Please help with setup. Slow Performance

[jrajpaul]

Hi. I currently have quite a large Control4 setup at home.

3 Controllers:

HC200 (Old spec) : Running ZAP and coordinator

HC300C : Running Navigator

HC1000: Running Director

+/- 60 Dimmer Switches

+/- 40 6 button keypads

Video Matrix Switch going to 3 Televisions

3 x SR250 Remotes

2 x Control4 8 Zone Amps running 12 Zones of audio

Security Cameras controlled by C4

Home theatre system controlled by C4

All 3 controllers are situated in the garage in a double storey L-shaped home.

I currently experience slow performance on the sr250 - sometimes takes about a second to respond. Cannot scroll long lists quickly.

Lighting sometimes has a delay and some switches go offline (Mostly the outside switches)

The 6 Button keypads take more than a second to change color. light response is quick though.

System sometimes freezes up for a few seconds.

I'm on version 2.2

I was considering replacing the HC1000 with an HC800 (make this the ZAP,co-ordinator, and navigator) and putting the hc300c and hc200 on the second floor as ZAPS to improve Zigbee speed.

Would this be a suitable plan.

Is there anything else I can do to prevent spending more money.

Control4 is an excellent system when it works. It's not great if you are not tech savvy and cannot troubleshoot your own problems.

[CFUG]

Most of what you describe is typical at some point in time. Consider that there is most likely various devices emitting RF at or near 2.4GHz along with Control4 goods. You don't use CA relays? Controllers as ZAPs works well too. And, look at the posts about the new 800 containing a whiz-bang antenna (probably zero gain) that helps with ZP penetration.

[Godzilla]

it looks as though you have to many devices for 1 zap........max would be 70.........i would try moving the hc200 to a more central location, then make the hc300 an add'l zap, see if that helps...............but i would recommend the hc800 to replace ur current gear and use the 200 or 300 as add'l zaps.......sounds like a large home

you would not want to enable add'l zaps if they are all in the same location

[CFUG]

I would try CA relays before dropping a grand on a 800. And, your dealer can always run Zigbee Diags on your project to verify pathways.

[jrajpaul]

Is there any advantage of running coordinator on the hc1000? Will this possibly speed things up?

[Godzilla]

You cannot run coordinater on a hc1000

[CFUG]

^^You're missing the point. Verify and/or correct your radio problems first.

[jrajpaul]

Cool. Will do that. I'll add a couple zaps around the house and check if that works.

[jrajpaul]

Thread revival. Finally saved up and put two ZAPS (HC250) in two different locations in the home. The light switch speed improved dramatically but it has all become very unstable.

Current Config:

HC1000- Director. Zserver

Hc300c - Navigator

Hc200- Co-ordinator. ZAP

Hc250- ZAP

Hc250- ZAP

I have had a look at detective suite and see a high failure rate on outbound connections (see capture1).

Inbound connections are fine (see capture2).

Signal strength is also good.

What could be the problem?

[jrajpaul]

Inbound

[C4Programmer]

You really need to sell the HC1000 and the HC-300 and get a HC-800. The 800 will improve your system dramatically. It is good you have the 250's as they will help as well. THE hc-300 and 1000 combo consume 4 times the power the 800 consumes if you are energy aware. My system has around 40 zigbee devices and the 800 showed marked improvements over the 1000/300 combo.

The primary bottle neck is the network connection between the HC-1000 and the HC-200. This is where the HC-800 has a real benefit. It is all in the same hardware no network to slow things down. The 800 also has external Antennas and talks to more devices directly, so less hoping of signals.

However, It sounds like budget is a concern. If you dont mind doing some testing, I would be willing to bet if you re-commissioned your mesh on one of the HC-250 acting as both Z-server and Coordinator you would likely see a boost in speed. I would also consider making one of the HC-250's director and disabling navigator (dont connect the video connections in composer). Get rid of the HC-1000, and use the second HC-250, the 300 and the 250 as your on-screen navigators as needed. Start with just the single HC-250 running director and Zigbee and the second HC-250 (in a different location) as a ZAP and commission the mesh. You have greatly simplified the configuration.

