#Extending my Zigbee network via PLC to my basement 5 floors bellow ?

19 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

warm maple
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Hello everyone !
I will soon have a new apartment on the 3rd floor with a basement on the second underground. I would like to have a few zigbee devices in my basement to check for water leaks, freezer temperature etc. However, I think it will be impossible to relay the zigbee network from my apartment to my basement because of the distance. Another thing is that my basement is in a bunker with a huge concrete shell (yes, I live in Switzerland).

I was thinking about using PLC to extend my apartment network to the basement (equipped with a power socket linked to my apartment counter) and a second zigbee hub down there but I read a lot of conflicting answers to that solution. Any hints ? Thanks !

mortal walrus
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That is pretty much the only way to do it - run a second mesh for the basement

true shell
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If your bunker has a network connection, then a raspberry pi or something running zigbee2mqtt can hook into your mosquitto broker and from HA's perspective nothing interesting is going on.

normal cloud
warm maple
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thanks, I will have a look !

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isn't it a problem to have two coordinator on the same network ?

wraith hemlock
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They aren't on the same (zigbee) network. You will have two separate and isolated zigbee networks.

warm maple
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or as a router ?

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wraith hemlock
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I don't think a range extender will do you any good if it's too far for a signal to bridge. Unless you know people on the middle floors who will let you plug it in their apartment 😂

warm maple
wraith hemlock
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I would first try and make sure you can get powerline networking to work to down there, that already sounds like a big if.

If that works, you should be able to find a solution.

mystic crown
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Presumably, there is currently no internet capability in the basement, and no way of installing any wiring between the two areas.

A powerline network will probably not work unless the apartment and the basement are on the same phase.

If the whole building was originally designed to be occupied by a single family with a single meter, it will probably be all on one phase. But if it's a bigger building with separate meters for individual occupants, it's more likely to be spread over three phases. That would give only a 1 in 3 probability that the two areas would be on the same phase.

wraith hemlock
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I don't know if I'm allowed to say this in a Zigbee thread 😅 , but maybe see if Z-Wave Long Range could be a good solution. It's a wireless protocol designed for much larger transmission distance, it can in theory go for a couple miles.

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It's not much more expensive, and you're not working with an existing mesh anyway.

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I can't guarantee it will penetrate the bunker but it's worth a shot.

normal cloud
warm maple
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Yes, we all have a separate meter for individual occupants as far as I know there is only one phase per occupant. I will check once we move there (February 1st) ! Thanks for the reminder

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I also have a car spot at the -1, maybe I can put a device on my balcony, and one on my parking spot to act as a repeater and the distance between the parking spot and basement will be short enough

mystic crown