I thought this would be easy but apparently not. I bought the new Smartthings water leak sensor. It is connected to a v3 hub. All I want is a text (SMS) message sent to me if it detects any water. So far I have not found a way to make that happen. Can someone point me in the right direction. I would have thought this would have been in built in function.
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In the classic app, look under safety and security in the marketplace and select the Notify Me When smart app. It will send text messages, I use it. I don’t think the new V3 app has a native way to send text messages, only push messages.
Thanks for the reply. That is pretty ridiculous that the new app would not have such a basic function. I am currently using the new app but I suppose I’ll have to load up the old app as well. Samsung really needs to fix this issue.
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Something else to consider doing. I set up a single virtual switch for all my alarms, such that if an alarm is triggered, I have IFTTT call my cell phone. I know I can get a text, but I’m afraid I’d miss it.
The classic app appears to be much more functional all the way around then the “new” app.
One additional question. Is there some way to be notified, either via text/SMS or email, if the leak sensor goes offline and/or the leak sensor battery gets low? Again, that seems like functionality that should be there but does not seem to be.
Wags,
Depending on what you are trying to accomplish, I will throw this out to you as an idea. … there are water shutoff valves that can be controlled via smarthings. Ie. Turn the main water off when not present in the home.
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that would not help in this specific application. In this instance I’m going to go back to using a Zircon wifi enabled leak detector. It is much more bulletproof as a leak detector in this particular application.
While I find Smartthings to be very good for automation (lights and other things) I’m finding that it is sorely lacking for any kind of monitoring or security. Monitoring and security applications need to be bulletproof, or as close as possible, at least for me. That means automated notifications (text/SMS and/or email) of low battery or offline conditions for all sensors. Having to remember to manually check sensors every so often is simply not going to cut it for monitoring and security applications.
Understood.
The only thing I would add at this point is that, I actually believe that you could accomplish the notifications issues that you originally asked - it took me a while to figure it out - but the monitoring and notifications depend on the “alarm states” (home, away etc) used by “Smart Home Monitoring”. I use the Smart Home Monitor and “notify me when” quite successfully to get notifications of events and states.
Unfortunately, the power of smarthings is not easily implemented without a lot of research, trial and error.
I haven’t needed to venture into Webcore or IFTTT ---- yet, but if you are savy enough or motivated, that would be another avenue to accomplish pretty much anything.
“Simple Device Viewer” app is a great way to aggregate all of the devices monitoring (batteries, states etc)
Thanks for trying to help, really appreciated! I have spent some time trying to use “notify me when” to accomplish what I want. Unless I’m missing something the only “state” available to check on the water leak sensor is “wet”. Nothing about battery level, on/off line, or temp. If you can’t get notified when the battery gets low or the sensor goes off line it really doesn’t cut it as a leak sensor for me.
I just looked at my “simple device viewer” app - and it has the option to send battery notifications, device state and last event notifications (among others). I think this would be exactly what you need.
Here’s the link: [RELEASE] Simple Device Viewer
It is a custom app, so there is a bit of work to get it implemented if you are unfamiliar with that process.
Thanks, I’ll take a look.
Thanks. Took a quick look but the specific device I’m using (Samsung GP-U999SJVLCAA Smart Things Water Leak Sensor) does not appear in the list of device handlers and honestly, I’m not interested in spending the time to modify code. I’m going back to my Zircon wifi leak detector which does everything I need right out of the box. I’m going to re-purpose the Samsung leak detector in a less critical location.
This has just reinforced my take that, in it’s current form. Smartthings is great for automation but just not yet ready for prime time for critical security and monitoring without custom coding.
Well no problem. For what its worth, I am using the exact same leak sensors x3, with no custom dth, and am able to view them with the “simple device viewer” app. You only need to select the devices you wish to view, which is done within the simple device app.
Nonetheless, you have an alternate plan. Which is all that matters.
I’ll have to take another look. When I clicked on the link you provided and went to github I looked thru the readme for the app and it listed all the devices. I did not see that specific device in the list so didn’t even try the app. I’ll try it and see what happens.
You must have looked at the top level read me file which lists all the devices I’ve written handlers for.
This app is generic so it works with all devices.
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Works great…thanks!