I replaced the tilt sensor on my garage door because I didn't like the battery life of the CR2032.
I now have a "spare" Zooz ZSE43 tilt/shock sensor. Has anyone put a sensor like this to a novel use? I have seen the mailbox notifier suggestion. But that would be worse than the garage for cold weather. Just wondered if there were any other ideas out there.
It does shock too, so maybe that can be kept in mind.
Maybe something to do with laundry?
Maybe connect some wires, somehow, so that it can act as a dry contact sensor, like an Ecolink contact sensor?
Is it powered by two CR2032 batteries?
Single CR2032. Cold weather is not kind. I replaced it with an Ecolink which has a CR123 battery.
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The three ecolinks I have on my garage doors have been solid.
One interesting idea I had was trash pickup. The trash can gets turned over by the garbage truck. That is a pretty harsh environment for a little, stick-on, sensor with cold intolerant batteries.
What have you got to lose?
I have to replace the CR2032 in my ST Arrival Sensor every 5 weeks or so, but I feel it's worth it.
If you have nothing on the mailbox, why not try that first?
Unless it's metal. It'd be protected pasted to the door.
I imagine it'd have to be pasted underneath the trash can.
Both would be cold places, but the mailbox would be more protected.
IFFFF...you can actually get reception from out there.
Hey, it's a science experiment.
With the C8, zwave range is farther than zigbee, in my experience.
Battery drain higher though.
Just take a walk around your home and note anything that has a horizontal hinge or pivot for vertical movement. At our house, awning windows come to mind as a viable application.
If you find an application that is not space sensitive, then the AA battery hack is worth considering. Modify a 4xAA battery case to use 2xAA batteries and fit the sensor in the remaining space. I recently did this with my ZSE43, because the inside of my garage door is not exactly where I need to worry about a discrete aesthetic.
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The pull-down stairs to the attic could be a place for that implementation. Put the sensor on the attic side (hot and cold) but aesthetics would not be significant.
I have been looking around for horizontal hinges. There are surprisingly few. The shock sensor might be more useful.
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If you have a glass lid over your hob then detect if it is down but heat is on. I shattered mine like this.
Toilet seat has been left up? 
Mail delivered?
Mousetrap triggered?
I will admit, I had to google what a "hob" was 
I don't have a hob on my cook stove.
Ahh sorry .. another ‘lost in translation’ moment
Stuck on:
-the obverse side of a doorknob that shouldn't be turned
-the dial of a safe that shouldn't be touched
-the hinged flip seat that shouldn't be flipped (velcro sensor so you can use the mower)
-the pet (racoon) door
-the bird feeder so you know when to go watch (or talk to the thieving squirrel)
-the cookie jar lid that shouldn't be lifted
-the 50+ yr old bottle of scotch in the back of the cabinet
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Interested in trying this. Do you have one that I can borrow to test?
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Or just wire one of these up to the other input on a Zooz Zen17 and never worry about batteries again:
At the risk of going off on a tangent ... it depends on what you want to know. Lots of sensor options for open/closed. The ZSE43 was selected for its additional shock sensor.
My sensor is biased towards the top of the door to tell me once it is even a little bit open. For me, there is value in the additional knowledge of "I am at least a little open and I am currently moving".
The old SmartThings multipurpose sensor was great for this, but the ZSE43 is adequate.
If you want to use the shock sensor function, I have an Aqara tilt/vibration sensor taped to a mousetrap. I got a notification 20 minutes after I set it and thought, "Ugh, false positive already" but no! I got a mouse.
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So does that contact sensor I linked. It's bolted/glued to the floor. Anything over about 4" open and it's "open". I've got a second sensor for "fully open", and it's wireless. I don't trust wireless for letting me know if I've left my door open. Does it say closed because it's closed? Or does it say closed because the battery died while it was closed and it never sent an 'open' message? Who knows.
Every shock sensor I've used from Zooz, both the ZSE18 and the ZSE43 could be tossed into a paint shaker and not register movement. I don't know what sensor they put in their devices but it's utterly worthless for detecting vibration.
