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    Sensors not working properly

    I purchased about 10 of these things to put around the house. About 2 months ago, I opened 4 of them, and put them in various places. 2 of which are in my 2 water heater pans. Well, my water heater failed, and my sensor failed to notify me. This same sensor, i'm playing with tonight, cannot even be placed back in the water heater pan without going off. The water heater has since been replaced, and the water heater has been dry for at least a week now. It doesn't have a drop of water in it. Its aluminum if that matters.

    Well, thats disappointing, it had one job to do and failed me. I started checking the other sensors, 2 of them wont respond, i'm suspecting dead batteries. I ordered new batteries to test them with, however homeseer is reporting 68% battery still on one of them, and the other is 9%. The 4th unit, which I haven't tested yet is reporting 100%. All of these were purchased and installed at the same time just a few months ago. thats pretty terrible odds.

    One of the devices is stuck on "tampered status" and there is no way in HS to clear it. All around, 1 or more of these devices seem to either be defective, or they are just total garbage.

    does anyone have a longer history with them to weigh in on their reliability? I've got events that shut off an HS water valve, send me emergency push notifications, and activate status lights throughout the house. I can't really put up with constant false positives, or whats worse, the dumb thing doing nothing when there is an actual issue.

    #2
    I've got about the same number of these in my home and have found them reliable. They are extremely sensitive, I had one behind a toilet that the wax seal was bad and the moisture from that problem would set it off. Until the seal was fixed I set it on a square of paper towel to keep it from going off.

    I've had non-emergency water events (usually my kids getting water on the floor while in the shower) trigger these devices reliably and I have trust in them.

    With a plugin like SDJ-Health it will be obvious if they are checking in to Z-wave whether the battery level is changing or not. That said, the battery devices for mine update daily. The batteries do tend to last at least a year in my experience.

    The stuck tamper status I've found to be a general Z-wave problem, not just these devices. You can clear the status with an immediate command &hs.SetDeviceValueByRef(DevRefNo, NewValue, True) or put that in a manual event. I have an event I edit and execute. For example, I have a door sensor that still has the status "Replace battery now" after replacing the battery that I will have to use this on.

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      #3
      Exactly how do you have these placed in the aluminum water heater pan? Is the unit sitting in the pan or are you using the remote sensor? Are the sensor probes touching the aluminum pan?

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        #4
        Thanks for the info and replies.

        Just to make sure i'm being clear, these are the standalone sensors that are slightly triangle shape. I am not using the base/cable with this, its just sitting in the drain pan on its own.

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          #5
          I don't use any of the cables either. I don't believe I have any on metal, but if it's a concern you could put them on a thin sponge.

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            #6
            Originally posted by smikkelsen View Post
            Thanks for the info and replies.

            Just to make sure i'm being clear, these are the standalone sensors that are slightly triangle shape. I am not using the base/cable with this, its just sitting in the drain pan on its own.
            This will not work. The contact of the metal pan on the pins will deplete the batteries as it's constantly going to send a leak signal. You need to set the pins on something that is not conductive like a sponge, I have mine sitting on two popsicle sticks as it's the only thing I could find at the time.
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              #7
              Originally posted by smikkelsen View Post
              Thanks for the info and replies.

              Just to make sure i'm being clear, these are the standalone sensors that are slightly triangle shape. I am not using the base/cable with this, its just sitting in the drain pan on its own.
              As Rupp stated the three metal contacts on the bottom of the unit detect water when liquid completes the circuit between them.

              If you use the remote sensor you can attach it to the side of the conductive aluminum pan and suspend the contacts a little bit above the bottom of the pan.

              Or you can place the unit on a non-conductive material.

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                #8
                Good to know, i'll put it on a paper towel or something and see if that does the trick. Thanks everyone!

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by smikkelsen View Post
                  Good to know, i'll put it on a paper towel or something and see if that does the trick. Thanks everyone!
                  I do not believe a paper towel is going to be thick enough.
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