The repeater function of a smart switch or dimmer module will work regardless of whether you actually plug something (such as a lamp or appliance) into the device. Devices that use power adapters are not repeaters.) (When we say “connects directly to AC power,” that means the device itself plugs into the wall without a separate power adapter. So you do not usually need to purchase a separate “repeater” device - simply by placing a dimmer module or smart switch one hundred feet from your Vera controller, you will be extending its range in that direction. This includes lamp dimmers and smart switches. Practically every Z-Wave device that connects directly to AC power, in fact, is a repeater. Repeaters can be confusing because they’re built into other devices. To play it safe, we recommend you cut the range estimate to 100-feet (30-meters) for a “line of sight” installation (no walls or obstructions in between), and perhaps half that distance (50-feet) for a typical indoor home installation with signals passing through walls. The amount by which signal strength diminishes will vary with each home depending on building materials and the exact locations of devices. Yes, Z-Wave signals do pass through walls, but compared to traveling through open air they meet more resistance, and as a result the overall range gets reduced.

But outdoors without obstructions, and indoors, where various building materials and household items can reduce signal strength, are two very different things. The underlying Z-Wave technology used in a Vera system specifies a range of about 330-feet (100-meters) when used outdoors with no obstructions. How much distance can you have between the controller and a device before needing a repeater? That depends on the installation. The repeater, as its name implies, lets you extend the distance to the controller by relaying signals in both directions. The key to covering large areas is to use “repeaters” in the system. The devices can span a huge building, a group of buildings, even a small campus! True, each of our controllers does have a limit to the number of devices you can have in the system - it’s 200 for our Vera3 controller and 50 for the VeraLite - but there’s almost no limit on how far apart these devices can be, with a thousand feet or even greater distances possible. One of the more remarkable things about your Vera home control system is that it can be expanded to cover very large areas.

The underlying Z-Wave technology used in a Vera system True, each of our controllers does have a limit to the number of devices y

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