When you're convinced your sensors are wrong, but it's actually you that's wrong

Why Hubitat Elevation
#1

The leak sensor under my guest bathroom sink detected a leak two nights ago. And consequently the water main shut off. The sensor switched to reporting dry later in the night. When I woke up and looked under the sink the next morning, it was dry, convincing me that the sensor (Aqara Leak Sensor) was misreporting or needed a new battery. I changed the battery, and for good measure, removed and re-added it.

Just now, I used the guest bathroom sink for a little bit and got a notification that the sensor was wet. Sure enough, I found a very slow leak from the pop-up drain assembly that ran down the drain and drops of water fell every 1-2 minutes from the lowest point on the P-trap. The sensor is positioned directly below the P-trap and was being triggered appropriately.

So no doubt the sensor was right the first time also .... the few drops of water had just evaporated by the morning.

15 Likes
#2

I think you need to apologize profusely to your sensor and take it out for a nice dinner for ever doubting it

21 Likes
#3

HR will be contacting you later for a session as you have created a hostile sensor environment and this needs to dealt with promptly before the Thermostats find out.
:grimacing:

7 Likes
#4

It is amazing how sensitive leak sensors can be. Yes, they can be annoying. I had one in the basement that woke me up last night at midnight. The concrete floor was damp, but not really wet, but that was sufficient to set off the alarm. This particular one is not tied into my main water valve. It is near my RO water purification system that can overflow if the primary level sensor fails, so it is primarily a backup. However, the RO system was fine. In this case, we have had so much rain lately that a small amount of water had leaked through the foundation. It was not enough to cause damage, but it was enough to trigger the sensor and alarm.

A slight drip that continues over time can do significant damage, so having super sensitive sensors is great, even if they are annoying at times.

#5

Bravo on figuring it out. But I think we're missing the good news here, at least you didn't cause the problem, there was no shooting of the foot going on here, so to speak. :slight_smile:

But in my case, sigh. A couple weeks ago an automation to open and close several blinds that had been running for ages stopped working reliably. At least one blind, and usually two or three of the blinds, started to not open in the AM or close in the PM. When opened/closed manually via Pico or device page they responded immediately, so not a connectivity issue. For quick and dirty troubleshooting I re-did the automation in a couple different apps to confirm it was not an app issue, and played w/metering, etc., but still not working.

And time for the DOH moment...

The blinds were shared via mesh from one hub to second hub. Automations were created on second hub. For some unknown reason, I had evidently created a second open/close automation on the first hub. No idea why, don't actually remember doing it. Possibly I was trying out running the automation from the first hub for some reason and forgot to remove the original automation on the second hub.

In any case, as a result of the double open/close automations, every day at sunrise and sunset I was barraging my mesh/blinds with competing open/close commands from two hubs. Once I found the second automation on the first hub and removed it, everything worked perfectly again.

So, @aaiyar, be comforted that you are several steps above me on the evolutionary ladder. I can but dream of the day when I am only sensor confused... :wink: :rofl:

2 Likes
#6

Maybe let the sensor slap you. :sunglasses:

#7

...or buy it jewelry. That usually works. :upside_down_face:

3 Likes
#8

The Iris sensors I use are sensitive enough to report moisture if I lick my finger and touch the terminals.

#9

Shush. The 9v batteries will get jealous!

#10

That's just a bonus

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