Question

Thanks for the add!  Currently getting into the automation side of my business.Thanks for the add! Currently getting into the automation side of my business. I have a few questions. 1. What does everyone think about the ELAN home system automation platform? 2. I went to look at a student living facility in my town. They have 600+ rentable spaces each with 2 or 4 rooms. They’re supposedly “smart” but their having serious issues as a company installed 600+ Samsung smart things hubs in the living spaces. Having this many on a network can that cause a serious problem with connectivity? I’m sure it would. Each rentable living space has 3 or 5 smart locks, 1 smart light, 1 thermostat, and a Alexa. As you can imagine none of it works.  

Answer 1

Wow who in holly hell has had the balls to put that lot forward for a smart building. Jesus Christ! That’s something we can help sort but it would be subject to survey and a lot of money. the network can be sorted if it’s ran right. 600 units over a decent network shouldn’t cause it to many issues Aslong as it’s segregated and VLAN’d to allow complete isolation of broadcast traffic and individual traffic. where is this building?  

Answer 2

Elan will work but it all depends on what the budget is and what the end result expectations are.  

Answer 3

I would think Zigbee and Z-wave interference would be a larger issue. Kind of like having a AP in each room of a hotel.  

Comments

@terris not really a thing because of the nature of those protocols. Firstly, they aren't always active connections like wifi so interference isn't really an issue you tend to run into all that often purely because of that, not even in situations like this. Additionally, because they're source routing protocols once the devices are connected to the controller and the network healing process has been completed the devices have their set route back to the controller (in this situation its probably a direct connection) and they follow that path until such a time that a node on the route is unavailable in which case they then travel the next logical pathway. Interference (and all other network issues for that matter) can very easily be checked if its Z-Wave, if you become an integrator member of the Z-Wave Alliance and purchase yourself a certified installers toolkit for a couple of hundred dollars. Most Z-Wave issues I've encountered have been the result of crap quality devices, crap controllers or people who don't pair their devices properly. In this case, I'd say the issue is probably Smart Things. What would possess anyone to install that into a large scale deployment like that is completely beyond me. It's literally an entry level retail product designed so that your Mum and Dad could some basic automation up and running without the need for an expert.