I just bought 5 Monoprice Z-WaveDoor/Window sensors, since they were on sale for $20. The first one paired easily, and was automatically identified as a z-wave door/window sensor. The “thing” view showed a status of open and a battery status of 100%. Before installing it on the door, I held the included magnet next to the sensor area. But the device remained in an open status in the app and never closed.
I searched through the SmartThings community forums and saw that some people had issues getting them paired initially, and that excluding the device and re-including it sometimes helped. I did that. It re-paired easily, but the behavior was the same.
Thinking I had a bad magnet, I took a magnet from one of the other units I received and held it next to the sensor. Still open.
I paired a second sensor to see if that one would work. Both sensors are displaying the same behavior, showing an open status at all times.
I also saw that @florianz had created a custom device type for this device, but I haven’t tried that yet, since the battery status was already reported and SmartThings appeared to properly identify the device.
@d2htornado
I am having a hell of a time with my Monoprice Z-wave open/close window/door sensors. My front door uses a Monoprice open/door sensor and it has been very finkey. I noticed it was getting stuck in the open position, which was concerning. Seeing as how the front door gets the most usage in terms of the door we enter and exit the house through, I need this particualr sensor to be reliable.
I bought 2 of the monoprice sensors so I swapped the back door with the front door, wanting to isolate whether the unreliability was a range issue. (the front door is the furthest from the hub, which I have in the basement apprx 50 feet. After swapping, the back door to the front door, it seemed to get better (maybe noticed 1 occurrence where it did not register correctly. However, over the past 4 days, now the backdoor sensor is getting stuck in the open position, in addition to the front door. Which suggests range is not the issue, I have re-paired the device a few times throughout this ordeal.
This is frustrating to say the least, but concerning as I use ST as a security system. (I know it has it’s limitations). My next step is to swap some Iris open/close sensors that I have on a few windows to the front and back door to see how these perform in terms of reliability
I believe the Iris sensors are Zigabee wheres as Monoprice is Z-wave. Is one more reliable than the other? @jdroberts any personal experience here?
It’s not that zigbee is more reliable than Z wave or vice a versa. But one might be more reliable at your house. It just depends on the strength of each mesh. They operate as two completely separate networks.
That said, there are two big categories where problems can occur. The first is the standard checklist stuff which you can run through using the FAQ link posted above. Most often when sensor works for a while and then stops, it’s one of the things on the checklist.
The problem, though, is the flakiness of the back end platform over the last few weeks. Multiple people have reported sensors just suddenly failing or doing weirdthings. And if it’s that, there’s not much you can do about it except a hub reboot which may help resynch things for a while.
I would definitely report it to support, there are some things they can look at on their side that might help. And I would still run through the standard checklist from the FAQ, just in case.
@JDRoberts Thanks JD. I always appreciate your prompt response. I have looked at the FAQ list and have done several of the suggestions. It’s not battery as these are only a few weeks old, I thought it might be a case of a bad sensor, but that seems to also be less likely, now as both Moonprice sensors have proven unreliable. That leaves me with the 3 scenarios: Z-wave being less dependable on my network, Monoprice sensors being of poor quality, or the back-end platform affecting Z-Wave devices.
In fairness the Iris sensors to do not really get any work, because they are on windows which are not opened and closed regularly. I will be swapping the Monoprice off the doors and putting the Iris one’s on them. If the Iris one’s are buggy then it’s almost certainly a platform reliability issue, which will be VERY disappointing as I bought ST for home security. I know your view on ST performing as such, is that it simply is not reliable enough at this stage to be used for home security, But this is disappointing to say the least
@JDRoberts Thanks for the help! Finally had some time today to do some more troubleshooting. Followed your instructions, and I think being closer to the hub was the answer. All 5 sensors working properly now. Now to place them on doors and windows and do a z-wave network repair. SmartThings should hire you, man!