So it is, weird I thought it was Z Wave.
So the firmware update did nothing to improve the situation. Of course, there is no way to even determine if the firmware was actually udpated - shame on Aeon for a totally lame update package.
After a FW update and some new batteries, the sensor ran for a few weeks - then stopped reporting. The last battery sensor reading, oddly enough, was 100% - never got a low battery alarm. Tested the batteries, all four completely dead. Not sure of the exact lifespan, but < 1 month.
Iām about to take a trip so I was updating batteries on everything else today. The SmartThings motion sensors exhibit stellar usage, I am guessing my door sensors are going to get close to a year if the usage is linear.
One thing that would be nice would be if I could turn off some of the reporting on the Aeon - Iām sure it would help if it wasnāt sending an update on the light level, humidity, and temperature every 15 minutes. But there is no way to configure this thing in the SmartThings app. I donāt care at all about the lux, and temperature readings would be appropriate if they came on demand.
When Iām back from my trip Iāll try to engage Aeon support. But for now Iād have to say this device is basically a one-star review unless you can operate it with line power. If I had a mounting position that wasnāt exposed to the rain Iād use a SmartThings motion sensor - I have another one operating outside in a protected area and it is doing great despite being used out of spec.
- Mark
How does one tell what firmware the Aeon is running? The information I get from ST isnāt very much. Also, it shows 1000 lux, is that really how bright it is? Is that normal? When I tap the gear it doesnāt do anything so I assume the only thing it does is display the current lux?
When I tap the gear it doesnāt do anything
Are you referring to the circle in the upper right hand corner of the icon box, as shown below?
Unfortunately, you canāt tell which version you have. The only way to positively make sure you have the latest is to load it.
If you bought it recently you probably have the latest unless it was sitting in inventory for some time.
Mattā¦ Have you checked the activity on that thing as you have it on your front porchā¦ It reports back every second kid you notā¦ It works the worst outdoors. Even Fibaros outside is bound to give you false alerts and they state that fact and reason why in their manual. Aeons have been worst for me. And I live in an extremely quiet neighborhood with only neighbors cars passingā¦ And of course some very light traffic. I had to remove it from outdoors. Have the fibaros there for Lux and temp readings.
Then how to you āload itā. Can you access the device via an IP address or something? Is there a firmware patching process I need to know about?
You need to go to the Aeon web site and download their Windows-only firmware updater:
http://aeotec.com/z-wave-sensor/1270-multisensor-firmware.html
Prepare to be impressed!
No, seriously, it is quite awful. And of course, it will tell you it is updating, but you wonāt know if you have changed versions or not, unless they have updated the program and fixed some of its major shortcomings.
- Mark
I suddenly figured out what the little circle that you are referencing does. Of all the things that the device can display on the āmain tileā, this is what will be shownā¦ motion, of the temp, or the light, etc. Is that correct?
Also, the āconfigureā button, what does that do? Every time I tap it, nothing happens. The preference button works, but the configure doesnāt. Is that correct?
Yes, that is correct.
I found this to be kind of non-obvious - I had to ask.
Itās difficult to add help to a phone application, so I can understand that Iām not going to get a friendly paper clip jumping up and telling me what the circle does. But this is definitely an unconventional UI element that I am sure is not understood by the majority of users. And it is quite useful too - I had been wanting the feature to exist, without knowing that it existed!
- Mark
My front porch Aeon sensor is junk. It gives false positives all day long and now as of a couple months ago is way off on temp tonight it shows about 40 degrees warmer than it actually is. The one I put out back is still great. The front one will get replaced this spring.
Here is a graph, keep in mind I live in Iowa we have some warm spurts but nothing like this thing reports.
Did anybody find a solution for the battery usage?
I have the same issue, it eats battery, about 10% per week.
I have dialed down the sensitivity and made sure I have the V1.18 FV.
I junked it and bought the new model, labeled as gen5 on amazon.
In addition to having a serious batterly life problem, the old sensor, despite being labeled as all-weather, collected water in the battery compartment and thus ended up with corrosion that ruined the whole thing. Yes, I mounted it properly, and in fact it was somewhat protected from the weather by the eaves of the house, but still didnāt do the job. I was too lazy to go through the pain of getting my money back but really should have, tolerating crap like that is not good for any of us.
The new Gen5 model is going through the battery at a fairly slow rate, I think it is going to last many months before needing new batteries. Iāll find out then whether there have been improvements in the water protection.
This is just two data points, so who knows if your mileage will differ. Gen4 bad, Gen5 good.
- Mark
I have a couple of those and theyāre pretty terrible with battery life as well.
If you look at the logs you can see that these things are pretty chatty, so it might explain why the battery life is poor. Theyāre also ridiculously sensitive when it comes to motion, and even with the lowest setting they would report motion almost all the time when mounted outdoors, so that probably had something to do with it as well.
Who knows though, maybe I got a bum unit or a bad batch of batteries or whatever, but it was pretty terrible so I decided to leave it indoors and plug it in.
To everyone who is complaining that the devices are too chatty and sensitive to motion, have you tried reducing the sensitivity or disabling sensors?
I know all of Aeonās devices support setting many parameters to turn off sensors or turn down motion detector sensitivity. Thereās even temperature and humidity calibrations. You need a zwave controller or a custom device type to set them.
Just wondering, because I was also planning to install some of these outdoors and wonder if it resolved the battery issues? So far in this thread it sounds like youāve only tried updating firmware, not setting sensitivity.
Is there a way to update the firmware with USB? I plug it into my USB the computer sees a device but there software never lets me select USB to update
If you are using the Aeon windows update program linked to above, you are doing it the only way possible.
If thatās not working on your computer you are probably going to have to work with Aeon support to find out why.
A number of people here have used this really bad piece of software but I havenāt seen any reports from anyone else of trouble.
- Mark