HAI Zigbee ZIM placement

Curious if ZIM users are centrally (home) positioning there serially connected ZIM's. 
 
What is the expected distances of use of the ZIM to Zigbee (non Omnistat) devices?
 
Is the firmware of the ZIM field upgradable?

There are a few of factors here, and in many cases the Leviton Zigbee implementation is not quite as good as it should be.

pete_c said:

Curious if ZIM users are centrally (home) positioning there serially connected ZIM's. 

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The ZIM has to connect to the OMNI panel via a serial cable, so that limits its placement, but it does run on batteries so you can move it around to pair with devices. When pairing it is best to bring the ZIM right next to the device. 
 
The ZIM should be fine in any location as long as it is in range of at least one other line-powered device.
 

pete_c said:

What is the expected distances of use of the ZIM to Zigbee (non Omnistat) devices?

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Line-powered devices should easily cover a house, but battery powered devices can have short range. Kwikset locks seem to have very short range. Maybe 20 ft.
 

pete_c said:

Is the firmware of the ZIM field upgradable?

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Yup, not only are Zigbee devices firmware upgradeable but they can be upgraded over-the-air. At least that is in the Zigbee spec. Leviton supplies a Zigbee Upgrader that runs on a PC, but in usual Leviton fashion it doesn't work, or at least it never has worked for me. It is supposed to download updated firmware, but it doesn't.

Thank-you Ano.

The range I typically see reported for Zigbee is 50 yards (about 150 ft.) but your results will vary.