I recently bought a pack of Iris Door and Window Sensors off of ebay, the only issue is they didn’t come with magnets. I tried these 10 Rare Earth Magnets Door Window Alarm White Plastic Security System 3M | eBay, but they don’t seem to be strong enough with the offset the the iris sensor needs (you had to be dead on with the alignment or it would never stay closed only blink for a second and show open again). Does any one have other suggestions on what to use or know where to get replacement iris magnets?
These are the sensors I bought if anyone is also interested in 10 open close sensors
“Rare earth” can mean any of several different compounds and a lot of the stuff on eBay is counterfeit anyway and often just common ferrous magnets.
Since these aren’t very expensive, I would recommend buying any nickel coated neodymium magnets from reputable sellers on Amazon. Just search the industrial and scientific category for “strong magnets“ and you should see a bunch of choices.
As always, be aware that rare earth magnets can be a serious health hazard for pets or kids that swallow them, so keep that in mind for placement. But they are commonly used these days in everything from laptop hard drives to jewelry clasps, you just have to be aware of the issue.
Since they don’t work I’ll crack one open tonight and check it out.
I think JDRoberts is right, I bet they are fake.
I don’t think it had anything to do with the gap or window type.
I hand tested it first, and the ONLY way I could get the sensor to stay closed was to have the magnet touching the sensor in 1 spot, any movement caused it to switch to open. When tested the position on the window I could never get it to stay closed.
I do wonder since this guy has a ton of sensors, what came of the magnets… I am wondering if he refurbishes them and the RMA doesn’t include the magnets.
Also going to put this here as I also learned something when testing these.
if you replace the battery with the senor closed, it will put the unit into a demo mode that will keep the light flashing different colors and drain the battery, you have to put the battery in with the senor open to avoid that.
ive had the same iris sensors from that ebay sale. always wondered why they didnt come with magnets, but magnets from other sensors always worked. the offset gap between the sensor and magnet will require a bigger/stronger magnet.
I’m thinking the guy who sells them had some relationship with the manufacturer, or Lowes maybe. He’s sold thousands if not tens of thousands of various Iris and Utilitech smart devices. Maybe obtained the devices that were manufactured, but not delivered/?
Anyway, I’ve wondered the same thing about the magnets, and imagined that he got them before being packaged and paired with the magnets.
Just a guess, but I’ve been pleased with the things I’ve bought from him.
I have about 10 of them… somehow keep thinking I need more, though.
He finally sold out of the Utilitech water sensors, I have five, and was going back for a few more, and they were no more… he had sold at least 500 of them. They had no clips or batteries, as I recall, but looked spotless new.