Hello, I am using a couple of Visonic Door/Window Sensors around my house and they report open/closed status as well as temperature. I have noticed very short battery performance on certain ones, like my bathroom sensor, and I think this is caused by the constant fluctuations in temperature readings. The window in my bathroom never opens but the logs show constant temperature changes being reported. I found a DH that did not have a temperature reading, SmartSense Open/Closed Sensor Without Temp, but it appears that it just does not display the temperature but is still reporting it in the logs.
That seems excessive. I am assuming the DH requests the temp reading because I have other senors that allow you to configure the temp change amount before it. This is to prolong battery life. I have a different sensor 5 feet away that does not have a temp senor and the battery usage is minimal.
as my freezer and fridge batteries decay, the temp readings of those multisensors, continue long after other capabilities have failed, such as the reed contact sensor. Replacing the battery, restores the contact sensing function. My interpretation is that the temperature sensor is less demanding than the contact reading.
Any one (or two) piece of hardware can be a marginal turkey, which is why I suggest moving a known-“good” device to the troubled location to test for that possibility.
Frequent temperature updates also just clutter the log.
I am still not seeing this as a hardware defect. I have 6 of these senors being used throughout the house. I’ve had to replace all of their batteries twice already in 3 months. I see constant temperature updates being sent from them that is simply not needed. A DH that prevented that would solve the battery usage.
Device handlers don’t fetch readings from the device. The device pushes the readings to them. The ones with configurable settings are sending that data to the device and changing a parameter on the device itself for when to push the readings.
Honestly, I would expect battery life to be shorter with these devices than with, say, the Iris sensors. The form factor with the smaller battery essentially guarantees it. It’s the price you pay for greater WAF.
The goal is the improve battery life by reducing the amount of data that is being transmitted since it is not needed. I was hoping that someone else would have had experience working on these sensors since they are common and affordable.
I have 20 visonics contact sensors right now and temp reading is not the cause of battery.
It’s the sensor itself. I have 2 sensors that caused batteries to drain way quicker than the rest and location swapped and Zigbee mesh heal is not helping.
Try exchanging with a new sensor. Same with Lowes motion sensors. You will get a bad few depending on your luck.
I am positive in my case. I swapped location with another sensor and did a mesh afterward with same result. You can test your sensor by move it to a location with constant temp if you want to troubleshoot.
I’m not really sure how relevant this is for my issue since it happens on every single device. The only device the dies faster is the front door sensor, which makes sense because z-wave works by only sending updates on status changes. That’s why z-wave is suppose to be low power usage, it is not suppose to be communicating constantly, only on state changes. These sensors are not functioning in “best practices” scenario. Instead they are updating on a time interval, 5 minutes. This is an extreme amount of updates and it directly correlates to an unnecessary about of power consumption. This isn’t a physical defect, it is a software issue. Z-wave should not be configured to work like this.
…sorry zigbee. They still follow the same rules. Yes I have done a heal and not sure why that would fix an issue with a device reporting every 5 minutes… Obviously they are communicating, they are in the logs. Does anyone have any direct knowledge of how these devices work other than just random thoughts.
you don’t seem to be listening. These are not random thoughts about theories. Why ask if you have the answers?
Did you bother to swap the door sensor with a perceived-good device from elsewhere? How is it not worth a try? Talking about 2 minutes of effort - you spent much more time in posting argument.
Thanks, they aren’t helpful. I clearly stated that it is happening on all 8 of the sensors I have. There is a time based update being sent. Still not seeing how moving the location will stop the interval. One again software setting, not a hardware issue.
