Contact sensors have stopped working

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1

I have contact sensors on three doors. All different:

  • Generic ZIgbee Contact Sensor
  • SmartThings Multipurporse Sensor V5
  • NYCE Contact Sensor

Lowest battery level of the three is 62%

ALL stopped working several days ago - the last event shown is different for all three.

Rebooted hub. Still no open/closed events posted.

Sure is puzzling. Any ideas?

2

The battery levels are not always reliable. Try changing batteries in at least one if it works, then do the rest.

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3

Does anything Zigbee still work? Without resetting them if you try to re-include one what happens? Did a repeater die?

4

Thanks! Two of the sensors came to life with new batteries. My NYCE sensor appears to have failed: can't revive it.

If I can't count on reported battery levels to be accurate, then I'm really concerned about the leak detectors under sinks and shutoff valves, Pretty easy to know when contact switches on doors aren't working, but a non-working leak detector is an eye opener!

Thanks again for the help.

5

This is a device issue. I have some devices that stop working at 60% battery, and identical ones that work with battery showing 0%. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for battery level vs actual state.

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6

You might want to look into @bptworld Device Watchdog. I use it to verify my battery devices check in on schedule. I find this approach more reliable and manageable.

John

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7

One of the things you can do with those is get Device Watchdog (or something similar) and have it monitor their battery. CR123A batteries (lithium in general) stay flat forever and then just suddenly drop. Some devices will report them as 99 or 100% forever and then you get ONE reading below 99% (like in the 60s or 70s) and then they're gone.

image

So, if your devices are like this then you can have something warn you if they move below 99 because you know they're likely on the way to that giant automated home in the sky.

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8

Many thanks for the Device Watchdog recommendation! I was not aware of it at all. I'm going to install it.

Thanks also for the battery tutorial. This community has a world of knowledge!

9

YW. I'll send you the invoice.

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