Overview
Devicebook Hub Installation & Linking involves the following steps:
1. Devicebook Hub Placement
2. Power Supply & Internet Uplink
3. Hub LAN Setup (As necessary)
4. Link with Home Controller
1. Devicebook Hub Placement
Optimal Devicebook Hub Placement & Orientation
Place the Devicebook Hub in a central location in the home to maximize the area of the home in range of the Hub. This is often near where the home's Wi-Fi router is located.
Please read the Hub Placement Guidelines for more specific placement information.
Hub Placement Guidelines
A Devicebook Hub placed in a central location can cover a typical 1000 to 2000 sq. ft. single-story or two-story home. It can also cover a typical three-story home if the Hub is placed in the middle level.
The numbered guidelines below describe optimal positioning and orientation of the Hub.
- The best mounting positions are vertical-mount on a wall, or horizontal placement on a nonmetallic shelf, at a height near eye level. For single level home, the Hub may be mounted on a ceiling upside-down without loss of performance. We do not recommend mounting the hub to the ceiling in multi level homes, because the low-angle direction to the devices increases the path length in the ceiling material, and therefore significantly degrades the wireless signal to devices on upper floors.
- Place the Hub at least three feet away from metal objects, and further away from large metal objects such as AC-main panels, fireplaces, mirrors, etc. This is because metal is a barrier to wireless signals. If you think of the Devicebook Hub as a light source, a metal object casts a shadow. Devices in the shadow cannot receive signal from the Devicebook Hub. Place the Hub accordingly so that the Hub's signal is not blocked by metal objects.
- Place the Hub at least three feet away from Wi-Fi routers or access points to minimize interference.
- Avoid putting the Devicebook Hub in a location behind many walls. Each wall (drywall on both sides) will reduce the signal range by about 40%.
- Do not put the Devicebook Hub in a metal cabinet. A metal cabinet will effectively block all wireless communication to devices.
If Wi-Fi devices seem to be out of range of the Devicebook Hub, it is necessary to move the Hub to a closer location, or vice-versa.
When Z-Wave or Insteon devices seem to be out of range of the Devicebook Hub, it is necessary to add “repeaters” to improve coverage. These scenarios will be explained in more detail in the following sections.
Antenna Orientation
For single-story homes, the Z-Wave antenna and both Wi-Fi antennas should be pointed vertically, perpendicular to the floor.
For two-story or three-story homes, set both Wi-Fi antennas to be 45 degrees off from vertical.
For three-story homes with long and narrow footprint, put the Z-Wave antenna and one Wi-Fi antenna parallel to the floor, and perpendicular to the long-axis of the home. The other Wi-Fi antenna should be pointed vertically.
Antennas are as below:
Alternative Devicebook Hub Placement
Often, the placement of Hub is dictated by the home layout, or distribution of devices in the home. In this case, install the Hub at any available location and use “Repeaters” to manage the wireless coverage for Z-Wave or Insteon networks. The following guidelines should still always be followed:
- Place the Hub at least three feet away from metal objects.
- Place the Hub at least three feet away from any Wi-Fi router or access point.
- Do NOT put the Devicebook Hub in a metal cabinet.
Wi-Fi Constraints
While it is relatively easy and inexpensive to add Repeaters for Insteon and Z-Wave network, Wi-Fi devices must be directly reachable from the Devicebook Hub.
Consider locating the Devicebook Hub closer to the Wi-Fi devices with higher priority. Pay attention to the location of any Wi-Fi video-doorbell included in the home, because video doorbells are typically installed outside the home in an area of marginal Wi-Fi coverage, but require a good connection to function well.
If devices at far reaches of the home have poor connectivity, consider updating the smart home's design with hard-wired or ethernet-connected devices.
2. Hub Power & Internet Uplink
The Devicebook Hub requires a power supply and an uplink to the internet to function.
Quick Start - Connect Devicebook Hub to Home Router
We recommend providing power to the Devicebook Hub via Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). This connection will provide both the power supply and internet uplink to the Devicebook Hub. To do so, install a PoE+ power injector between the Devicebook Hub and the home's router:
- Plug in a PoE+ power injector (accessory) into a wall outlet (AC-main).
- Use a CAT-6 Ethernet cable to connect a LAN port on the home's existing router to the PoE+ power injector's DATA IN port.
- Use a CAT-6 Ethernet cable to connect the Devicebook Hub's WAN port to the PoE+ power injector's P-DATA OUT port.
Tip: Check out the Recommended Accessories to see our recommendations for a PoE power injector.
3. Hub Secure LAN Setup
The Devicebook Hub supports a secure Local Area Network (LAN) for Wi-Fi/LAN Devices. The Hub natively emits its own Wi-Fi LAN, and has a LAN port through which all Ethernet and PoE devices should be connected.
Connect PoE and Ethernet Devices to the Devicebook Hub's LAN
If the smart home does not have any wired ethernet or PoE devices, you can skip this step.
Install a multi-port PoE+ network switch between the Devicebook LAN port and all of the PoE or Ethernet devices.
- Plug a PoE+ network switch power supply into a wall outlet (AC-main)
- Use a CAT-6 Ethernet cable to connect the network switch's uplink port to the Devicebook Hub's LAN port.
- Use CAT-6 Ethernet cables to connect the PoE and Ethernet devices to the network switch's PoE ports.
Tip: See the network diagram in this article, to see an example network layout.
Connect Wi-Fi Devices to the Devicebook Hub's Wi-Fi LAN
The process for connecting a device to the Devicebook Hub's Wi-Fi LAN is unique to each device. In most cases, Devicebook will automatically be able to detect and provision such devices during House Check.
In any case, while installing the Devicebook Hub, there is nothing you need to do to set up the Hub's Wi-Fi LAN Network, so long as you follow the instructions above about Hub Positioning and antennas orientation.
4. Link Devicebook Hub with Home Controller
In order to associate a specific Devicebook Hub with a particular Home Controller, you need to link them, using House Check.
1. In the Home Controller, navigate to House Check > Devicebook Hub
2. Tap the "Set Up" button.
3. Follow the instructions on the page to scan the QR code on the Devicebook Hub.
Note: It could take a few minutes for the Devicebook Hub to become fully provisioned and ready for use.
4. When the Hub is provisioned, press the back button to return to the House Check main page.
5. If the "Update" button is visible on the House Check tile, tap it to update the Devicebook Hub to the latest available firmware, before continuing to set up the rest of the devices.
Congratulations! The Devicebook Hub has been linked to the Home Controller. You are now ready to set up the rest of the devices in the Smart Home.
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