Where is the antenna for an Z-wave Intermatic Contactor Module (CA3750) Antenna

[johnnynine]

Does anyone now where the InTouch Contactor Module (CA3750) antenna is located and if it can be extended? I have one in a metal Intermatic breaker box that has a little trouble receiving a signal at times. It would be nice if I could identify the antenna and add a wire to it that hangs out of the metal enclosure.

Johnny

 

[twilo123]

maybe you could add a plugin in module inbetween it and the next z-wave device. the 30amp only communicates at 9600bps if i remember correctly. it is probably an older series 100 chip also. does it have a screw on the faceplate to open it up and snap a pic of it?

 

[simonmason]

I want to reopen this thread as I am finally getting around to fix the poor communication to my Intermatic CA3750 that runs my pool pump and heater. Due to its location, by the pool, it is impossibly to get any other zwave devices in the path back to the house so increasing the mesh network is not an option.

I have moved the physical location of the unit to place it higher up and in more direct line of sight with the house.

A simple GE outdoor module plugged in next to it works flawlessly. I would use one of these if it was rated to drive the pump.

Not being an expert I assume I can extend, replace or do something else to improve the reception of this wire?

I am not concerned about ruining the unit while hacking - if it doesn't work I have to explore another option anyway as it is not reliable.

Can anyone suggest a method for improving the reception by hacking the wire? I've added the picture of the antenna on the board in case this is helpful.

 

[cobra]

If the GE module works, and you leave it attached, have you tried re-learning the network then? The Intermatic should be able to use the GE as a repeater and the GE would provide a strong local signal. It seems from your prior post that something like this is undesirable, is there only one plug and you have to pull the Intermatic to plug in the GE?

 

[pete_c]

When the Z-Wave dot me GPIO module came out for the RPi many folks in the EU complained about the range and there were a few DIY posts relating to extending the antenna outside of the RPi2.  The antennas on both are built in traces on the boards where the GPIO card has a larger antenna trace than say a USB stick.
 
Mostly though it appeared that modifying the antennas didn't substantially increase the range.  It was the firmware updates that did this.
 
The other solution as mentioned was to add more Z-Wave modules near the problem child Z-Wave device. 
 
Here installed my RPi2/Z-Wave dot me device in the attic such that all Z-Wave devices could see it. 
 
Note that this is mostly relating to tinkering with Z-Wave as most / all of my automation dependencies are on sure bet wired connections here to my Leviton Omni Pro 2. 
 
IE: still use a legacy Intermatic timer on pool installed at the end of 1990's.  There is in place a propietary wireless remote control for the lighting, pool pumps, whirlpool (well jacuzzi) that have worked fine now since installation.
 
I have had other "pool" issues unrelated to automation. 

 

[simonmason]

The GE unit does work - and it is located right next to the Intermatic.  Both are plugged in at the same time.  The Intermatic works about 10-20% of the time.  I use Homeseer and optimized my network (just did it now, again).  But signals still have trouble reaching the Intermatic.  This doesn't seem to make sense when the GE unit is responding fine?

 

[pete_c]

Well the Intermatic Z-Wave switch is shielded inside of a metal case.   
 
I would modify the Intermatic switch bypassing the power to the Z-Wave module and take the power to an external Z-Wave outdoor switch.  Z-Wave + Plus has a longer range (think?).
 
Or control the power at the pool house before it going to the Intermatic switch unless you are using that power for other stuff.
 
Last set up I helped with the pool had a pool house next to the pool.  This was about 150 feet plus from the house.  Inside of the pool house was a sub electrical panel.   The only issue I saw was that the sub panel was close to the cement floor of the pool house.  He was on his way to automating it.  The DIYer passed away and I was checking out why the pool stuff didn't work for his widowed wife.  I took apart the sub panel and most of the breakers/wires were fused together.  I think he ran out of wire and short cutted the set up.  BTW his widow had me remove all of the automation in the house. 
 
Here utilize Homeseer 3 and have moved my RPi2 to being a remote Z-Wave Jessie appliance POE powered and in the attic (Z-Net fashion) mounted at probably 8-9 feet up from the attic floor (2 story) and upgraded the old Zee-2 hardware to testing on the Pine64/2Gb and Xi3/Xi5A now running Ubuntu 16.04/64 bit server rather than a flavor of RPi Debian. 

