The title kind of explains it. I have had a Smartthings Multipurpose sensor v4 for quite some time. It most recent location to monitor was a garage door to show me if it was open or closed and the temp in there. It finally died. I tried several things to try to bring it back to life but the sensor just won't work for more then a few seconds. I have tried a few batteries as well.
So if I get a new sensor I figure I will try to go for a proper tilt sensor considering what it is being used for. I see that Zooz has their ZSE43 which is a tilt sensor and looks pretty good, but is brand new. Does anyone have any good or bad experience with it. I would really like to know what folks think of it.
I also know old, preferred sensor for this purpose was a ecolink garage door tilt sensor. Do we know of any reason this wouldn't be a good sensor for this task as well.
I didn't have luck with the tilt sensors. I installed a magnetic contact for the door and wired it to the external inputs of a MonoPrice Door/Window sensor. Been working great for at least a year.
There are 2 versions of the Ecolink tilt sensor. The older one had the "ball" tilt and would sometimes get stuck giving a false reading. The new ones do not appear to have this problem as I think they replaced the mechanical switch with electronics. I have both (the new one was the replacement for the older model) and the new model seems to work well.
I installed one a few months ago and it is generally OK. On a couple of occasions, it was in the "open" state even though the door was closed. The only rule that I have set up is to alert me if it is left open, so it has not been sufficiently critical to investigate deeply. It is very possible that something is goofy on my side.
I used the ST Multipurpose Sensor at our old house and was generally happy. I chose the ZSE43 due to the vibration sensing which worked quite well with the ST device. Either it is not as sensitive (at highest sensitivity) or our door just operates too smoothly. Again, this has not been critical, but a race condition could occur with two distinct triggers (wife's car arrives and she presses the remote button, for instance). Vibration let me know that motion started even though the door did not change states.
You really don't need a tilt sensor. Just take an old hinge that is very loose and mount it to the garage door. Attach the magnet to the hinge and the sensor to the door itself. When the door is in the closed position the sensor and magnet are closed. When the door opens the hinge swings open and viola contact open. Door closes again the hinge swings back closed. Pretty simple just takes some thought on how to mount sensor and hinge on the door. I have been using this for years.
This is a interesting idea. I will keep it in mind
Think link you provided is out of stock and doesn't look like it will back in stock any time soon. That leaves the old one that need the hack to modify the sensor to a new type of switch. I am really not interested any doing any modifications to the sensor if i can help it.
Thanks for the personal experience with the Zooz ZSE43 @Hatallica. This is kind of what i was concerned/curious about. Does it just need to cycle the door open and closed for it to get un
The Smartthings sensor was just ok in my case. It worked for a period of time in garage door sensor and then that just quite. Then i set it up as a door sensor on the garage door and that worked ok, but it would drop occasionally and burn through batteries like crazy. Or at least I think it . Now it won't register the function of a open/closed door sensor with the magnet. I did get the sensor to kind of work, but now it is just reporting xyz and vibration. I think it is just old and shot. As far as getting another one, well i am just not that confident in it. It is ok, but i was never blown away by the sensor.
I have heard this hack several times before. I am sure it works, but I don't think it should be the best option. I may end up down that route depending on how things go though. My expectation is that a tilt sensor should be more reliable as i don't have anything have to move other then the door. A simple hinge could get gummed up over time or if the contact sensor is too sensitive could have issues if the magnet doesn't move far enough away from it on that hinge. Of course that isn't anything that is insurmountable, but logic says a simpler approach with a reliable tilt sensor should be the better option. Time will tell. If this is what it comes down to I still have a Ring Gen2 contact sensor that is sitting unused in my drawer of yet to be deployed stuff.
I just use a contact sensor (Iris v2) and a small magnet for my garage doors. I originally used a ST Multipurpose 2016 sensor, but the battery life (CR2450) was abysmal (6 months). I rewired it to take a pair of AAs, but the battery life was still poor (about 15 months). I never used the tilt sensor in it.
With the placement of the contact sensor and magnet (the little half round on the track) near the curve of the track, it always correctly reports opened or closed.
NB: Tuya has been known to randomly change firmware causing issues. That's Tuya, likely trying to force you to buy their hub, but sensor should just work, it's Zigbee 3.0...and best part, it takes cheap AAA batteries, so the sensor pays for itself after 10 years-not really but I hate those coin cell$
Generally that means the mesh is weak, at least at the sensor’s location. I just replaced the battery in one of mine for the first time in a year and a half, and my V3 sensor is going on 2 years.
Of course if your z-wave is stronger there, it makes more financial sense to go that route.
Well it sounds like the general belief is that a simple door/window contact sensor is the best way to go with it attached to the door in a fashion to make it work.
I've been using a xiaomi vibration sensor (which can measure tilt also) on the inside of a metal swing garage door for nearly 2 years now without a battery change or issues. It sits in a custom holder which keeps it insulated from the door when it gets hot from sunlight.
