Zoos 4 in 1 Slow response

I’m trying to get my Zooz Zen30 switch to turn on the fan relay for my bathroom exhaust fan via a humidity trigger from a Zooz 4 in 1 Multi Sensor. I have two of these sensors that I’m trying out; one is from my garage where I used it to check for movement and light (to see if I left the garage lights on). I got the second one just for the bathroom. I setup a basic rule that stated to turn on the fan relay upon humidity @75% then wait until it’s 70% to turn off. This is to make sure the fan comes on when the shower is running. However the sensor is so late in reporting (or detecting) that the fan does not come on and it needs to be turned on manually otherwise the whole bathroom will be dripping wet. Neither of the two sensors are responding quick enough to trigger the fan in my experience. I have an Aotec 6 in 1 that does this same automation in my master bath flawlessly.

I have set the parameters for 1% humidity trigger and have calibrated the humidity offset with a known good hydrometer. I am including a screenshot of the sensor’s settings values.

Is this sensor just not suited for quickly reporting the humidity changes? I’m thinking about getting another Aotec 6 in 1 and abandoning the Zooz sensor. Has anyone experienced the same thing in slow reporting or know how to improve the response time?

@norbert.h.davis So it's in general a fairly quick sensor. The issue is when it's paired at S0 (especially when you have more than one in the mesh) it's chatty AF and everything else in the mesh becomes slow as well. It's a known issue. Likely if you re pair it without security (use a z-wave stick paired as a secondary controller to do it) your 4-in-1's will be quite responsive (as other parts of your mesh will likely become more responsive)

@rlithgow1 So I need to buy a Zwave stick and not use the Hubitat hub to do pair it? The C7 does not have any ports for a zwave stick. I do have a Smartthings that I migrated from. Would that work? I’m confused as to how to enable the Security portion of the device.

You plug it into a PC and use the SDK. Search for pairing with a z-wave stick and you'll find the complete write up in PDF form.

@rlithgow1 - Any particular Z-Wave stick you recommend? Amazon is my friend. Lol

I use the zooz 700 stick, i think I got it for $20 bux on amazon. Also great for removing ghosts

That was my experience with these in a bathroom setting. The humidity is very slow to react. I also think they are pretty bad for a C7 Zwave network in general due to the S0 issue. I would use a different sensor if at all possible.

Maybe for motion, but not temp or humidity in my opinion.

Note that the stick above is cheaper directly from Zooz, likely even after accounting for shipping (depending on what method you choose and probably where you live):

For this purpose (and really most), their 500-series stick would work too, and you can currently find an open-box one for pretty cheap, though that is likely to change for anyone who reads this in the future: Zooz USB Z-Wave Plus S2 Stick ZST10 - The Smartest House.

The SLUSB001A stick (also 700 series, if you care) is also available from Mouser and DigiKey, among likely other sources, and is also pretty cheap, though again shipping may change the ultimate cost.

Back to your other question, you actually might be able to use your old ST hub for this, but the trick would be getting it to join as a secondary controller. Last I checked, it technically supported this (likely just to pass certification) but didn't really "like" being a secondary. Since you already have it, you could certainly try; you'd have to see how to put it in "learn mode" (not regular Z-Wave inclusion mode, which is what you'd do on the Hubitat side), add the device to the ST hub, and hopefully see it pop up on Hubitat shortly thereafter in at least your Z-Wave table, if not as a real device. But I wouldn't count on this. :slight_smile: The sticks are nice to have for this task and for other things that often work better without the hub, like firmware updates, even if they technically should. So, I think it's still a good buy!

Yeah, that’s what I’m seeing. I think I’ll just leave these for non-bathroom (temp/humidity) and go with the Aeotec 6 in 1. The wife will kill me but hell, it’ll be worth it in the long run.

Thanks all.

If you can find them NYCE is a great sensor (I have a temp/humidity/motion one on my master bathroom ceiling) This does a comparative humidity to the Sonoff Temp/Humidity sensor in my upstairs hallway to kick on/off the bathroom fan...

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I was going to do that initially as I have a humidity sensor in the hallway outside the bathroom door. I set up the Aeotec sensor in my master bathroom ceiling with the recessed fixture and installed a Aqara humidity sensor in the Master Bedroom where I would do the same comparison. However I just tried a basic rule where it looks for 75% (being on the bathroom ceiling it should detect it quickly) then turn on the Zen30 fan relay, wait till the humidity gets down to 70% then turn off the Zen30 fan relay. THAT worked great the first time which is why I thought the Zooz 4 in 1 would work great too. :frowning: Well, Amazon will be delivering another Aeotec 6 in 1 by next week (coming from Amazon UK).

I’m just started with Hubitat earlier this year but have had a Smartthings for about 18-24 months where I dabbled with a few Z-Wave switches, a couple of zigbee contacts and sensors, integrated a Hue Hub v2 and some Wiz WiFi color lights. It was OK but not what I was hoping for as far as automation (I guess thinking it could be much simpler - so naive). I then decided that I needed to look more into Hone Automation and YouTubed a lot. Decided that I’m not good at programming and Home Assistant, as strong, flexible, and capable as it could be depending on the hardware used to run it on, was going to be a bit much for me. That’s why I decided on Hubitat. So far this platform has been good for me though I am struggling a bit to figure out the best equipment for the job, so I have more to learn.

Thanks to all for giving such good and timely feedback on my situation. Much appreciated.

Sorry I did not read every single post here, but wanted to add the ZSE40 actually does report the humidity pretty good, EXCEPT if there is constant motion. So if the sensor is placed such that there wont be motion while someone is in the shower it would then report the humidity pretty well. I tested a ZSE40 and a ZSE11 in the same room during a shower and they both reacted about the same.

If there is constant motion the sensor only reports motion and nothing else, that is the downfall.

I am doing the exact same thing as you, except I chose to use the ZSE11 in the bathroom. Also using a ZEN30 for the light and fan.

This app works pretty good as well instead of trying to make rules, can be found in HPM

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The problem is that I need motion detection to also control the lighting (to not turn off the lights while someone is in the shower). Now that I’m thinking about it my needs may require me to use rule machine instead of basic rules and multi-sensors may be fighting themselves and it might be better to use individual sensors to maintain report ability.

For the lighting, as soon as I get some dimmable bulbs, I am going to use a turn off delay of something like 20 mins because being behind the curtain people wont trigger the sensor unless I put it IN the shower. If someone is in the shower over 20 mins guess that means its time to get out!

Lol! That’s exactly what happens to my oldest son. He is notorious for taking long showers. It turned off oh him and he had to reach out and hit the switch. I definitely need to install an Echo Flex in there to allow voice activation of the lighting and fan.