Since the other topics about this device are closed, I'm posting this in case it helps anyone.
This HomeSeer Zwave Plus Flex Sensor (thus the FS designation) has a native Hubitat Driver.
This device can be
- A Zwave repeater
- A temperature sensor
- A notification buzzer
and, depending upon which cable you attach to it: - a flood sensor
or - a light sensor
If you pair it while USB powered, it will act as a repeater. If you pair it while battery powered (3 ea AAA batteries), it will give you the battery status.
I bought a handful of these on sale for $9.50 each [plus shipping, which almost kills the deal]. The only ones HomeSeer is selling come with the light sensor cord. The cord plug is a standard plug, so you can buy a standard flood sensing cord. The back of the device has a notch so you can hang it off of a screw or nail on a wall.
First I tried to pair this thing with my Abode system, because my flood sensors are on that system with it's cell backup. They paired as motion sensors, and in Abode you can't change the sensor type. However, that was fine - you can set what each sensor does, so I just set them up to always alarm, regardless of alarm mode, since the "alarm" is just the sensor triggering. The big problem was that Abode gives absolutely no notification if these things unpair. I unplugged and removed the battery and Abode still reports it as "Online" after more than a week. Obviously that won't work.
So now I'm going to use them with Hubitat as sensors to detect condensate overflow from the HVAC system (and shut off the HVAC, since my HVAC is connected to Hubitat] and as temp sensors. This required a reset because deleting a Zwave device from Abode does not do the exclusion from the device.
The printed HomeSeer directions that come with the device have directions for the pushing the Zwave button on the top of the sensor, but for resetting, state:
"Press and hold the Z-Wave button inside the sensor body for 10 seconds. If successful, the LED will flash 5 times"
So I took the thing apart looking for this other Zwave button, which does not exist. Be careful taking it apart because the wire to the buzzer is easy to break off.
After figuring out the ZWave button inside the sensor body is the same button that is pressed if you just press the button on the top of the housing, I pressed that for 10 seconds and followed the balance of the instructions to reset the device.
Once reset, it pairs with Hubitat immediately, with the correct driver. If you want to use it as a light sensor or as a flood sensor, you have to pair it with that sensor plugged in. Note that it senses a change in state rather than lux, so it seems less than ideal to use this device to determine if a light has been left on, but I'm open to creative rule machine suggestions!
The default duration for temperature reporting if it is USB powered is 1 minute, which I believe it far too chatty, so I changed temperature reporting to the maximum duration, which is still only 4 minutes. Would like to see a 10 minute option. If it is powered by battery, it defaults to taking a reading once per hour. There is an offset option if the temperature reading needs calibration.
The driver has options for which sensor cable is attached, and for whether or not to enable the buzzer.
I don't think I can use this device to report a power outage to Abode, as I don't see that it reports its power source. Maybe that could be fixed.
At $9.50 this might be the most affordable device out there that has the option for USB power, and also uses AAA batteries. I'm curious about other creative uses out there for this....
