Aeotec Door/Window Sensor 7 - Dry Contacts

[michael9]

relative newbie here ...

I have an Aeotec Door/Window Sensor 7 that I want to use as a dry contact sensor.

I am running

The device was recognized with a built-in driver

The magnet sensor works fine, with events recording properly.

This device requires a command to switch from magnetic sensor (default) to dry contacts.
See:

Door Window Sensor 7, universal dry contact sensor.

The UI for the driver seems to imply that it will switch the device between magnet and dry-contact modes.

I saved preferences and saved the device, but was unable to get it to respond to dry contact closure ... it stayed in magnet mode.

Q: Am I doing-something-wrong/misunderstanding-something? Shouldn't I be able to effect this config change through the HE web gui?

I changed the device driver to Basic Z-Wave Tool to manually set the operation mode to dry contact per:

The device now recognizes open/close changes across the dry contacts.

Device also works with the Generic Component Contact Sensor driver

Q: Which driver should I use? Does it matter?

However, there is an issue. The device reports CLOSED when the contacts are open and OPEN when the contacts are closed. I'm sure this will cause for me as my brain deteriorates over time.

This thread discusses inverting dry contact event state, but while I get the gist of it, I don't yet understand all the pieces well enough to put it together with virtual device.

Inverting contact sensors for Normally open

My garage door sensors on my Elk are wireless CADDX sensors. Apparently they are normally open sensors. So in HE, when the doors are shut, the contact is open; and when the doors are open, the contacts are closed. Is there a way in HE to tell it that it's inverted?

Q: How can I invert the sense of this dry contact sensor?

Thanks!
Michael

reference:

Aeotec Door/Window Sensor 7

Just got an email from Aeotec about their new Door/Window Sensor 7 is now available and shipping. Haven't seen anything in the forums on this. I am assuming it will be compatible with HE. Looks like it also has dry contact sensor connection for other devices. Wonder how much smaller it really is.

[672southmain]

Yes, the driver can be used to change this. You have to do the following with the device page open: set the preferences as you want them, then wake up the device, save preferences. It has to be done rather quickly. Worked for me.

From the user guide:

Send a wake up notification.
In order to send your sensors new configuration commands from your Z-Wave controller or gateway, it will need to be
woken up.

1. Wake Up the device by removing the cover.
2. The hit the tamper switch once.
   Note: Door / Window Sensor 7 remains awake until the housing is closed again.

Alternatively, you can set the parameters using Mike Maxwell’s Z-Wave Tool driver:

Super basic Z-Wave parameter tool

I just published a very basic Z-Wave tool for setting device parameters for all the tweakers out there...

Edit: Here is the User Guide with full instructions:

Door / Window 7 user guide

[michael9]

Thanks for your prompt response!
Yes, I was able to get it to work through the auto-detected driver by "saving preferences" immediately after pressing the tamper switch.

Separately, I observe that the driver allows one to invert the open/closed sense of the magnet sensor.

However, this does not apply when on the contact sensor.

Seems to me like the driver could easily be modified to have this inverter applied to both the magnet and the dry-contact.

Q: Can this be done?
Q: Is the source code avail so that I could try?

[672southmain]

@michael9

Q: Can this be done?
Q: Is the source code avail so that I could try?

It would require source code for the driver. Source code for the built-in drivers is not publicly available. Of course, you could always write your own.

[672southmain]

@michael9

However, this does not apply when on the contact sensor.

Are you sure about that? Now, I haven’t used the external contacts on mine, but the user guide seems to imply that you can change the sense of the external contact sense input:

Note: Please note that the contact Digital Input (#3) and Ground (#4) is a normally open (NO) contact. Closing the contact sends out a command (Open or Close). To change the input type to NC, set parameter 2 to value 1 [1 byte].

You could always use Mike Maxwell’s Z-Wave Tool (see above) if it can’t be done with the standard driver. Same issue about wake-up applies when setting the parameter.

[michael9]

I tested it several times and was not able to get it to work.
I'll try again.

I didn't realize that this was settable on the device itself ... clearly I should have read the manual before posting.

Will advise.

[michael9]

@michael9

However, this does not apply when on the contact sensor.

After trying again I was able to get this to work.
Seems fragile ... It took me multiple attempts, including some switching back and forth between magnet and dry-contact.

But, it is working now.

Thanks for your help!

[672southmain]

Glad you were able to get it to work.