Good but affordable window / door sensors? (US, 2021)

Hi,

I am after good but affordable door sensors. While my ST mesh is 100% Z-Wave, and therefore I would prefer Z-Wave, I am fine settings up ZigBee sensors if the best recommendations point to that direction.

Currently, all the newer models I am seeing are $30,$40,$49 per piece. That’s very steep considering I would need at least 8 to 10 units.

Any suggestions are welcomed.

Many thanks

I’m assuming you’re in the US since you gave prices in US dollars. If not let us know.

For zwave, I would suggest the Ring Alarm system door sensors. These use the latest Z wave technology, work fine with smartthings, and are widely available including at Home Depot. They are also priced well, listing at $19.99 each but often available in multi packs which bring the price down a little, such as 6/$100, or about $17 each. Get the second generation, not the first.

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They may say they need their own base station, but they don’t, you can use the smartthings hub instead. :sunglasses:

As far as zigbee, they might be less expensive per sensor, but you will also need to add some zigbee repeaters so I think the overall cost is about the same in your case and if you already have zwave working well, I would just stick with that.

Also, regardless of which models you’re looking at, I would expect to see some sales for memorial day if you can wait a couple of weeks.

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Sonoff SNZB-04 About 9 euros each.

€ 6,86 35%OFF | SONOFF Zigbee Bridge /Wireless Switch / Temperature And Humidity Sensor/Motion Sensor /Wireless Door Window Sensor Zigbee 3.0

They run natively and locally on Smartthings.

If you need any repeaters, throw in some Ikea plugs that all run natively and locally and cost 15 euros each.

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I just installed a Sengled Zigbee door/window sensor and connected to my ST hub which is probably 50 feet away and created a simple automation to turn on a hall light. So far it is working well and they only cost about $30 for a 2 pack.

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Very helpful. That’s what I’ll get

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A good sum of what you can get:

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Question about repeaters:
My (perhaps erroneous) understanding was that ALL zigbee devices are repeaters
I have some of the Sonoff SNZB-04 in a room, that while admittedly several rooms away from the Hub, have a Zigbee Roller Shade in same room that has no problem at all with control from the Hub. (And the room between the Hub & the first two mentioned) has two sensors there also
I’m finding that the Sonoff sensors might work initially, but then don’t change state, especially after adding additional ones in.
Is my presumption about ALL Zigbee devices being repeaters wrong?
Is it perhaps that the Sensors (& perhaps even the battery powered shade) are not constantly broadcasting (by design to preserve battery life) that they don’t in fact work as repeaters themselves?

Being a repeater is optional under the Zigbee specification.

Most Mains-Powered zigbee Devices are repeaters, with the exception of some smoke detectors and other “critical mission“ devices which don’t want to delay putting out an alarm because they’re passing along a message for some lightbulb somewhere. And a few individual manufacturers who have made the decision not to have their devices repeat. :thinking:

Most battery powered zigbee Devices are NOT repeaters, because it would use up too much battery. there are a couple of exceptions, typically devices designed for security systems which are mains powered most of the time but can switch over to battery power during an outage. But those devices will usually say that they are repeaters prominently in the product description.

So in general, if it’s a battery powered device, assume it is not a repeater. If it’s a Mains powered Device, assume that it probably is unless it’s one of those safety alarms. Or made by Sengled.

It would probably be helpful to read the following community FAQ. Start with post 11 in that thread (I will link directly to that post), read it, then go up to the top of the thread and read the whole thing and it should answer most of your questions about building a strong network. :sunglasses:

The topic title is a clickable link.

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Thank you! Most Helpful!

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The Iris sensors were close to perfect, but have been discontinued, sadly. I wish I bought more back in the day.

I’m mostly with Z-wave devices so trying to stick with Z-wave so I don’t have to build out a Zigbee network.

I tried some Ring sensors but they are significantly larger (and slightly more expensive) than the old Iris sensors. The ring sensors don’t fit well on a sliding window for example. 1/2 of the unit will hang off into the window space due to the tight areas.

I’d love to find something similarly priced/sized to the old Iris sensors, but so far not finding anything.