I'm looking to find an alternative to the Samsung contact sensors of yesteryear for some closet lilghting automations door open, llight on, door closes light off. You know, simple stuff.
However, I'm stumped as to what to buy. I've tried the SONOFF Motion sensors in the past, and they're OK-ish, but not a patch on the Samsungs--so, I'm reluctant to go down that path. I'm not going to go with Iris (even if I find them on e-bay), and looking around Amazon leaves me a bit leery. I've looked at the Linkind, Sengled, and Aqara (which are still questionable I think) - the Centralites have mixed reviews...
But when stock was out and I needed some for closets I settled on these and they've performed flawlessly. Theyre just bigger though, but probably ok for closets.
Whatever you decide, I highly recommend going for a sensor which has at least a CR2 Battery. As I have been using Zigbee sensors for some time, I find that the bigger the battery, the longer they last.
Another highly desirable feature is to have the "Zigbee Button" accessible from the outside of the sensor. For example, the old Iris (Centralite) window/door sensor (which had a CR2 Battery), had a Zigbee button that was only accessible if you took the cover off.
I forgot about NYCE. Thank you! (Ouch! I forgot how much NYCE wants for their toys!)
I'll look at the larger ones too -- I'm using motion sensors in several locations, so it's likely I could manage the larger size in the closets. I must admit, I look at contact sensors and am always rating smaller ones as "superior" might be hard to overcome that!
Good tips both. The battery suggestion is noteworthy, as I usually don't even consider that. The Samsungs use CR2450s I think, but they aren't exactly capacious!
If you are willing to drill a hole in your door and frame, these work exceptionally well. I have Sengled LED light strips around the inside of my closet doors that come on/go off nearly instantaneously when opening/closing the door. These sensors paired easily with my HE hub. The Z-wave button is easily accessible with just a paperclip and the battery is easily changed. Even the WAF is high for this one!!!
I'm not sure on what grounds you're excluding the aqara sensors, but for form factor, reliability and battery life I'm exceptionally happy. I'm running a mix of samsung and aqara here and tend find battery life is almost 3 to 1 in favour of the Xiaomi hardware.
I get the occasional issue with an Aqara button (dropped connection twice in the 3 or so years it's been in use) but all of the contact sensors have been rock solid. While I don't have a huge mesh, there are at least 8 of them dotted around the house.
Thanks! I've considered these a number of times, but every time I think about drilling the hole, I cringe and defer! Plus $43/door seems a bit steep. I do like these though...perhaps I'll try one!
I have these on all my windows and had to set them up on a separate hub. Some of my other Z-Wave devices (thermostats) would boot them off the mesh when they connected through them. Have little if any issues since they are on their own with lots of compatible repeaters.
I've never really noticed an issue myself although I've seen it mentioned. There are four or five IKEA Tradfri outlets throughout the house which I believe do function as a good repeater for the Aqara gear but that's about my only concession to doing anything beyond plug and play - they all worked as was but certain things are a little quicker with the stronger mesh. Anecdotal evidence only, I've not measured response times. The MIJIA sensor is a little more temperamental but has now settled down and been solid for some time. I personally would buy aqara by preference though.
That's the fun thing with this hobby/interest though, everyone's setup is very different. For the cost I would recommend experimenting though, I haven't seen anything that compares in terms of a price to performance value and the actual hardware is aesthetically inoffensive.
I have 30+ Iris v1 contact sensors on my system and they have worked well. If you want to go this route @scunny has a bunch of brand new ones available.
I have loads of these around the house, work perfect, never need to worry about battery maintenance, and cost a teeny, tiny fraction of even the cheapest of zwave/zigbee.
Understand that a lot of people prefer wireless. Definitely not me.
I have a couple of the Sengled contact sensors that have been working well for the last year or two -- and they are outside and unprotected. Admittedly we don't get a lot of rain here but they have been going strong.
The only issue is when I moved them to a new hub I had to figure out how to reset them. It seems I left them in a state that ate up the batteries, otherwise they were still going strong on the original batteries.
Thanks @Vettester I appreciate the input. I won't buy the Iris sensors though. I get why people like them, but I prefer products that are in production. A bit snobbish I know.
@djh_wolf I like the whole wired/konnected idea, but these are a bit more DIY than I'm prepared to mess around with. Good suggestion -- and if I was a bit less lazy the advantages might sway me!
Thanks all for the inputs. I've ordered a couple of models off Amazon, one of the ones that @waffles suggested (not the NYCE) and a Third Reality random one that certainly achieves @jtmpush18's point about batteries, it showed up with 2 AAAs! Of course it certainly doesn't meet any definition of Svelte.
I'm going to buy a couple others, probably a Sengled and I may even try a Sonoff. And perhaps a Tuya? We'll see. There's no real time pressure here, so I've got some time to puzzle it out!
Sengled looks like a good option, their bulbs have been great for me, so I'd definitely give them a try if was looking for new contact sensors.
Aqara were a no-go on my hub...repeatedly lost connectivity and stopped working. Everything else on my Zigbee mesh has been flawless. Just would not work. Love their small size, but not an option for me. Others have reported similar, while some have gotten them to work.
