Looking to replace my unreliable Ecolink Tilt sensor on my garage door. I'm constantly getting false positives when the wind blows and I have already tried to adjust the internal sensor to not trigger as easily.
Any suggestions on what to get? Looking at moving to a basic door open/close sensor if that that is more reliable. Seems that stock everywhere is sold out too.....
Is the internal sensor a mercury switch (older version) or a metal ball switch (newer version)? If it is ball switch, you might consider replacing it with a mercury switch; agitation or mild jarring is known to cause the ball to bounce around, sending false open/close events. This doesn't happen quite so easily with mercury.
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I would do what Ashok outlined above and replace the switch if you are at all handy. You will get a much better sensor than you can currently buy.
Many of us like the Smartthings multi sensor. Availability seems a bit hit and miss right now, but it is a good choice if you can find one.
The other option that a lot of people use is to convert/adapt a door contact sensor by using brackets that mount the sensor and magnet somewhere on the door track or even on the chain (or belt) trolley. There are example pictures of all these on this forum if you dig around a bit.
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For my alarm I simply mounted regular magnetic contacts at the top.
For my Hubitat I have an Ecolink modified with a mercury sensor. It has never given me any issues. I purchased the mercury switches on ebay for $2
Here are photos of my conversion mercury conversion
You will need so reasonable soldering skills and a good soldering iron to be successful. You might be better off cutting the leads of the existing sensor and soldering the mercury switch leads to the remaining mechanical switch leads.
John
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I modified all three of my Ecolink tilt sensors with the suggested mercury switch. They all work like a charm.
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I've been super happy with the SmartThings Multi-purpose sensor for this, and in HE it even has a garage mode.
But there are two issues;
- If you are in the US, they seem really hard to get right now (in the UK it looks like Aeotec is now reselling there, and hopefully in the US soon)
- The battery life can be poor. I have many of these sensors for windows/doors, but this garage one burns about twice as fast. Which I imagine could be due to how cold my garage is and the temp probably fluctuates more
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That is my only real complaint about these. Those CR2450 don't last long and are a little harder to find than say a CR2032. I was thinking of converting/adapting this to two AA batteries.
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Don't know if this helps, but I created backup sensors for my Genie system using a Konnected six port wireless pickup. I ran two wires to the front of each garage door and using and L-bracket screwed into the top of the door I connected a magnet. On the wall above it I placed another L-bracket, both just out of range of hitting anything, but aligned with each other so that when the garage door is closed the reed switch on the wall side is closed. I know when the door is completely closed. You can purchase these reed switch magnet pairs cheap on Amazon. It signals Konnected that the switch is either closed or open, and Konnected sends a wifi signal of the status to Hubitat. Konnected is a native app in Hubitat that I control using Rule Machine. I gave it a virtual device name as a "virtual contact sensor" and I send that to the Alexa skills where Alexa speaks to me to tell me when the garage doors, or any other doors with magnetic pickups, are open or closed. I can use that virtual sensor in either Hubitat or an Alexa routine to tell the door to open or close. I have those switches displayed on my Hubitat dashboard too for quick reference. Hope this gives you some ideas.
you can also just put an ecolink or other door/contact sensor on the garage that is what i have for my wifes door.. the sensor on top on the ledge and the magnet on the door.
I mounted my sensor like this...it will tell me if the door is just slightly open (if someone forces the door open enough to slide under). And it notifies me before the door is completely open. I use webcore to monitor the status of my garage doors. I also use the CR123A 3V Lithium batteries. I installed these in 2/20 and they still have 80% with multiple daily uses.
