Would like to get something that has a long battery life (whatever that translates to for this kind of device) and that plays well with Hubitat. Perhaps one that alerts me when the battery is low.
Recommendations?
The SmartThings branded sensors are great. Similar thread with suggestions:
2 Likes
I agree with @ritchierich. Also for battery monitoring I would recommend Device Watchdog @bptworld makes some great apps.
3 Likes
I have a SmartThings water sensor next to my water heater. Pretty good battery life. More importantly, it actually reports battery status.
1 Like
Having a difficult time finding one of those. Couldnāt find it on Amazon. Where might one look for these?
I have 15 SmartThings water sensors. Love them - long battery life and work like they are supposed to (including battery % reporting).
If you have power near your hot water heater, you could consider converting a battery operated sensor to be constantly powered.
I did that with 8 older Aeotec leak sensors. Bought 3V DC power-supplies from eBay and a bunch of pigtails. Then soldered the pigtails to the contacts and so the sensors could be plugged into the mains.
I did it a year ago, and they're working well. Best of all no battery changes 
Clever. Although it only takes ~30s to replace a battery, and they last 2+ years or so on the SmartThings leak sensors. So probably not worth my time to modify.
If the battery life were shorter I sure would though!
1 Like
The old Aeotecs had battery lives of ~60 days.
I'm too out of shape and lazy to access cabinets below 4 sinks, 2 water heaters, behind a fridge, and behind the washer six times a year.
In Proverbs 10, we are told that "lazy hands make for poverty". Probably true, but I found my laziness to be motivating 
3 Likes
I am seeing it on Amazon: " Samsung GP-U999SJVLCAA Smart Things Water Leak Sensor - Automate Lights & Siren For Alert ā ZigBee | Accessory to Smart Things Hub White"
Also appears to be available at Best Buy. Note they are using the Samsung name - that may be your problem finding it. This is a newer model than what I have - this has probes on both the top and bottom.
I also have a couple of Everspring Z-Wave sensors. I like them because they have a probe on a wire that you can place on the floor and then mount the sensor and housing (with the batteries) up on the wall. This makes changing the batteries easy. Also they take standard AA batteries. These seem to work but I question whether the battery status is reporting correctly as both are showing 100% after at least 6 months.
http://www.everspring.com/portfolio-item/st812-flood-detector/
1 Like
Well, heck. Now it becomes clear. My difficulty in āfindingā a Smart Things sensor was because I thought Smart Things was the brand/manufacturer. That one, which I have seen on Amazon, is a Samsung. I dismissed it because it clearly is not made by Smart Things. So what exactly does the Smart Things moniker mean? Why are folks not referring to this as the Samsung sensorā?
Samsung owns Smart Things... So consider them one and the same in this context.
Had I only known. LOL.
I too was skeptical. Changed the batteries in mine after two years and was amazed they still tested at 1.50-1.53v.
1 Like
I've got 5 of these arrayed around my basement (including one next to the water heater), and they've saved my bacon a couple of times now. Highly recommended.
That's good to hear!
SmartThings graduated from being a startup when Samsung bought them for $US 200 Million. It went downhill from there (IMO). Samsung didn't start the branding change for perhaps a year.
[Revised after I googled the press release. For some reason I had $300 Million stuck in my head.]
My Everspring water sensor sends it's battery level every 2-3 days. I like that the samsung sensors sends the temperature changes. This way I can monitor the device checkin more frequently.
I am seeing the battery level reports every few hours in the logs but they (so far) are always 100.
