False notifications from contact sensors?

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1

Has anyone been experiencing false positives using the Notifications App? Mine are all set to alert me when something has been open for X minutes depending on what device. I can't pinpoint it, but it feels as if I open and close something too fast, something weird happens.

This is not consistent, but I just got one and it looks as if the sensor goes open/close multiple times in a second (door was open at least 3 ft; I went to get the recycling bin). The device ultimately ends in the right state (and is correct when I actually check when the alert arrives).

I've had this happen both to an Aqara and Samsung contact sensor.

This was the log from the last device:

name value unit Desc source type date
contact closed Contact was closed DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.647 PM EDT
lastClosed 1559005113628 Updated lastClosed (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.628 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005113625 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.625 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005113619 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.619 PM EDT
contact open Contact was opened DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.520 PM EDT
lastOpened 1559005113507 Updated lastOpened (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.507 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005113506 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.506 PM EDT
contact closed Contact was closed DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.411 PM EDT
lastClosed 1559005113406 Updated lastClosed (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.406 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005113406 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:33.406 PM EDT
contact open Contact was opened DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.752 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005097728 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.728 PM EDT
lastOpened 1559005097728 Updated lastOpened (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.728 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005097704 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.704 PM EDT
contact closed Contact was closed DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.699 PM EDT
lastClosed 1559005097677 Updated lastClosed (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.677 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005097671 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.671 PM EDT
contact open Contact was opened DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.638 PM EDT
lastOpened 1559005097612 Updated lastOpened (webCoRE) DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.612 PM EDT
lastCheckin 1559005097611 DEVICE 2019-05-27 08:58:17.611 PM EDT

appreciate any suggestions on what I else I should be looking for. This was a recent thing in the past couple of weeks (even before the 2.1 update) AFAIK, but it's hard to tell as multiple people are around at various times of the day.

Thanks

2

It seems unlikely that an app could be generating events on behalf of a physical device, but if that's your concern there's one way to tell for sure: disable the app (or remove it), then see if the problem continues. If you want a similar automation in the meantime, you should be able to recreate this automation in Rule Machine (rule/condition = sensor open; actions for true = send notification with a delay on that action (or use a separate delay action before this) for the appropriate amount of minutes with "cancel on truth change" set.

I've had odd problems with the Notifications app before, but I've never used it for this purpose. In my case, I had it set to notify on use of specific lock codes, but it ended up notifying me regardless of which code was used (even reporting the correct code in the notification text). Your problem seems quite different, but I was able to work around it by re-creating this in RM. I haven't tried since then to see if the problem has been fixed. Can't hurt to see here, too.

3

Seen this with the xiaomi contact sensors. If you slide them apart you will see multiple open close events. If they just pull apart then it’s usually fine.

Is that what you are seeing as well?

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4

Wow, nice catch. This is indeed sliding. I need to check against a regular door. I wonder if this is something the Notification app can account for, but it had been working for a while.

5

Yeah, I had a RM before, then saw the new app. I was more wondering if any changes in it could have cause this to happen more. The other post mentioned sliding causing the multiple triggers. I made a second identical notification rule and it's not triggering at the same time. May end up going back to RM.

6

It’s the xiaomi device. There is a spot between closed and open that triggers another closed and open as it slides along. You can slide them slowly and see. In my doors that just pull apart the sensor I don’t have this issue.

Hopefully that solves it for you.

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7

I'll have to move it this weekend and see if it helps, but I definitely see the difference against other doors. I wonder what changed though? I don't want to move the sensor as it'd look weird because the frame of the door bevels, lol. The joys of weird quirks.