Odd zigbee contact sensor behavior?

I've got a few of the Xfinity Visonic MCT-350 Zigbee Contact/ Temp sensors doing various things.

Tonight, one of my automations failed;; I determined the cause of the failure is this sensor. Although physically the sensor is closed (magnet at sensor), it is reporting open in Hubitat.

Currently:

  1. In Settings, Zigbee Details, it shows the device's "last message" was about an hour ago, which is after the automation failure - ie device reported after the failure.
  2. In Settings, Zigbee Details, View Device Graph, the device currently shows up as a connected device
  3. In Devices, page for this contact sensor, Events, it shows the device last reported about 9 hours ago. Historically, this device reports temperature at least every hour or more, so this makes me think it is not connected.
  4. Physically, the magnet is where it should be for closed but the device reports as open in Hubitat
  5. The device shows as battery at 100%, and I put in a fresh battery about 1 month ago.

So is this device connected to Hubitat (per 1 & 2 above) or did it lose connection which the data in 3 & 4 above indicate, despite 1 & 2. If so, how is it showing in the graph??

I have some of those contact sensors, they are usually pretty dependable.

Sometimes when devices are in that state, you can try just starting Zigbee device pairing and wait, and it will often find a disconnected sensor and reconnect it.

You can also try taking the battery out and putting it back in.

If those do not work, re-pair it by taking out the battery, holding the button, and putting the battery back in to get the blinking light. Then pair again and it should say it reconnected the device.

You may want to add some repeaters near that device as well.

Did you try opening and closing the contact to see if the state updates?

If not then reset it and pair it again.

Also Can try and change the battery Β―\(ツ)/Β―

I have had an ongoing issue with one Sengled contact sensor. It would stop reporting state changes (open/close) but would record battery every now and again. It would also show up in the Zigbee map (albeit after letting the map "generate" for 10-15 minutes). Immediately after it showed up, I tried to see if it would register open/close and it never did.

It would work for a short while after I re-paired it (or changed batteries) but then would stop working within a day or two. I have 4 of these sensors in other locations that have worked well (one other drops off occasionally but not as frequently).

I finally replaced it yesterday with a spare sensor that I had and so far, it's been working :crossed_fingers:t3:

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Yes, many times, with a few different magnets...

You could just replace the sensor if it keep doing that. You can get 10 of those for $45 or best offer on Ebay.

Leave then in your watch list for a day or so, and the seller will probably make you an offer for few more dollars off, like they did for me.

You can also buy them as singles on Amazon for $9.29 each right now.

I have been using a bunch of them for a couple years now, and only one has actually died on me.

I have around 10 of these sengleds. For whatever reason whenever they route thru any GE Jasco switch or outlet they quit reporting on my C8


. They always show online on the zigbee map app. I am slowly moving them over to my C7.

Whenever I have a device stop reporting correctly, it’s almost always after replacing the battery (although immediately after, not a month later). I can usually just hit configure to fix it.

Try changing the battery. With these sensors the battery reporting in unreliable. So even if it has 100% on it, battery could almost be dead. Low batteries can cause things to be wonky

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Yeah, @velvetfoot was quoting my OP, item 5, where is wrote "I put in a fresh battery about 1 month ago."

These are supposed to be 3v batteries. I just tested the one that was in there when it failed and my multimeter is showing 3.08v. The one I took out the last time it failed is showing 3.2v

I also just pulled up the instructions that come with this thing. They state "Use Varta only" and further indicate a "Battery LIfe Expectancy: 5 years (for typical use)." I'm using Toshiba CR2450 Lithium batteries. Maybe that is the issue. But I got just over a year with one of these sensors using the original battery that it shipped with (presumably a Varta?) with daily use, on an indoor door. The device that failed gets opened and closed 1x day each, next to an exterior window (so about 4 degree F of temp fluctuation but rarely if ever gets under 66 F)
I'm going to reset it and repair it to see what happens...
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I typically use these in mine and they're fairly reliable. Usually last me 9-11 mos. That said, how many repeaters do you have in the mesh? Wondering if some of them are struggling with signal strength.

I have also tried replacing the batteries and repairing. They just dont work when they route thru any of my Jasco's.

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Fortunately I don't have any Jasco zigbee devices. I do have a Jasco Z-waves.
ETA (because I don't see an option to cross out the above): Correction - see post below. I do have a Jasco Zigbee device, within about 6' of this thing.

The product literature on these Visonic MCT-350's states the sensor is a reed switch that opens upon removal of a magnet placed near it. Based on some other posts here, that is the type of sensor I need for my application, because this thing spends ALOT of time in the open position, so I can't use a sensor that uses more battery when open. The magnet is attached to a window shade, and the sensor to the frame; the shade is closed from sunset to sunrise, and open from sunrise to sunset.

My Jasco switches/dimmers are all Z-wave and Sengled contact sensors are zigbee, so unlikely that's what is going on.

Hmm. This Xfinity MCT-350 contact sensor is about 6' from a Jasco/GE Zigbee Plug in on/off outlet control, that should be acting as a repeater. I wonder if this is related. I'm running a C-7. The Zigbee contact sensor seems to work great when in a different part of the house...
I installed an IKEA Tradfri repeater near the contact sensor, but it won't route through either that or the plug outlet - insists on trying to go directly to the C-7...

I have moved all the E1D-G73's over to my C7 and 2 off them show routed thru GE / Jasco outlets and they work with no problem