Use-Case: Placed on floor around toilets, in utility room (water heater), in laundry room (washing machine), and in kitchen (dishwasher). I will probably pair this with the Zooz ZAC36 Titan Water Valve Actuator.
I am also considering these Meian Water Leak sensors mentioned in the Tuya Driver topic in place of the Zooz, but I haven't read too many reviews on them. If you've personally used these, I would love to hear about! I like their price at $6 on AliExpress.
Re 1 .. as long as the drip detection is in addition to, not instead of, sensors on the bottom, it won't hurt anything. But it would have to be perfectly placed for the drip detection to do any good.
Re 2 .. I am a fan of Zooz products, but the ZSE42s that I bought in 2022 were garbage. They'd eat batteries like crazy, and attempts to update the firmware (which may have fixed that issue) were frustrating. I tossed them all. What you buy in 2024 is probably much better.
Yeah, those original 42s were a (rare) total whiff by Zooz -- bad battery life, and bad physical design (case not sealed). I swear they just took the 44 casing and said "hey, let's just poke a few water probes on the bottom here". It was bad.
The newer model is much improved on all fronts -- it's a nice sensor.
While uglier, remote-probe-equipped leak sensors are up and out of any water.
I see the Zooz is IP66 rated, whatever that precisely means.
I'd be tempted to buying one and putting it in a pan of water deeper than its height to see how if, and how long, it continues working.
It looks good and the size is good. But the size means a battery smaller than the multiple AA (I think) batteries in my old Z-wave Utilitech's. They last forever.
I wonder if Z-Wave long range might not have a reliability aspect in its favor. Since it only converses with the hub and not mains powered devices, could it be more reliable in a power outage? If hub is powered by battery as is the Internet gateway, you could still notifications.
For example, while at work, even though you've already received notification of a power outage, you now know that your finished basement is ruined.
probably not . I lost power yesterday, the Fios gateway went down along with the router, the AP's, Cisco switch. Zero comms in or out. Which reminds me I need a battery backup on my Dome valves, since hubs were chugging along on pi-power battery pack
Good point on the probe. Although, I think if my water sensor died because of a bad leak, I’d be okay with it since it may have helped prevent something worse. But, the battery life would be something I’d say is a high priority.
I have eight of the Third Reality. I bend the tabs slightly so they touch the surface. Work perfectly and batteries lasted 18 months so far. The audible alarm works well and can really be heard. I use the Third Reality Water Sensor driver. They have never dropped of my Zigbee mesh.
One of the topics I read on this said that the sensors aren't waterproof: Review: ThirdReality Zigbee Water Leak Sensor with 120 dB siren alarm. Does bending the tabs help with that issue? I wonder if the screws can be replaced with longer ones so the housing is off the ground. I'll definitely be on the look out for this for Prime Day.
Those are the tabs. The tabs don't touch the surface. The base is raised about a mm or so and the screws are very slightly recessed. If you don't bend the tabs slightly it would take a mm or so of water to set it off. I want them to alarm if there is the slightest amount of water. Another plus is that you can easily attach lamp cord or similar to two of the screws and use the bare end of the as the sensor in a sump or similar. I use one connected to a micro switch with an empty bottle hanging on it to notify when my salt container runs low in my water softener system.
I have no idea what the tabs are supposed to achieve, because if you have enough water on the floor to connect the gap between them you probably have enough to connect the two screws.
If you don't get the "dripping detection" version you could probably use a few washers to make the screws all protrude a bit, and touch the floor.
(I also put all my leak detectors on a paper towel, since it will wick up any nearby moisture, and when it swells up it might be enough to touch the recessed screws. I haven't tested that yet.)
One of the topics I read on this said that the sensors aren't waterproof
From having taken them apart to put in a battery this does not surprise me. I do not think they are intended to be dripped on. I think "dripping detection" is just a clumsy way to say "detects less water on the floor."
Thank you for these pics! Have you tried connecting bare wire between 2 screws and use that to sense the water? I could see that being useful for like laying around a water heater tank for example so it covers a larger area around the tank rather than relying on water hitting the screws on the sensor.
They make "sensor wire" specifically for leak detectors but I have been unable to find anything that looked nice and flexible. I'm interested in the same idea, but I want something that will lay neatly on the floor without extra steps.
Edit to add: in the case of a water heater, you can at least mount it in a tray, but sensor wire would be great for under sinks.
I've got sensor probes in dishpans under sinks filled with stuff in bottles, etc, that could leak themselves.
Actually, the device below detected a leak from the kitchen sink drain earlier than the smart sensor. Not smart, but loud, batteries last FOREVER, cheap, and can be configured as separate probe. I piggyback them (tape) with a smart probe. I have one for each probe.
I have had great success with the Homeseer LS100+ sensors.
If anyone needs any, I have a number of them both new in box and slightly used to sell. These are the 500 series models. I over bought a few years ago... Located in the US. PM if interested.
I got a 4-pack of these, and they work fine. The optional probes for "drip" detection simply create a small gap that can be easily-bridged by a small amount of water (like a drop of water in the exactly-right location as previously mentioned), vs the larger span between screws without the optional probes. The optional probes do move fairly easily though, even with the screws reasonably tight, so if you have them set really close, it's easy to set it off when handling it.
My big issue with these is that don't report in very often, so if you're monitoring activity (with something like device activity monitor), you don't know for a long time if they are dead or just haven't reported in. Like, I have one going at 11 days right now with no activity. And a refresh of the device does nothing, as far as I can tell, so even that doesn't let you know if they are still alive. (I just tested the one at 11 days by pinching the probes together, and it reported as expected, and the "last activity" value updated.) So something weird in this regard, even with an update to the latest firmware.
The battery level is not reported automatically. I will check whether it is not possible to poll for the battery level once every 12 hours, for example.
ThirdReality 3RWS18BZ also responds to ping commands (reading a standard attribute), which means there is one more way to actively check whether it is dead or alive.
I can’t remember where I read it now, but were you the one that managed to swap out the wire on the Neo Coolcam with a sensing wire that detected water in the whole wire rather than just the probe at the end? I’ve been trying to find that wire but I can’t remember where I read it anymore
