Another HC3 as slave or an HC3 Lite (pros and cons)?

[Corceiro 3]

What are the pros and cons of expanding an Home Center 3 system (as master) with another HC3 as slave versus a cheaper HC3 Lite as slave?

[Tony270570 92]

Hi @Corceiro I don't know where you have read this info maybe an old doc or not updated. What i can tell you is that i'm using my fibaro system in master/slave mode including HC3 & HC3L and it's working as expected since few years now. 

I can also confirm regarding your use case that i would go for a lite version.

Good installation !

Edited April 14 by Tony270570

[RedRocketFire 2]

I am curious how many devices you have and why you want a second unit. I ask because I planned on running the HC3 and HC3 Lite in the beginning but I am doing fine so far just using the HC3. I am in a 3 story brick apartment with 30 zwave, 20 zigbee and 20 wifi devices. When I got started there was something about the current os version not supporting master salve in beta mode so i skipped it and have not seen a need for it yet.

[Corceiro 3]

5 hours ago, RedRocketFire said:

I am curious how many devices you have and why you want a second unit. I ask because I planned on running the HC3 and HC3 Lite in the beginning but I am doing fine so far just using the HC3. I am in a 3 story brick apartment with 30 zwave, 20 zigbee and 20 wifi devices. When I got started there was something about the current os version not supporting master salve in beta mode so i skipped it and have not seen a need for it yet.

 

I would like to expand my ZWave network to my garage on the -2 floor. I live in a building also (2nd floor) and have a closed garage on the -2 with two electric cars (one BEV and one PHEV) with two wall chargers. Would like to "play" a little bit with the garage to, for instance, opening the gate by pressing a Fibaro Walli when I leave home and have the gate already opened when I get to the -2 floor, or have a Fibaro Walli ring changing color if the garage gate is open, or even controlling the chargers (what I actually do with a Shelly EM but wanted to do more and integrated in Fibaro system as a native device).
 

I have TCP/IP network in the garage (through a powerline that works fine) and the only way to "expand" by ZWave to the garage would be with another Home Center. I just wanted to know If I realy need to spend the money on a costly HC3 or could I do the same thing with a HC3L... It's just a cost analysis.

[RedRocketFire 2]

Here is Fibaro's take on the matter, you may have already seen them:

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Personally I would first try to expand the network without a slave by installing a zwave mains powered device in the room closest to the garage and likewise in the garage somewhere closest to the house and see if they connected. I had a similar issue and it turned out it reached without a problem. I ended up ditching the slave lite hub idea.

 

If I needed a slave and didn't want to waste money I would go for the light. The lite documentation lists limitations like scene, plugin and quick app limits that wont apply because those objects are handled by the master anyways. When I bought my HC3 I was kind of hung up on the fact that the lite had the newer zwave 700 vs the older 500. In the end I got over that and just got the HC3, it didn't really matter for me one way or the other.

I am at the point where I am really focused on reducing points of failure and complexity in order to get more reliability. Having a powerline adapter maintaining a connection to zwave devices kind of worries me. I would want to prove to myself that the zwave would not extend to the garage on its own first.

Ultimately getting the lite as a slave hub is definitely the intent of Fibaro so it seems like a good idea in that regard assuming the number of device connected through the slave is 40 or less. 

Maybe others with experience in this setup will chime in...

Edited April 14 by RedRocketFire

[Corceiro 3]

2 hours ago, RedRocketFire said:

Personally I would first try to expand the network without a slave by installing a zwave mains powered device in the room closest to the garage and likewise in the garage somewhere closest to the house and see if they connected. I had a similar issue and it turned out it reached without a problem. I ended up ditching the slave lite hub idea.

 

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. It's impossible to me to connect two ZWave devices from 2 floor to -2 floor. I have all my neighbors in the middle (apartments) and it's impossible that the ZWave could break through 4 floors diference and all the 4 slabs...

 

What worries me about the Home Center 3 Lite working as a slave is the information of the first link: "SLAVE mode (available with the upcoming update)". Will it work already or are we still waiting for the "upcoming updade"?

Edited April 14 by Corceiro