GE Hinge Pin Door Open / Close Sensor (32563) - Review

So reading that last post got me thinking and I remembered that years ago my grandparents installed a wired alarm system in their house. It had door switches that the company mounted into the door frame. When the door closed, it pushed the button.

So, I wonder why no one makes a sensor similar to the Aeon recessed sensor but with a physical switch instead of a magnet? I realize the reed switches are cheap and all, but it seems that this is completely doable.

Not disputing it but where did you find the sales figures?

Just from the company reports and vendor rankings. They didnā€™t expand into the US until after they had been in Europe for a little while.

@TheSmartestHouse is the US vendor, maybe they can say whether the sensative strips have met their sales expectations. :sunglasses:

Ironically, this kinda makes it a good deal :wink:

http://www.thesmartesthouse.com/collections/sensative/products/sensative-z-wave-plus-strips-invisible-door-window-sensor-with-free-z-wave-plus-motion-sensor

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Are those zooZ sensors worth anything? I wasnā€™t too impressed with the zooZ ZEN20 power strip I bought recently.

[quote=ā€œNathan_Block, post:25, topic:67981, full:trueā€]Are those zooZ sensors worth anything? I wasnā€™t too impressed with the zooZ ZEN20 power strip I bought recently.
[/quote]

No idea Iā€™m afraid but I definitely wouldnā€™t hate myself as much as if I just spent $60 on ONE door contact sensor aloneā€¦

For an unknown brand and its price point, the device has been selling very well. Way better than Aeotecā€™s Door Window 6 for example. This is just a whole different concept, something very innovative on many levels and also executed very well (they manufacture in Europe).

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Always appreciate the insight. After seeing this review, I decided to revisit my options. Then something else occurred to me and that is which ones support vibration sensing? Since I plan on putting it on my front door and for some reason people around here insist on knocking on the door rather than using a perfectly good doorbell next to it, Iā€™d like to be able to use it as a knock sensor, too. I imagine the Strip is out as a result. I didnā€™t see anything for the recessed sensor, but maybe you or someone else know more. I know the SmartThings multipurpose sensor does vibration and works for open/close so I might just go that route after all.

There are some locks that do this, although I donā€™t know how sensitive they are.

Thatā€™s the lockā€™s tamper alert. It wonā€™t go off just for a knock on the door.

Knock detection is tricky. It depends very much on the exact architecture of the doorway and the material of the door. Some people have it working, a lot of people find they get way too many false alarms, even a truck going past can set it off. You can try it and see.

There are several zwave vibration sensors, but the issue isnā€™t the sensor as much as itā€™s just whether the knock is a distinct enough vibration. So you tend to have the same problems with all of them.

Well, luckily (I guess, but not really) the people that knock also find it best to knock quite hard. Itā€™s baffling, honestly, and I give them a hard time about it every time. But they insist on devolving and banging on stuff instead of acting like civilized, advanced beings. I suppose Iā€™ll just have to test things out and see how it goes. But Iā€™m guessing the recessed ones donā€™t have any vibration sensors. Thanks.

And yet, you still need a sensor to know they are knocking. So their hard bangug is probably a learned behavior :slight_smile:

Their hard banging is hardly a learned behavior unless you consider being a knuckledragger a learned behavior. I donā€™t NEED a sensor, per se. But there is an infinite number of possible situations in which I would find it useful, especially since my house is two stories and 4100 sqft. And because of this, I figured I would be smart and kill two birds with one stone. I wouldnā€™t be that worried about it if I lived in a small place like 2500-3000sqft. But as it is, I donā€™t, and there are several places, like my theater room, where you would never hear anyone knocking. I also have obscenely good insulation throughout which deadens the noise substantially. My doorbell is tied into SmartThings and the intelligent people use that. When they do, I get a notification on my phone, the porch light comes on if itā€™s not already on, and I have certain lights inside blink a color like red so I also have this visual alert. None of this occurs when they knock. I just wanted something that detects open/close while also helping detect someone knocking at the same time. If Iā€™m already installing something, itā€™d be asinine not to at least explore expanding functionality at the same time.

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Mine just arrived yesterday but I wonā€™t have time to work on setting it up until after the holidays. It is a bit bigger looking that I thought. My planned installation is on a bathroom door that is usually open so it will be somewhat hidden. Iā€™ll report back on how well this device performs for me.

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I have one of these sensors and I was wondering if anyone sees the same things as I do. This sensor works great for about 3 or 4 days then it will switch to open for no reason. I have it in my shop and when it opens my overhead light comes on. I can go out and open and close the door and it will say it is closed again and will work fine for a few days and then, usually early in the morning, it will show the door opened.

I have adjusted it a few times and I can hear when the internal sensor clicks, I currently have it set so the door has to be about halfway open before it will change states. So I really donā€™t think it is an adjustment.

I originally had the sensor on Iris and never had an issue with it, I am about to switch it back over for a bit just to see if it is a ST issue or if the sensor is just flaky. Just wondered if anyone else see this behavior.

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If anyone is interested, I did switch the hinge sensor back to IRIS and it has not randomly opened once since doing so. As stated above it never went more than 4 days without switching to open when connected to ST and itā€™s been on Iris for about 2 weeks now. So it is apparently a ST issue.

I never did return mine, and itā€™s still on the same door. It has been working perfectly since I installed it, same battery.

Mine has been working perfectly since switching it back to the Iris hub.