Our exterior doors are metal clad and are already drilled for spring loaded hard wired contact sensors. I've been looking for the zwave or zigbee version of that sensor with no luck. The only spring loaded sensor I've found is an Insteon with the others all being magnetic.
Does anyone know of another option? Thinking of giving an Aoetec a go.
On doors, I do not like the contacts being visible thus I use the NYCE door hinges & they work fine on my metal doors. They work well with HSM. As for window contacts I use Iris contacts and I take the magnet out of the case for even lower profile. My windows are white & I painted the magnet white to blend in on the window & they look a lot better.
I bought a lot of those Ring contacts..they were so big & butt-ugly that I would not put them on my doors & windows...they are very tacky looking....more wasted money.
My metal doors are not metal on the top edge.
And so, I chiseled cavities to fit Dome/Zooz/Neo/similar door sensors in the top of the door and drilled a long angled hole to bring wires from the spring-loaded contact to the 'door' sensor.
You cut (chiseled) a cavity that allowed a (surface mount?) Door Sensor to be recessed into the top of the door.
Then drilled from the spring loaded contact to the Door Sensor so wires could be run between them...
What do you do with those wires? I'm guessing you somehow use them to bridge (bypass/replace) to magnetic sensor?!?
The mentioned sensors all use reed contacts; and so, you just solder 2 wires in parallel with the contact. In the old days, I did the same with the Iris Window/Door sensors. However, they use Hall effect chip; and modifications get involved. You could also get Aeotec Door sensor 7, some Fibaros or similar - they allow external connections, at a price.
Wires from the sensor connect to the spring-loaded switch on the side of the door.
I used these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005GDG4II/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Of course, the magnets are not being used.
The cavity is visible/accessible only from the top.
Assuming you mean MiJia (Xiaomi), I found this...
Welcome to the Hubitat Community!
Yes, Mijia contact sensors work with the same driver that Aqara uses, but Iāve had trouble with them falling of the network in recent months. I have one Aqara contact sensor and it did not fall off, but I donāt know if thatās a coincidence or not.
I have now switched to using all my Xiaomi Mijia and the one Aqara contact sensor with the Aqara HomeKit gateway, and I sync them to virtual switches with HomeKit automations. Itās just as fast and completely reliable. Iāve also now switched my Aqara motion sensors to the Aqara gateway, since they started to randomly drop too, despite several TRĆ DFRI Outlets to repeat the Xiaomi Zigbee. I have left the Mijia Motion sensors paired to HE because so far they have never dropped.
Thanks for your info. I've heard people mention pairing their xiaomi sensors to the Aqara Homekit gateway but not sure whether the same rule applies for pairing to a non Homekit version (I don't use Homekit). e.g [upgrade version] original xiaomi mijia smart home wifi remote control multifunctional gateway work with mijia smart sensor kit Sale - Banggood.com sold out-arrival notice-arrival notice.
Are there any instructions on how to carry out this process? Downsides to doing this? e.g. if you assign a virtual switch, do you lose any device attributes that are natively available such as battery level etc?
thanks
Iām not aware of any other way to sync between them than HomeKit, and that requires you are an iOS user to build the automations. Thereās a web UI plugin for HomeKit, but I donāt think it allows you to create HomeKit automations.
You also need either an Apple TV 4 or newer, an iPad that can run the latest iOS or a HomePod to run the HomeKit automations. Thereās a project to build a stand-alone HomeKit server that is in the works, but itās not that expensive to just buy a used Apple TV 4 and shove it in a closet with the other hubs and bridges if you donāt want to use it for anything else.
As far as getting the regular Mijia Hub running with HomeKit, there is a plugin for Homebridge, as long as your Gateway is v2. But I have no personal experience with it. I just have the Aqara HomeKit Gateway, which was just $40 USD. That for me was worthwhile to get an official HomeKit enabled gateway and not have to mess with a config.json file and potential incompatible devices, on top of having to build HomeKit automations.
Iām not suggesting this is an easy route if youāre not already in the Apple ecosystem, and yes you do lose battery indicators in HomeKit. The Aqara hub currently does not support them. No idea if that Miji Homebridge plug-in does or not. But thatās minor. Iām not sure they were even setup right when I had them paired to HE directly. I think I needed to adjust the voltage, because after a year they still read 100%, so that canāt be correct. Iām not a worrier about batteries. When the device stops working and I canāt repair the connection, then the battery is the next thing Iām going to check with a tester anyway. Maybe you get battery levels with the MiHome app, which can do HomeKit setup, but not as easily as the Aqara app. Iāve not used that app since I got the hub because even though there is a way to switch back and forth between the MiHome app and the Aqara app, I found doing so was causing me to have to setup all over again if I changed countries to see what was coming in the Aqara lineup (because China always gets the devices first, I like to peak at what might be coming 
).
How are the Visonic 340E sensors working for you?
Do you use them for temperature as well?
They've been rock solid for me except the battery reporting. One of my sensor dropped off the network since August and I just now noticed because the battery is still at 66%. Seeing your post made me look at it which is when I found out that it dropped. I wish the FW can have some machine learning build in to have some smart to report when a device hasn't report in after awhile.
Why not use Device Watchdog from @bptworld?
Works great on my Xiaomi, and Orvibo devices.
OK: I ordered a Visonic 340-E which I'm going to use in my garage to see if the garage door is open.
Hey @jtmpush18
Which device driver are you using for your Orvibo devices? You don't perhaps have a battery reporting device driver for the window/door contact sensors?
Thanks
Hello.
I used to have Orvibo (rebranded) light switches and outlets.
I gave up on them because after a power outage they would "fall off" the mesh (Zigbee).
They worked well, and were very inexpensive here. However, I just got tired of "rejoining" them every time I turned off the power in the house.
I have. Go control door sensor, so unreliable. Looking for a reliable solution. Since this an old thread, are there something reliable that works great with HE?
SmartThings sensors are fast and reliable. If you still find Iris v2 or v3 contact sensors and motion sensors, they are also quick and reliable.
I like the Ring ones (first gen contact and motion) quite a lot but I have them connected through the Ring base station and they show up as virtual devices in Hubitat. You can direct connect them as well. I have found them to be extremely reliable and battery efficient also. I've had many of them well over a year and they are all still on their first batteries. I cannot say the same thing for my other Z-Wave motion sensors which typically go through a CR123A in less than 6 months.
I have the second gen contact and motion as well. I like the design of both but it's too early to make a call on reliability or battery yet. Also, they are a bit finicky to join because they want to smart include.
Zigbee or Zwave?
For Zigbee, I like the Iris, if you can find them. Inexpensive, and they just seem to work. I only have one Smarthings door sensor, maybe it is me but it eats batteries pretty quick compared to other sensors. But it works OK.
On the Zwave side, I have the Ecolinks and like them as well, the batteries seem to last virtually forever. I also have Domes that seem to work good too. In general, these are more expensive, and I probably wouldn't have purchased them but for the fact they were one of the few things that worked with Wink. No complaints other than the price though.
Agree that the ST sensors are not good battery wise and tend to go through batteries once every 6 months but they are reliable. My Dome sensors do the same thing though.
@bertabcd1234 what driver are you using for the device with a tamper switch?
I have a contact sensor with a tamper switch but when i use the generic z wave contact sensor driver i seem to only get the status of the tamper switch. The device fingerprint is below.
fingerprint mfr:"011A", prod:"0601", deviceId:"0903", inClusters:"0x30,0x71,0x9C,0x84,0x80,0x85,0x72,0x86"
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