I have an Ecolink garage door tilt sensor that seems to have a problem. I have it set up to send notifications to my Inovelli lights when left open. I also have it set up with a Zooz relay to open and close. It’s been working great for a couple of years.
Recently, I noticed the garage door would not open or close with the Zooz relay. I also noticed that the notifications no longer worked. To make a long story short, I tracked it down to the tilt sensor.
At first, I thought it was a Z-wave connection to the hub, but my event logs were showing regular battery updates, 100%.
However, it did not show any open or close logs. (The ones showing above are after its fixed) I did several exclusions and inclusions to no prevail.
I finally gave up and ordered a new Ecolink Tilt Sensor. Before I installed the new one, I went to exclude the old one from the Hubitat hub. I noticed the LED on the sensor was blinking for 10 seconds and then turn off, (it’s supposed to do this), however, before it would stay solid for 10 seconds and turn off. So, I did an Inclusion and it seems to be working fine.
So, my question is, does anybody know what could have caused this little glitch. Is this going to happen again? Should I just replace it with the new one?
Mesh weakness issues. The garage is normally on the edge of the mesh and where you will see issues first. Most likely was having trouble comminicating. Oust some sort of sitch or extender inside the garage and another on the other side of the garage wall inside the house.
If it was a mesh weakness issue, wouldn't it stop communicating with the hub completely. It still would report the battery strength and anytime I opened or closed the case, just not the (open or close) status for the garage door.
I also have an Inovelli Zwave switch about 34' from the garage door and a zwave Zooz relay on top of the garage door opener, about 15' away. Wouldn't that be enough to mesh with?
I had a similar problem with mine recently. My problem was that the driver somehow got switched to the new Eco link driver. (that's intended for a new device). I switched it back to the generic z-wave contact switch driver and I was back in business.
I think that was probably the problem. I remember seeing the "Ecolink garage door tilt sensor" driver and thinking I should be using that and switched. The problem probably started after I did that. I switched it back to the Generic z-wave contact sensor the other day when I was trying to solve the problem. Then when I did the exclusion to remove it and replace it, I noticed the LED blinking. I did an Inclusion, and its been working fine.
Even though I had it working, its nice to know what the problem was.
Thanks for your input.
Do your Ecolink sensors on the garage door have a line of sight to the Hubitat hub or to a Z-wave repeater?
Garages are not RF friendly due to support beams, vehicles, lawn care equipmentment, etc.
I mounted my Ecolink tilt sensors on the top panel of the doors and used an extension cord to locate a Z-wave range extender so it is in direct line of sight with the sensors. Mine work great, but as you indicated, you have to use the right driver (generic contact sensor).
The weirdest one I have experienced personally is I recently mounted a Pico remote on the inside garage door support rail. I thought I was genius to have an extra light switch and door switch where I need it the most.
I could NOT make that Pico work when it was mounted on the door. I could hold it in my hand near the door and it was fine. I could mount it further away on the 2x4 surrounding the door and it worked fine.
No matter what I tried, as soon as the back of the Pico laid against the metal it couldn't talk to the hub. Apparently the antenna position or something was just not going to work laying flat against a steel bracket. But the Smartthings tilt sensor the next section over works great without any issues.
Do your Ecolink sensors on the garage door have a line of sight to the Hubitat hub or to a Z-wave repeater?
My Ecolink tilt sensor is mounted on the top panel of the door and has a direct line of sight to the Zooz Z-wave relay mounted on the ceiling above the garage door opener, I'm 90% sure it was a driver issue.
I hope your ZOOZ Z-wave relay is more reliable than mine. Mine is in the basement, but it is within line of sight of a range extender. Periodically, I will find the relay has lost its connection with the mesh and have to reboot it. Fortunately, it has been OK for the past few weeks.
