Some Iris Contact Sensors not working

I bought a few Iris Contact Sensors from Lowes because they were on clearance. So far, I've added three to my Hubitat. None of them were detected as Generic Zigbee Contact Sensor which is what I believe should have happened. They were all detected just as Device. I went in and manually changed the device type afterwards. Of the three, only one is reporting open/closed. The other two are just reporting temperature. Any ideas how to go about fixing this?

After changing the assigned driver for a zigbee device, you usually have to click “configure” on the device settings page to get it to work right with the new driver.

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The other thing to try is also reset the sensor and run discovery again without deleting the device in HE after pressing configure. Remember to pair the sensor in "opened" contact state or you will get color cycling lights for demo mode with Iris contact sensors.

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I think this may have been the issue (combined with possibly not hitting the configure button on at least one). I removed and re-paired, and they seem to be working now (fingers crossed). Thanks!

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I just get this. Then the hub seems to freeze there.

Tell me a bit about your system.

Is this a new device, or an existing one being moved over to Hubitat? If not new out of the box, how old is it? Do you have another battery to try? These don't connect reliably when the battery is low.

Also, how many devices do you have? Do you have any smart plugs that can extend the signal from the hub? Finally, how many Iris contact sensors do you have? Have any of them connected before, or just this one?

This is an existing contact sensor being migrated from an IRIS second generation hub over to the Hubitat system. It is a couple years old however works fine with the IRIS hub. The battery is not new however the IRIS hub did show the battery as healthy. I don’t believe the issue is signal related because I had the contact sensors near the hub when pairing. I have 3 contact sensors. This was the first one I attempted to migrate to the Hubitat hub. I have 2 Z-Wave switches and 3 Z-wave plugs. These contact sensors are Zigbee however. I did go through the process of defaulting the contact sensor after which the Hubitat does learn the device, however it seems to get stuck when trying to initialize.

You did not answer the distance question, so we still cannot rule out signal. But for now I suggest trying a new battery. I know it still works, but pairing requires a lot of "on" time for the sensor, and if the battery is low, the communications between the hub and device may not be reliable.

How many Zigbee devices on Hubitat so far?

Just one dimmer plug. The conact sensor is 10 ft from the hub. I am seeing the same issue with a new battery.

I would reboot the hub and try again, just to be safe.

Can you open the live log and watch the output? You should see a device entry identities by a 4 digit hex
address instead of a name. Can you post a screen shot of that during your next pairing attempt?

Lastly, what build are you running? Make sure you are on the latest. I had difficulty with the Iris contact sensors on some of the earlier builds.

I monitored the live log this morning on the 5th attempt to pair an IRIS contact sensor. No log messages were generated.

@photographicnature, I've got 6 of these Iris contact sensors and they have been pretty finicky in my system. You wrote how you were attempting to pair one and how it was 10' from the hub. Is that a clear space as in contact sensor is in the same room with the hub?

In my system my hub is just about 10' from where I might pair both zigbee and zwave devices but that 10' is interrupted by a combo of brick veneered wall and plaster walls and ceiling.

I picked up 2 new sensors that came in yesterday and in my first attempt to pair one of these I had the same incomplete install as you showed with your picture above. I've had this happen several times and each time I go into the room where my hub is located and then try pairing again. That always works in my case and it did yesterday on both of the new sensors I'd just received.

Once paired these contacts seem to find a repeater and work properly. The only other issue I've seen with these devices is batteries coming loose. I've had this happen several times in a mailbox use case and on a typical door use case.

Thanks for taking the time to reply here. It’s not a signal issue I have tried. Is at 10’, 3’, 6”. The HE is not recognizing the device.

I am pretty sure these 1st Gen Iris contact sensors just aren’t going to work.

Anyone have recommendations of a good contact sensor to buy to use with the HE. I know where the list is. I am asking for recommendations based on the in use experience of the community.

Correct. 1st gen sensors will not work with Hubitat (or any hub other than Iris - at least currently).

These are what I have.

Those are the ones Lowes is offering Rebates for, I believe, for this exact reason: They don't work with anything else. They will pay you to replace them.

What is the best sensor to replace them with ?

JA

The v2 Iris are just fine.

Door Sensors are one of the most basic devices we have available. All of them operate so close to one another that the Hubitat built in Driver: Generic Zigbee Contact Sensor works for most. If you choose Zwave, the same is true for the driver: Generic Zwave Contact Sensor.

A really popular ZWave Door Sensor is the EcoLink because it also has an internal pair of screw contacts allowing you to use it for other purposes. You can put a doorbell push button across those terminals and give yourself a Zwave Door button. I've used them with Pressure Sensitive resistor and a Float valve, as well as the push button.

I also use a lot of the Aeon Recessed Door sensors:

I think, honestly, there's too many choices :slight_smile:

An Internal look:
57%20AM

If you are not looking for the temperature piece that comes with those Iris sensors then I've had good success with these zwave units. They are a bit more trouble to install but they make a clean install and the price is good. Still need good zwave repeaters just as with zigbee.

Anybody found a zigbee contact sensor with internal screw contacts?