Secondary controller to HC2

[Momos 103]

I remember reading somewhere that HCL can not be used as a secondary controller to HC2.

 

Is this correct ?

 

If so, would another HC2 be good as a secondary controller to a HC2?

 

Can someone please explain how this actually works? Will all devices and vd's and scenes be on one HC2 while the other will just work as a signal booster?

 

Can they work like a backup to each other ? In case one goes down the other one picks up the load ?

 

Sorry for the broad questions but I have no ideea how this works. 

 

Regards

[chaicka 195]

I remember reading somewhere that HCL can not be used as a secondary controller to HC2.

 

Is this correct ?

 

If so, would another HC2 be good as a secondary controller to a HC2?

 

Can someone please explain how this actually works? Will all devices and vd's and scenes be on one HC2 while the other will just work as a signal booster?

 

Can they work like a backup to each other ? In case one goes down the other one picks up the load ?

 

Sorry for the broad questions but I have no ideea how this works. 

 

Regards

 

HCL can be secondary to HC2 if both are on the firmware 4.x.

If one is on firmware 4.x while the other is on firmware 3.x, then it will not be able to be secondary to the other.

[Momos 103]

ok good thing so far. cheaper. But how will that work? I just make all modifications on HC2 and HCL will act only as a repeater ?

Or do I have to include devices and scenes on HCL also ?

[rvegting 1]

You add devices that are in range of the HCL to the HCL and them import them in the HC2.

After that you create the scenes in HC2

 

Kind Regards,

 

Remco

[Momos 103]

Hmm.. not what I hopped to hear.

 

All my devices are now included on a HC2. more then 50 of them.  Some are out of direct range and use the mesh network to transmit/receive.  I took care so that any far away device has at least 2 other devices in range.

 

I has hoping that by adding a HCL as a secondary controller those far away devices would transmit to the HCL which in turn would transmit to the primary HC2 by LAN. This way I would get rid of slow response from some devices and still have all the network in one place. 

 

I'm having a hard time maintaining this network as it is, don't want to maintain another controller full of devices also.  Home automation is fun but it is very time consuming  if you have a big network and a lot scenes.

 

Basically I want it to behave like a repeater.

 

Regards

[rvegting 1]

It depends on the layout of your house. I have put an HCL in my office and the HC2 in the farmhouse. The distance between the farmhouse and the office was just on the edge of the reach of the last node in the mesh network.

Now I have moved all devices that are closest to the office to my HCL and that is the only thing I used the HCL for. All scenes etc have been configured in the HC2 and it works perfectly.

No more delays and no more dead nodes at the end of the network.

[Momos 103]

Hmm sounds like what I want to achieve. As I understand each HC makes its own mesh network. How do these networks communicate? Via zwave or LAN ?

As a first step I ordered a bigger antenna for my HC2 to see if that improves the range or not.

[rvegting 1]

These networks communicate through the HC's, so through LAN...

 

Where can you get bigger antenna's for the HC2? And does that really help?

[Momos 103]

I saw a post on a French forum and they said it makes a difference if you put a bigger gain antenna.

[AutoFrank 372]

Hi,

I have been looking at secondary controllers as well but not as a repeater but as a backup should my primary controller (hc2) become unavailable..I was thinking about adding a HCL to my setup and it would sit in the same physical location as the hc2. If I connect it to my lan and 'mark' it as a secondary controller would everything I setup on my hc2.

I was wondering specifically that if my hc2 became available could I switch to the HCL and have that be the primary and have everything work as before.

Sir if this is a basic question but I've been reading in primary and secondary Zwave controllers and I can't seem to find an answer

Thanks

-F

[Momos 103]

Just an update: I changed the HC2 antenna with another bigger one with +9dbi gain (looks like a huge stick... ugly) and according to measurements done with a Fibaro motion sensor all my devices are now in direct range of the HC2. That is a roughly 20-30% increase in range according to my layout.

[AutoFrank 372]

Thanks for the update and great progress

[Momos 103]

you need an adaptor RP SMA female - SMA male like

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and any 868 antenna. I had one around the house bought from here :

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It is in fact a +8 dBi gain one.

 

Both fibaro motion sensor and wall plug have in built range testers.  Check in the manual for the procedure.

[AutoFrank 372]

Thanks, must look into this 

[Paolino65 0]

Hi all,

 

I bought my second HC2 in order to have my secondary controller for a the backup main scope!

 

I don't found then documentation to configure it, there is someone that can help me?

 

thanks a lot in adavance.

 

Paolino

[barend121 13]

What is in General the disaster recovery procedure by fibaro hc2. If the motherboard get fried. Can you just get another hc2 and put the recovery USB stick in it and everything works?

Or is there some hardware Connection between controller and zwave devices.

[1152 33]

No. Keep your fingers crossed, all of them, and pray that Fibaro will come up with a proper solution in time.

[TRicky 84]

I use one each HC2 this outdoor antenna:

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connected with this cable: 

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My range increased a lot!

[fi-bar-oh 47]

I use one each HC2 this outdoor antenna:

Please login or register to see this link.

connected with this cable: 

Please login or register to see this link.

 

My range increased a lot!

 

expired session cannot view them

[AutoFrank 372]

You add devices that are in range of the HCL to the HCL and them import them in the HC2.

After that you create the scenes in HC2

 

Kind Regards,

 

Remco

 

Sounds like all the scene/lua code load is on the HC2

What about VD.. I have 14 sonos zones and some other VD's - can I choose where I want to put them or do they need to go on the HC2 ?

[TRicky 84]

Okay,

 

Then have a look at www.Adko.de and search for item 1274 (antenna) and item 7168 (cable)

 

This should work