You can recommmission the mesh quite easily. Save the config from the HC-1000, disconnect all your zigbee devices, clear (do not save) the project after all zigbee has been released (green LED's). Load the saved project before disconnecting on one of the HC-250's. All the device mac ids will still be in network connections. Now create a new mesh, and open the mesh for connection from network tools. Now just 4 tap all devices starting from the closest to the farthest. This method saves the time of back and forth to the computer to select the next device. For more details PM me.

[Cyknight]

I wouldnt recommend changing to an 800 unless powerconsumption is an issue. The improved speed that the 800 has over 1000/300 combo is just as easily obtained using a 1000/250 combo - which he has.

The trick here is that the ZAP coordinator needs to be moved to the 250, this should drastically improve speed, especially any remotes. I wouldn't move ZServer over. Especially not director.

Just keep in mind some known isues with the new controllers running ZAP and older devices (CA and C4).

As for recommisionning mesh...just delete the old (NOT disconnect devices) and build a new with 250 as coordinator. Now open network tools, Zigbee tap, set join to the controller you use and go around do the usual ID.

You say unstable - are you actually seeing this in use, or just the D-Suite?

If the latter only, I'd not be to worried, there seems to be something between the new controllers and D-Suite giving off readings.

Also keep in mind that it can take a few days for a new Zigbee setup to settle down these days (find all it's possible pathways, test them, pick them).

[digitaltrader]

I wouldnt recommend changing to an 800 unless powerconsumption is an issue. The improved speed that the 800 has over 1000/300 combo is just as easily obtained using a 1000/250 combo - which he has.

The trick here is that the ZAP coordinator needs to be moved to the 250, this should drastically improve speed, especially any remotes. I wouldn't move ZServer over. Especially not director.

Just keep in mind some known isues with the new controllers running ZAP and older devices (CA and C4).

As for recommisionning mesh...just delete the old (NOT disconnect devices) and build a new with 250 as coordinator. Now open network tools, Zigbee tap, set join to the controller you use and go around do the usual ID.

You say unstable - are you actually seeing this in use, or just the D-Suite?

If the latter only, I'd not be to worried, there seems to be something between the new controllers and D-Suite giving off readings.

Also keep in mind that it can take a few days for a new Zigbee setup to settle down these days (find all it's possible pathways, test them, pick them).

I upgraded my HC100/300 combo to a HC800 and recommissioned my mesh and get a high percentage of outbound route errors with poor zigbee performance. I'm not sure what may be causing this.

Also what are the issues with the new controllers running ZAP and older C4 CA devices (how old and what devices?)

Thanks

[Cyknight]

Issues include undefined issues with upgrade CA relays (from embernet to z pro) and 240v international inline dimmers. See othe zigbee post on the rest

[thecodeman]

I wouldnt recommend changing to an 800 unless powerconsumption is an issue. The improved speed that the 800 has over 1000/300 combo is just as easily obtained using a 1000/250 combo - which he has.

The trick here is that the ZAP coordinator needs to be moved to the 250' date=' this should drastically improve speed, especially any remotes. I wouldn't move ZServer over. Especially not director.

Just keep in mind some known isues with the new controllers running ZAP and older devices (CA and C4).

As for recommisionning mesh...just delete the old (NOT disconnect devices) and build a new with 250 as coordinator. Now open network tools, Zigbee tap, set join to the controller you use and go around do the usual ID.

You say unstable - are you actually seeing this in use, or just the D-Suite?

If the latter only, I'd not be to worried, there seems to be something between the new controllers and D-Suite giving off readings.

Also keep in mind that it can take a few days for a new Zigbee setup to settle down these days (find all it's possible pathways, test them, pick them).[/quote']

I upgraded my HC100/300 combo to a HC800 and recommissioned my mesh and get a high percentage of outbound route errors with poor zigbee performance. I'm not sure what may be causing this.

Also what are the issues with the new controllers running ZAP and older C4 CA devices (how old and what devices?)

Thanks

Is this the only ZAP? Are you using the external antenna to get out of the rack?