Repeater when available

[รอเรือ]

Hi there.

I've got a coffee brewer that currently acts as a repeater. If I go for a vacation, I'll probably unplug my coffee brewer. Would that impact my MySensors network badly (more bad than if there were never a repeater defined), that is, should I better remove the repeater function if I have the need to turn it off 2 weeks per year?

Thanks!

[mfalkvidd]

If your other nodes can communicate without the repeater, I don't see any benefit from defining it as a repeater
=> do not use the coffee brewer as repeater.

If your other nodes can't communicate without the repeater, unplugging it will cause the nodes to fail
=> you'll need another repeater anyway so do not use the coffee brewer as repeater.

[CrankyCoder]

mfalkvidd im sure you can confirm if i have my understanding correct here. If you have a repeater and it's gone, the nodes will eventually try to do a find par(ent) again right? at that point they may or may not be able to rejoin the network?

[รอเรือ]

@mfalkvidd

Thanks!

[mfalkvidd]

@crankycoder said in Repeater when available:

mfalkvidd im sure you can confirm if i have my understanding correct here. If you have a repeater and it's gone, the nodes will eventually try to do a find par(ent) again right? at that point they may or may not be able to rejoin the network?

Correct. If they are able to join the network, the repeater was not needed. If they are not able to join the network, another repeater is needed.

[alowhum]

From my understanding: if your device does not run on batteries, always set it to work as a repeater. There are no downsides, and it will make your network more robust. If any device goes down for a bit, the sensors will route around it. Just like on the internet.

[รอเรือ]

@alowhum

I believe it's very important that a repeater has a good communication with the gateway. I can imagine that a repeater with less than optimal communication with the gateway could make things worse.

[alowhum]

Of course. But if more devices are repeaters, chances are that they might bridge that bad connection with an extra hop in between. In a mesh network, the more help form that mesh, the better.

[CrankyCoder]

Does adding ack to messages help trigger any failures if something can't deliver? ... well that didn't make much sense.

So lets say i have 2 repeaters on my network. i have a sensor that wakes up to report info. it normally goes to repeater1 -> gateway but repeater1 is acting up. Could you tell it to wait for an ack? after X amount of time with no ack would it trigger to find a new parent?