 

[vc1234]

I want to reopen this thread as I am finally getting around to fix the poor communication to my Intermatic CA3750 that runs my pool pump and heater. Due to its location, by the pool, it is impossibly to get any other zwave devices in the path back to the house so increasing the mesh network is not an option.

I have moved the physical location of the unit to place it higher up and in more direct line of sight with the house.

A simple GE outdoor module plugged in next to it works flawlessly. I would use one of these if it was rated to drive the pump.

Not being an expert I assume I can extend, replace or do something else to improve the reception of this wire?

I am not concerned about ruining the unit while hacking - if it doesn't work I have to explore another option anyway as it is not reliable.

Can anyone suggest a method for improving the reception by hacking the wire? I've added the picture of the antenna on the board in case this is helpful.

The black rod in your picture looks like a quarter wave omni dipole.  Its length should be about 8 cm (quarter wave).  It is unlikely that you can improve reception/transmission by playing with that antenna unless you can re-route it outside the metal enclosure.  If you go this way, you may play with home made directional antennas with  geometry suitable for the zwave frequency.
 
Wrt the ge unit, it may have slightly better RF design: tranceiver/board geometry/etc. Without any measuring tools it's impossible to say.

 

[simonmason]

For the record, the Intermatic is housed in a plastic box.  I am gathering that messing with the antenna will not make much difference.  I am still at a loss to explain the poor connection despite the fact that another z-wave repeating capable device is sitting right next to it and is responding fine.  I need to figure out more about the mesh pathway to these devices - this is related more to Homeseer so I will post over there.  Thanks.

 

[vc1234]

For the record, the Intermatic is housed in a plastic box.  I am gathering that messing with the antenna will not make much difference.  I am still at a loss to explain the poor connection despite the fact that another z-wave repeating capable device is sitting right next to it and is responding fine.  I need to figure out more about the mesh pathway to these devices - this is related more to Homeseer so I will post over there.  Thanks.

Right, highly unlikely  that the antenna in a plastic case can benefit from relocating outside.
 
It is unclear what  algo Sigma boys use to build routing tables.  Based on my empirical observations, intermediary nodes are used as re-transmitters only if the direct path signal strength is not sufficient, usually with RSSI below -89/-90.  I can observe the controller using an alternative route to one of my thermostats if no acknowledgement is received when trying to communicate over a direct route, the switching back to a direct route after a while.
 
In your case, it is impossible to know where communication disruption takes place , or why the ge unit is not used by the controller as a re-transmitter without a packet sniffer. Does the GE unit even include  the intermatic device in its neighborhood table (can be seen with Leviton's software assuming you use one to manage your network) ?

 

[simonmason]

I looked into the node information in HS3 and found that this device has no known neighbors no successful routes.  So I guess I need to figure out why this is happening.  Obviously it was communicating with the network at one point otherwise I wouldn't have been able to add it.

 

[pete_c]

Ahh...didn't know that the Intermatic was in a plastic case.
 
Now eating my words above relating to the antenna thing.  Well that was on the GPIO Zee Wave dot me card.
 
From the below posts there is an antenna on the Z-Wave CA3750 that can be moved.  I have also seen this mentioned over on Homeseer but do not recall when it was mentioned. 
 
From the Amazon purchaser's peanut gallery....
 

• I took it apart to investigate. The CA3750 is well-built and seems pretty solid. Once I got down to the the Z-Wave board, though, the problem was clear. The antenna wire was routed flat along the control board in such a way that it was well shielded from the rear and sides. I re-routed the antenna away from the board where it was less obstructed, reassembled the unit and powered it on. Vera immediately recognized it and was able to configure and control it without a problem.
• Works, but tough to setup and poor range. 
• I have one of these controlling my 220v sprinkler pump which is located in my garage = about 50 ft from the hub controller. Like almost every other CA3750 owner I've met, I noticed that this switch is very difficult to pair/exclude from a home automation hub due to the extremely limited range of z-wave radio onboard. I had to move my smart things hub into the garage (about 5 feet away from the CA3750) to get it to pair successfully. Once paired, it seemed to work fine through the z-wave network created by my z-wave garage door controller and z-wave door sensor. After about 1 month of use I noticed that my grass was dying - because the pump wasn't turning on/off as scheduled. Turns out that the poorly designed antenna was the culprit.
  The solution - completely disassemble the CA3750 module and re-route the z-wave antenna. I drilled a small hole just above the push-button switch so the antenna could stick out. It's not pretty but it works. The pictures I provided show there the antenna is located, how get at it, and what tools are required.