Aeon Labs Recessed Door Sensor reporting Open when not

Hi guys,
I picked up 2 of these devices for my new smart things configuration, and both seem to be having the same problem. They are sometimes (not often) reporting open when not really open.

When I walk up to the door and open it, it says open. When I close it, it says closed. Though every now and then I check my phone and see that it is reporting open even though I know the door is not open. If I walk over and open/close the door it starts reporting as closed again.And works for a few days just fine.

Originally I was using the default door sensor, but recently switched to the community made device type that reports battery life. Both device types are having this problem.

I would think its a bum unit, but like I said, I have 2 of them and its happening to both

Has anyone had this issue before?
-Direwolf20

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I installed one over the weekend and have not yet had a false report. Plan on ordering another one.

I have tried multiple brands of open/close Z-Wave sensors (not the recessed ones yet) and every single one of them has had false alarms. Which is why I am holding out for a system that works with my wireless alarm (5 years and never a false open/close state).

I have had this happen before. Not often. I chalked it up to network interference, because as you described it corrects itself on the next closed event.

I have 2, 1 gen5 and 1 previous gen. I’ve have 0 issues with both. I use the to turn on/off my closet lights. It’s highly possible that the app is not showing the current state. That does happen from time to time with all devices. To be sure the issue is simply app presentation the best place to start is your logs.

@sidjohn1 – Thanks, I did check that earlier, below is a screenshot of the log when it happened yesterday. It was stuck open for over an hour until we open/closed the door again.

Did you resolve this? I have 3 of these recessed door sensors. Two of them have now triggered “open” in the middle of the night setting off my alarm and putting me into defend the house mode. Not cool. Opening and closing the door corrects the state. This is unacceptable.

I bought two of these, and they worked fine for a week. A few days ago, one of them started reporting “open” all the time, even though the door is closed. It is obviously detecting open/close events-- the LED comes on when I open and close the door-- but it never gets reported to the hub. I excluded and re-added, and it made no difference. Did the sensor just crap out after a week?

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I emailed Aeon support, and they advised me to try the sensor closer to my hub. Which was a pain, since I’ve obviously screwed it into my door/frame. But they were right-- it worked if I got it closer to the hub. Seems weird that it worked without fail for a week, and suddenly the range is more limited. It’s not far, really-- the door is about 30 feet from the hub. If I bring it back to about 20 feet, it works. They advised me to get a Z-Wave outlet to extend the range.

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I too am having the same issue with these. 4 out of 5 have been stuck in the open position at one point or another. Seems the only way to clear it is to open the door and closed again. One of the devices that is currently stuck in the open position is 15 feet away from the hub maybe less.

Could anyone suggest other brands of similar device. I’m in the process of building up my arsenal of smart devices and would prefer to use recessed door sensors. Are their other such devices that work more reliably. Anyone try the Ion Digital MICRA-2G or Ion Digital PLUNGER-2G?

It may be worth running through this checklist:

I have 3 of these same sensor and one of them has the same problem of randomly showing open. This is the one closest to the hub so that is not an issue. Also this problem started mid November.** HERE IS THE MAJOR PROBLEM**. If you tie it to a door with a lock, such as the Kwikset Z-wave, it will unlock the door and leave it unlocked. When my wife re locked the door it again unlocked itself. You need to open and close the door as noted earlier to reset it. If you carry the thought through then clearly you can defeat a lock by defeating the sensor. The lock should only unlock when sent an unlock command or the lock itself is manipulated. The problem is not only with Aeon I think SmartThings also as has a problem with the logic in the coding.

If you tie it to a door with a lock, such as the Kwikset Z-wave, it will unlock the door and leave it unlocked. When my wife re locked the door it again unlocked itself. You need to open and close the door as noted earlier to reset it. If you carry the thought through then clearly you can defeat a lock by defeating the sensor.

Would polling the device fix this, or does it only power up when there is a state change?

I’ve had the same issue as @rcovert since my door lock is tied to the sensor. As a work around, I disable the auto lock/unlock during “critical” times, like when I’m away or sleeping.

I think ST needs to make the auto unlock when closed optional while not allowing it to auto lock when open. This way a manual door lock by the user will not be overridden by the system. Additionally, there should be a door open alert integrated into the auto lock SmartApp. I’m working on getting up to speed on Groovy, otherwise I’d just do it myself.

edit: sentence fragment.

You guys all read the FAQ right?

I have a bunch of these sensors on order. I have mostly wood door frames but the exterior ones are metal. I’ll be watching this carefully…

  1. the following problem is specific to magnetic devices. If there is a piece of metal nearby, including a metal window frame, a metal door, sometimes even a metal switch plate, the magnet can magnetize that piece of metal, and then The sensor gets very confused. there are a couple of forum topics on this. If this is the problem, it will take a while to fix because it takes a week or two for the other metal to lose its charge. But this is one of the first things the field tech will look for if a sensor works just fine for a few days or a week and then gets stuck.

Ecolink door sensor won’t work around metal

This is interesting regarding the magnetizing the nearby metal. What is confusing is that mine worked for 2 months and then started exhibiting the above behavior. Sometimes open/close the door will work and sometimes slightly turning the sensor will do it (I did not screw it in yet for obvious reasons). What’s more is that I have the same door/sensor in the front and it works fine. I’m going to explore the weak battery issue.

Another thought if it is signal - has anyone experimented with creating a small extension to the antenna to help with potential interference?

Anyone have any experience with the Ion door plunger? I have 5 set up and enrolled on my 2Gig GoControl panel and am looking to exclude them and enroll them with my ST hub. Will these work with the ST hub and if so, does anyone recall how to exclude them from the prior controller? Thanks.

I’ve had one that has worked beautifully for 6 months. I noticed it reported 62% battery power then 2 days later, it’s dead. Walmart didn’t have the needed battery so I’m waiting for Amazon to deliver it. I really hope the next battery lasts longer and gives me a little more warning.

Mine just started doing this 3 days ago. Im currently at work now, but my first step was to try and ‘repair my zwave network.’ My sensor is still showing open, but im hoping that my zwave signal may be stronger now and after i open and close the door again all will be perfect. However i know thats probably not going to happen. Lol. I havent seen any comments of success on this issue yet?! Surely someone should have fixed this issue since Sept 2015??? Lol

This was my experience too. I deleted the switch from all SmartApps then deleted the device from the z-wave network. I then added the switch back and reprogrammed into all SmartApps. It has now worked for over 48 hours without a hiccup after being broken for over a week. Fingers are crossed.