Ideal Zigbee Configuration

[NYG140]

Hi guys, 

Thinking about reconfiguring my zigbee mesh in my home. Here is the setup:

-House is split level around 2000 sq ft
-HC-250 in the bottom left corner of the house
-HC-250 in the top right corner of the house
-HC-800 in the lower level, centralized but in a closet

What seemed ideal to me, is to have the 800 run the Zigbee server and then have each 250 act as a ZAP. That way I have access points in the two further distances from each other in the house. Great idea right?

But after some research, I see there is a THIRD role I need to fill, that of a Zigbee Coordinator.  Really Control4?

So I understand that the Zigbee server runs the backend on ethernet only, definitely on the HC800. I also understand that the ZAP is just an access point, definitely the HC250s. BUT what does the zigbee coordinator do? Best I could find on the boards is that it's a sort of signal strength sniffer and tells which devices to go where.  

And with the description of my current setup, how would you recommend I run it? If I have to run some sort of coordinator on a 250, I'd rather run it on the 800. If I have to turn on the zigbee antenna on the 800, I'd rather have it do all three roles and just run the whole house. 

Please advise. 
 

[knowitall]

get the extended antenna for the 800 and run it out of the rack and run everything on the 800. Set zigbee channel to 25. 

 

How much zigbee do you have? Anything that can repeat? You probably won't even need the zap's but try to ID all your devices onto the 800 and test performance. i always recommend ID'ing remotes in the room to see if they'll join

[thegreatheed]

Well, it would make more sense if you called it by the right name. It's the ZAP Coordinator, not ZigBee Coordinator. It's a ZAP too, but it's the 'master' ZAP.

Really, it's just the first ZAP. In fact, in a one controller installation, ALL you have is ZigBee Server and ZAP Coordinator on the one controller. You cannot have a C4 ZigBee network without the ZAP Coordinator.

[NYG140]

Gotcha, so I guess my questions is the ZAP coordinator needs to be within range of any other additional ZAPs? Is that correct?

[d1amund]

They talk to each other over the LAN. Physical relation to each other means nothing as long as you are within the distance limits for standard Ethernet cabling over copper. If it's fiber...they could be miles apart. The only concern about physical location is you don't want controllers to be in close proximity with each other such as in a rack or cabinet.

[NYG140]

Ok great, that was my concern. I know they shouldn't overlap but I didn't know if the ZAP coordinator needed to be in range to "balance" the signals. Sounds like that is not the case. 

Thanks for the help understanding this. Ultimately, I'm going to run all three zigbee services from the single HC-800 but good to know the setup for future projects. 

[thegreatheed]

Again, to clarify. There are 2 services that can run on a controller: zserver and zap. You can see them in System Manager.

A ZigBee mesh requires a ZServer and a ZAP Coordinator. "ZAP Coordinator" is just a role that the primary ZAP runs in the mesh. When you first create the mesh, it asks you to select the controller for ZServer and ZAP Coordinator (usually do them on the same controller). You'll see in the status field in Composer that the ZAP status is 'Coordinator'. Any additionals ZAPs will show a status of 'Enabled'.

ZigBee mesh on one controller = ZServer + ZAP Coordinator.

ZigBee mesh on multiple controllers = ZServer + ZAP Coordinator + additional ZAPs if needed. 

Don't add in additional ZAPs unless you need the coverage or you have more than 50 devices per ZAP.

[Control-IT]

I have about 80 devices running off of a single ZAP. It seems quick and have good signal throughout. Is that a problem having that many?

 

 

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