I have GoControl Z-Wave Door/Window Sensor - WADWAZ-1 contact sensors (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00MNYSEF4/) on all my doors and windows. I was hoping to not replace them in this transition but I haven’t found an edge driver specifically for them. I figured with such a simple device I could use the Smartthings Beta driver “Z-Wave Sensor”.
It detects it as a contact sensor but works extremely unreliably. In my poking around I found the Z-wave Masquerade v1.01 edge driver by @philh30 and that driver makes my contact sensor work great.
Not that @philh30 isn’t a great person and all, I kind of worry about unofficial drivers suddenly going away/updating and breaking things. Is there a more official edge driver I can use that actually makes the device work reliably since the only official ones that are discovered dont work?
I’m surprised this device is supported by fingerprint by the stock Edge zwave-sensor driver at all. The driver itself doesn’t actually have any specific support for it (no configurations or parameter handling) so this may be an oversight. For instance, it doesn’t bother to set the checkin period, which would just be the default (if there is one).
(Beta) stock zwave-sensor driver fingerprint:
That being said, it came out in 2014 and is based on the Zwave 300 chipset (non zwave plus). Not exactly something that could be certified as WWST as its no longer available.
With a sensor to test with, one of us could write a driver for it but honestly why bother? If I were you I would upgrade to a Zwave Plus (700 or 800 series) sensor. Way more range, better battery life, more reliable and supported by the platform.
These sensors work fine for range and battery and were reliable with the default device handlers. In fact I havent changed the batteries since installing them in late 2017. I figured these sensors would be left behind in the migration so I purchased an Aoetec Zigbee Multipurpose Sensor to trial. I haven’t been impressed by the battery life. In a month it’s already down to low 80s%. I worry about using it on my garage door in the winter if it would even last 6 months.
Do you have any suggestions for zwave plus contact sensors? My issue is finding ones that don’t use the coin style batteries. I doubt any 700/800 series contact sensor that uses a coin battery will even match the battery life of these old ones.
If you’re looking for something for a sectional garage door, the ecolink tilt sensor (2.5eco series or later) work great. Battery life is easily over a year. @philh30 and I have a driver specifically for the 2.5eco.
All of my drivers are open source. Feel free to download the code and package your own version of the driver if that’s a concern for you. The only “official” driver is the stock z-wave sensor driver, so your choices are that, a community driver, or one you write yourself.
