hbinnovations Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 After reviewing the project today, all hell broke loose. None of the non load switches/dimmers work since enabling z server on the 3 HTC's. We will be turning them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Wired Up! Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 If you are able to activate multiple z servers without major issues, it would be news to me. We need a definitive answer on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlevine Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I asked when I was in training if they had failover ability. They said they were working on this functionality. I'm assuming (which I know isn't always the best idea) that they have not released this functionality or else we definately would have heard about it.Failover on these systems are definately key. Clustering with Linux is widely available, I hope it's something they will make a priority in the near future. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbinnovations Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 Whatever you do, do not turn z server on, on more than one controller. Finally got one of our projects back to normal by power cycling every controller and re-connecting every touch panel to director. All is good now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slemay Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 I have an MC and HTC with ZServer on - just as a test - and haven't had any problems - though I "THINK" I see a slight decrease in performance in my zigbee network- but having two on does NOT cause any problems (and that's what Tech Support confirmed with me too - but again, they suggest only turning on another ZServer IF you're outside the range of another Zigbee device ONLY). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dburton Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 How far should the zigbee signal be able to travel reliably? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danlevine Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 How far should the zigbee signal be able to travel reliably?They say 330 Feet LOS (Line of Sight), But I would imagine a safe bet is 250 feet. Concrete, Steel, Basement walls I'm sure don't help the signal, so keep that in mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowdog Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 Yes Dan - I noticed that too. It appears that enabling multiple zservers is recommended for situation like mine? I am still going back and forth trying different options of zservers. I had turned off the one that had the most overlap, but then remotes started acting even more flakey. So I turned it back on. Now the remotes work but sometimes have to be prompted a few times to wake up before they will work. I still have dead spots occasionally neat the HTC with a zserver running. So I guess there may be two schools of thought here, although if my setup is valid then I still have unresolved robustness issues. Has Control4 weighed in on this thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbinnovations Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 We have zigbee working 375 feet away without fail using only one z server active. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R_Willis Posted January 27, 2006 Share Posted January 27, 2006 We have zigbee working 375 feet away without fail using only one z server active.....but with or without zigbee light switches/dimmers in the mix? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowdog Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 Obstructions are key. The frequencies in use are attenuated very quickly in masonry and heavier construction materials. In one install, I can't get reliable transmission from one floor to the next above, or more than two rooms away horizontally. The house is extremely well built - perhaps over built. But, high end homes that are not junk are going to use denser, heavier materials including rock, masonry, steel, etc. This is not unique to control4. 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz phones won't penetrate these materials. I had to install 4 cellular-like repeaters to get the cordless phones to work throughout the house. What I am finding is that the zigbee and wifi performance is highly radio dependent and that the use of multiple zservers is useful when the range extension is needed. So, I don't believe you can categorically say don't enable multiple zservers in a project. While I still see some perhaps, perhaps related issues, it works and control4 seems to endorse it in some situations. THose who are reporting experiments where it doesn't work, could you be more specific in your explanations of the test settup and your methodology? It would help us all to understand how it works and how it doesn't in some situations - assuming there is not some other error or situation going on that is affecting the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowdog Posted January 27, 2006 Author Share Posted January 27, 2006 I have an MC and HTC with ZServer on - just as a test - and haven't had any problems - though I "THINK" I see a slight decrease in performance in my zigbee network- but having two on does NOT cause any problems (and that's what Tech Support confirmed with me too - but again, they suggest only turning on another ZServer IF you're outside the range of another Zigbee device ONLY).It would make sense to see slight performance degradation since the amount of overhead traffic is probably increased due to the extra server. If, on the other hand, they were out of range or on the fringes, it would be an improvement in overall performance. I have found that it takes the remotes a few button presses sometimes to sync up to a new HTC. So, some experimental results that are being reported here may be not allowing the zigbee network to assimilate the new configuration before assuming its broken and not working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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