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Zigbee distance question


samsong

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Hi ,

I am planning to go with C4 for my future home. (approximately 1800 square feet)

The set up i want to have is to keep as much equipment in the basement (HC300 + cablebox + whole audio system...etc)

I am just curious about the controller being a level below my living room where the main C4 compenents will be(lights, etc...)

I understand the priciple of mesh networking but is there a distance for minimal quality of signals ? Otherwise I will put my controller and all hard ware in my living room in a cabient next to the TV or something....thanks for the advice.

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My house is 3 levels 5500 sq ft and my first phase of control4 was 3 thermostats, 4 tv's (one on the 3rd level), and 4 sets of speakers. All my equipment is on the bottom level (basement). I didn't do lights in this phase so I didn't have much of a zigbee mesh, but my system worked perfect. I can't guarantee yours will do the same, but I bet it will be fine.

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There is no problem with the controller location being below the living room, that's my exact placement too.

3 story home with the AV gear racked up in the basement theater.

If you find the performance is spotty, you can always add a couple of outlet dimmers, a Card Access unit, etc to fill in the blanks.

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I will throw in a 3rd vote of confidence. I have all my equipment located in my basement. It is centrally located side to side, but is almost all the way at the front of the house. My main floor is about 4,000 square feet (not counting the garage), the basement is a little bigger, and the upper floor is a little smaller. I have strong zigbee cover through out the house, into the garage, and even out into the yard.

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I will throw in a 3rd vote of confidence. I have all my equipment located in my basement. It is centrally located side to side, but is almost all the way at the front of the house. My main floor is about 4,000 square feet (not counting the garage), the basement is a little bigger, and the upper floor is a little smaller. I have strong zigbee cover through out the house, into the garage, and even out into the yard.

I wish I was that lucky. I have a 4000 sq ft house built in 1996 and my hc-300 is on the 1st floor of the house in a closet on an end wall. I have dimmers / switches throughout the house and Zigbee is spotty in certain areas, especially the yard where I have some outdoor lights / switches.

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I will throw in a 3rd vote of confidence. I have all my equipment located in my basement. It is centrally located side to side' date=' but is almost all the way at the front of the house. My main floor is about 4,000 square feet (not counting the garage), the basement is a little bigger, and the upper floor is a little smaller. I have strong zigbee cover through out the house, into the garage, and even out into the yard.[/quote']

I wish I was that lucky. I have a 4000 sq ft house built in 1996 and my hc-300 is on the 1st floor of the house in a closet on an end wall. I have dimmers / switches throughout the house and Zigbee is spotty in certain areas, especially the yard where I have some outdoor lights / switches.

I haven't tried to reach really far out into the yard. The closest card access contact sensor is about 12 feet from the house, and the farthest is about 30. The card access sensors are kind of in a row, and so I think the zigbee signal hops from unit to unit across the yard.

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ok its good to know that it shoud be okay !

So all you guys who have your HC 300 in the basement, you ran a component cable up to your main TV ?

I have all my equipment in the basement closet right now. My home is 1 floor (with a basement too). Probably about 1800 sq. ft.

I have my HC-300 in the basement. I didn't run component to the TV. I have the HC-300 component plugged into my Integra DTR 7.8 receiver and an HDMI from the DTR 7.8 run to the TV. I let the DTR 7.8 convert the component to HDMI. Depending on the length of the component run you might use component baluns and Cat-5 or Cat-6.

I plan on getting a HC-200 for my main TV in the living room. I have a short component cable from the TV to the media cabinet below the TV. Once I have the HC-200 in the main living room I will make that HC-200 my primary ZAP and disable navigator on my HC-300. The HC-300 will be my ZigBee coordinator and run Director. This will hopefully speed up my system a bit and prepare my for the upcoming OS 2.0 beta. If not I will be getting an HC-1000.

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