsMQTT | 3.0.0.53: PHLocation2 | 0.0.0.47: Pushover 3P
                  3.0.0.16: RaspberryIO | 3.0.1.262: Z-Wave

                  Z-Net version: 1.0.23 for Inclusion Nodes
                  SmartStick+: 6.04 (ZDK 6.81.3) on Server

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Look on the zwave tab of your devices.
                    there should be a drop down list that let's yout select which znet
                    Blair

                    HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
                    | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
                    Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
                    BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by BlairG View Post
                      When installing new devices to the network it can all be done in the tech room using the Main Znet (primary) and the device information will be updated out to the secondary controllers.
                      This is not correct.

                      When you add a new device to the main interface, there is no automatic updating of the other secondary controllers. You can tell by looking at your "Zwave and Networks Options" page: Under number of nodes, they are all a different number. They should all be the same.

                      In order to sync the new device with the secondary controllers, you must go to ZWave-->Controller Management and then under Actions for the Secondary controller -->"Synchronize this interfacewith main interface". One very important point not well documented: this process will only work if the secondary interface is in close proximity to the main interface. It won't work over multiple hops on the network. So you must physically move each secondary Z-net close to the main Z-Net for this to work correctly.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by prsmith777 View Post

                        This is not correct.

                        When you add a new device to the main interface, there is no automatic updating of the other secondary controllers. You can tell by looking at your "Zwave and Networks Options" page: Under number of nodes, they are all a different number. They
                        I would not say you are wrong, however on the setup here when a new node is added to a znet there is an automatic update that occurs to update the other three znets, keeping them identical. All 4 znets contain identical device counts. They are in 4 separate areas of the building not close together.

                        As you described your system operates a little different.
                        Blair

                        HomeSeer: HS3 Pro | Blue-Iris 4 on Windows10Pro
                        | Devices: 832 | Events: 211 |
                        Plug-Ins: Z-Wave | RFXCOM | UltraRachio3 | Sonos
                        BLLAN | BLLOCK | NetCAM | Global Cache Pro | Blue-Iris4

                        Comment


                          #13
                          This is interesting. All my Z-Nets are connected wirelessly. Are yours perhaps connected on the LAN instead? That might explain the difference.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            So to summarize to see if I've got this. When you setup your first interface, be it a Z-NET or on the HS3 system directly, all devices will connect to it. When you add a second interface to the same network ID no devices will initially connect to it. You then go through each device you want on the second interface and change the setting to point to the second one.

                            Although you can run different network IDs I syspect you have less issues running one network ID since HS3 will generally only used one at a time where with two it could send commands to each at the same time.
                            HomeSeer Version: HS3 Standard Edition 3.0.0.548
                            Linux version: Linux auto 4.15.0-72-generic #81-Ubuntu SMP Tue Nov 26 12:20:02 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
                            Number of Devices: 484 | Number of Events: 776

                            Enabled Plug-Ins: 3.0.0.13: AirplaySpeak | 2.0.61.0: BLBackup
                            3.0.0.70: EasyTrigger | 1.3.7006.42100: LiftMaster MyQ
                            4.2.3.0: mcsMQTT | 3.0.0.53: PHLocation2 | 0.0.0.47: Pushover 3P
                            3.0.0.16: RaspberryIO | 3.0.1.262: Z-Wave

                            Z-Net version: 1.0.23 for Inclusion Nodes
                            SmartStick+: 6.04 (ZDK 6.81.3) on Server

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Timon View Post
                              So to summarize to see if I've got this. When you setup your first interface, be it a Z-NET or on the HS3 system directly, all devices will connect to it. When you add a second interface to the same network ID no devices will initially connect to it. You then go through each device you want on the second interface and change the setting to point to the second one.

                              Although you can run different network IDs I syspect you have less issues running one network ID since HS3 will generally only used one at a time where with two it could send commands to each at the same time.
                              No, when you add a device you will be able to select which network it will attach to if you have multiple networks setup which is the preferred way.
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                              Comment

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