Jimmy and anyone else caring to give feedback-
, curious to know what your battery life is like.
I have a very odd occurance. Out of the 2 sensors, 1 with a 1 week old battery and another with a 2 week old battery. They are both reporting the same exact percentage(5%), and the one with the week old battery is less than 8 feet from the hub.
I read in another thread that someone claims it’s best to turn off ALL zigbee routers when pairing these non HA complaint xiaomi devices. Like all bulbs or switches that might act as routers, yet another member said that made no difference with his Xiaomi’s.
I don’t feel safe trusting these sensors with protecting my home, they’re just too finicky and I don’t want to have to explain the failure to shut off the water main to my wife, cuz the next question is "how much did you spend on all this unreliable junk"
Maybe someday someone, smarter than me, will be able to figure this out.
Mine faded down to 0 over a week or two and then popped back up to 100 and seem to now be decreasing at a normal rate. I agree they aren’t the most reliable sensors.
I was able to pair my water sensor. Works great! Thanks MaverickASC.
One thing I would like is a push notification that shows up on my phone. Right now, the only way I would know there is a flood in my house is if I check the SmartThings app. Anyone able to add this feature?
I have started an all inclusive thread for the Xiaomi Zigbee sensors. Please refer to this thread.
Please stop posting to this thread and move over to the new one. If you have new features to improve the Device handlers please contribute to the new thread.
Hum maybe tried to delete and add the sensors back again, maybe something went wrong with the pairing process. I have 6 of these sensors and they all work fine
I got one of these Aqara water sensors with the goal of using it in my pool. It’s covered during winter and I can’t see if the water level is dropping without going out to check under the cover. My thought is to stick it to the pool side at the right height so that it’s wet when there’s enough water, and have it report in when it’s dry. Now I’m wondering if that will rapidly drain the battery, or otherwise be suboptimal. Has anyone tried something like this?
(It paired easily and indicates dry/wet correctly so the first steps went fine.)
That is a good question. I placed one of these outside to let me know if the backyard still had standing water so I could prevent the sprinkler from running. However, after 3 weeks it stopped reporting changes to the wet/dry status but kept reporting battery levels. Even though the battery level was above 70%, the sensor appears to no longer work. I tried disconnecting and reconnecting it to the hub, but it still wouldn’t detect water, only report battery. And my last attempt to re-pair it has not been successful. I’m not sure if the device couldn’t handle prolonged periods of wetness (there was frequent rain during the three weeks it was working) , or if I just need to try a fresh battery. I haven’t had a chance to buy a new battery yet.
Doesn’t seem extreme enough to affect it, so you’re probably right that long-term exposure to water isn’t good for it. I may give it a try anyway, given that I got the sensor on sale and don’t really have any other use for it.
I’ve tried to do the exact same thing, but also then having an automation to turn on and off the water filler. This worked well for a few weeks but then the sensor keeps dropping off the network. Every time I re-pair it it will stay connected for a week or so and then stop reporting. The battery is fine, it just stops communicating, even though I moved my hub to be only a few feet away from it. The actual wet / dry sensing and reporting worked just fine as soon as it was re-paired. Currently looking for another reasonably priced sensor. I haven’t found a way to customize the alerts though to just work as a water level sensor and not squeal about there being a leak.
A suggestion I saw somewhere else and was particularly applicable to having this sensor in the chlorinated pool water was to attached some wires to the little sensors and keep the device out of the water. I was initially going to solder the wires to the sensors when I realized they unscrew. You can just unscrew them and snag a wire under them and screw them back up. Works perfectly.
Oh, hey, that’s a brilliant idea. I haven’t got around to setting mine up, partly because I’ve been doubtful about it standing up to constant soaking in the water, but with this approach I can give it a shot.
I finally replaced the battery and was able to add the device to the hub again. It’s been properly reporting simulated ‘wet’ events so far. I may give it another go outside and see how long it lasts with this new battery.
