Cost effective door/window sensors (UK)

General Discussion
,
102

My motion sensors arrived today, 9 day delivery, amazing!! :smiley:

20160427_183354.jpg1344Ɨ2390 913 KB

They paired up easily, same experience as you guys. When I next get time I will sit down and try to write a proper device handler for them. I have 3 contact sensors on their way too :slight_smile:

103

I can confirm my motion sensors are now working perfectly, although the range from the hub at which they work isnā€™t great.

104

How far are you talking?

Iā€™ve got one on the mantelpiece at the moment, my hub is in the garage inside a closed cupboard. Itā€™s possible however that the other zigbee devices (including the other motion sensor which is half way between in the kitchen) are relaying the data.

Iā€™ve found these sensors to be super sensitive and the detection range is quite impressive. They fire events A LOT, but Iā€™m not sure if that can be changed with the zigbee configuration commands which Iā€™m a long way from understanding as yet. The level of abstraction on the ST side isnā€™t that great so youā€™re often dealing with very raw looking commands and data.

I have however determined for sure that these devices definitely report their battery level :smiley:

105

I had to move my smartthings hub to the middle of the house and even then i cant put the motion sensor where i want to. Its working about 20ft away on the other side of a thick wall from the hub, but it stops working any further than that. I do have a ST open/close sensor and philips hue bulbs in the area so i dont think it it taking a relayed signal.

106

Iā€™ve created an Orvibo Motion Sensor device handler:

Itā€™s got battery reporting and allows you to configure how long the motion stop timeout is (default is 2 seconds) in the device settings. It wonā€™t stop the motion sensor firing events at the ST hub (thus possibly saving battery) but itā€™ll stop events being fired off from the device type so often if you donā€™t want it to.

4 Likes
107

That was quick, many thanks. Will give it a try and test it out tonight when my sensors are due to turn on

108

I forgot to say in the post, the battery status may not show up immediately, the sensors seem to report their battery state sporadically probably every 15 mins or so.

1 Like
109

Right, I have dithered too much, I am going to order a couple of the door sensors and a couple of the motion sensors. Were any of you done for customs/VAT, etc? If not, how many did you order at once? Would I be better to order them separately?

110

Battery powered devices will not act as repeaters.

Anything connected to a Hue bridge forms its own tiny network and will not repeat for devices that are not also on that bridge.

Z wave repeats only for Z wave, zigbee repeats only for zigbee.

Detailed discussion in the following article:

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=Is_this_device_a_repeater%3F

Typical zigbee repeaters for the UK are zigbee pocket sockets (including the SmartThings smart plug) and zigbee light bulbs connected directly to the smart things hub, not through a bridge.

1 Like
111

Ah yeah, forgot about the battery ones not repeating. I do have anot ST socket in the same room as the motion sensor so maybe thatā€™s it.

1 Like
112

Ah ok, thanks for the info.

I can confirm that your device handler is working perfectly for me Chris, including battery reporting. Excellent stuff, cheersā˜ŗļø

1 Like
113

Iā€™ve 1 door sensor, however the battery didnā€™t last long at all (1 week). Iā€™ve another on the way and two motion sensors and therefore wondering was I just unlucky or could this be the norm.

Has anyone else has experience a short battery life on the door sensor?

114

Mine havenā€™t arrived yet. What sort of battery do they use?

115

CR2032, one of those big button ones, similar to what you find in watches or calculators etc

116

Iā€™ve already had one battery die in less than a month. Iā€™m hoping it is a one off though as the other 9 are all OK still.

1 Like
117

With help from @kriskit I have created a working devicetype handler for the first orvibo contact sensors. I can share it once I get the fingerprint sorted, hopefully tonight. This will let us monitor the battery level of the orvibo contact sensors. This way at least youā€™ll know when the battery drops to dangerous levels.

2 Likes
118

Thatā€™s brilliant - I have a few of the door sensors and would be happy to give your devicetype handler a test.

119

@a4refillpad sweet, sign me up as a tester. Thank you and @kriskit. This will be a handy feature.

120
2 Likes
121

my second battery just died on Friday :frowning: , so Iā€™m only getting 7 days with it!!!. Am I the only unlucky individual here. Iā€™ve have Waynes original Device Beta type associated with it.