If you are experiencing intermittent connectivity with your iblinds motor (sometimes it responds and other times it doesn’t), it is usually related to a Z-Wave wireless communication error. To reach their destination, wireless signals have to overcome many phenomena such as reflection, absorption, diffraction, scattering, and interference. While iblinds uses the Z-Wave protocol to do a great job overcoming these obstacles, we have had a few reports of users (typically with metal headrails) experiencing intermittent connectivity. Remember RF signals are fickle. Just because we can’t see any physical barriers doesn’t mean that don’t exist for our wireless signals.
Here are a few things you can do to improve your iblinds Z-Wave wireless signal:
1. Repair your Z-Wave Network. Running a Z-Wave network repair or network optimization will improve your overall mesh network and update the mesh network neighbor map. This ensures the iblinds motor is aware of its closest neighbors (repeaters) and will establish the best route to communicate with the controller.
Ghost nodes are often the cause of routing problems especially when you are experiencing issues controling Z-Wave FLiRS devices.
Note: Check your specific controller user guide for instructions on running a Z-Wave network repair or network optimization. It is important to remember that you should always run a Z-Wave network repair after adding a new Z-Wave device for the reason listed above.
2. Stagger Blinds Commands. Having multiple Z-Wave commands happening at the same time can increase wireless interference and in turn cause wireless frames to crash into each other and produce unreliable operation. Especially in the case of Z-Wave devices that sleep and wake up occasionally to check for commands (such as iblinds). Additional Z-Wave traffic is generated when wake-up commands are sent prior to sending the Z-Wave set command to each blind. The Z-Wave protocol usually does a great job of handling all of this Z-Wave traffic but occasionally we have seen where this is not the case.
For example, instead of having all your blinds operate with a single command, separate them by adding a 10-60 second delay between each command. (Delay time will verify based on your network). The hope is by adding the delay there will be less traffic generated and this will increase the chances of the Z-Wave message successfully reaching its destination.
3. Add Additional “Beaming Capable” Repeaters. Even in situations where you already have a repeater nearby, adding a repeater can help tremendously especially when you have more than one iblinds motor in a room. A single repeater or controller that is identified as the closest Z-Wave mesh neighbor can occasionally be overloaded when trying to service several Z-Wave devices. Adding a new “BEAMING CAPABLE” repeater can reduce the load and also provide an additional route for the Z-Wave signal to travel. The iblinds device is designed to sleep and wake up occasionally to check for commands to extend battery life. Beaming allows the repeater to keep repeating the command until iblinds wakes up and receives it.
Note: It is important to check the Z-Wave network routing path after adding the repeater to verify the new repeater is actually listed as a neighbor node and is participating in the routing. Z-Wave network routing is fickle, and the network isn’t always built the way we assume.
Note: We’ve had success using the Aeotec Range Extender.