1st Programming Attempt - Leak Sensor

[MrBill]

@shunsader what type of batteries are you using?  I've not had any luck getting heartbeat to transmit except on it's own.  It sometimes triggers when the battery is installed but I think that might be firmware specific (but I've never studied it since I realized that as being a might be).  The sensors are designed to be used with alkaline batteries.  I've seen people say they are having heartbeat issues and I ask are you using lithium batteries instead of alkaline and they never answer, but we don't hear from them again.   Put a fresh Alkaline battery in, and wait 25 hours and see what you get.

[larryllix]

Just now, MrBill said:

@shunsader what type of batteries are you using?  I've not had any luck getting heartbeat to transmit except on it's own.  It sometimes triggers when the battery is installed but I think that might be firmware specific (but I've never studied it since I realized that as being a might be).  The sensors are designed to be used with alkaline batteries.  I've seen people say they are having heartbeat issues and I ask are you using lithium batteries instead of alkaline and they never answer, but we don't hear from them again.   Put a fresh Alkaline battery in, and wait 25 hours and see what you get.

I know my MS Is will not work on LioN batteries. The 9V style Lion batteries put out 10.4 volts and the MS will either burn out, or constantly send lowBatt signals with a voltage that high. Since LioN cells only put out multiples of 1.7 volts you take you pick, high or low voltage.

[shunsader]

Larry, I DID, I waited a whole week, not a single email, nothing on the counter, and programs are still red, indicating they've never been run....except for the DRY, on ONE UNIT. AND, even when I push the SET button, I get nothing from one of the units. I DO get a green light when I press set, and instructions were written from ISY just fine.

[MrBill]

But what batteries are you using?

[mango]

22 minutes ago, MrBill said:

@shunsader what type of batteries are you using?  I've not had any luck getting heartbeat to transmit except on it's own.  It sometimes triggers when the battery is installed but I think that might be firmware specific (but I've never studied it since I realized that as being a might be).  The sensors are designed to be used with alkaline batteries.  I've seen people say they are having heartbeat issues and I ask are you using lithium batteries instead of alkaline and they never answer, but we don't hear from them again.   Put a fresh Alkaline battery in, and wait 25 hours and see what you get.

FWIW Energizer Lithium have worked properly for me in Insteon Leak Sensors. Last a looooooong time.

[shunsader]

Guys....FACTORY batteries. I've simply pulled the plastic tab, and expected it to work. Incidentally, factory batteries are labeled "Huiderui Lithium", but are only measured at 1.764V....not sure how one gets to that number if it's really a lithium battery. Duracell Alkalines beep out to 1.611V. I found a Lithium-ion Sulfur battery white paper written in 2015 that talks about a lithium chemistry that boasts 1.7V. Perhaps that's it.

FYI, changed both sensors to alkaline batteries...same results....DRY when pressing SET on one sensor, and nothing on the other. I'll do a wet test after this writing to see if they trigger as they should. Thanks.

[MrBill]

2 minutes ago, shunsader said:

DRY when pressing SET on one sensor, and nothing on the other. I'll do a wet test after this writing to see if they trigger as they should. Thanks.

You need to WAIT 24 hours for the heartbeat... whatever you read about the set button sending all 3 signals is just plain wrong... Set does not send heartbeat.

[mango]

53 minutes ago, shunsader said:

Guys....FACTORY batteries. I've simply pulled the plastic tab, and expected it to work. Incidentally, factory batteries are labeled "Huiderui Lithium", but are only measured at 1.764V....not sure how one gets to that number if it's really a lithium battery. Duracell Alkalines beep out to 1.611V. I found a Lithium-ion Sulfur battery white paper written in 2015 that talks about a lithium chemistry that boasts 1.7V. Perhaps that's it.

FYI, changed both sensors to alkaline batteries...same results....DRY when pressing SET on one sensor, and nothing on the other. I'll do a wet test after this writing to see if they trigger as they should. Thanks.

The factory batteries were awful - straight into some led flash lights they went.

[shunsader]

I now have 3 sensors installed. ONLY the first sends any data when I push the SET button, and I can clearly see DON 1 in the event viewer. NOTHING is transmitted with the other 2 units.

When dipping in water, first sensor SENDS DON 2 command, software picks it up, and sends an email. The other 2 do NOT send any data, but I CAN see the LED flicker the moment it hits the water, and again each 15 seconds, like the first sensor. It's as if I haven't enabled something on the device to transmit.

Even though these are new devices, I'm doing a factory reset before adding them to the ISY. Procedure: Remove battery, wait 5 seconds, add battery WHILE holding reset button on until the LED has gone on, then off again, release set button...should be Factory at this point.

The event log CLEARLY shows when adding to ISY that the part is being written to. 

WHY is nothing being transmitted by the 2 new devices? I'm looking at Event Viewer, which should see all traffic. FYI, I have a motion sensor less than 10 feet away, and it triggers 100% of the time, as it should. (trying to identify whether it's an RF thing...NOT).

It's as if all 3 are working, but only the first one sends WET and DRY signals when necessary. Still NO heartbeat since I initiated it more than 10 days ago.

NONE of these devices have been added to any scenes, but that shouldn't have anything to do with me not seeing any transmission traffic when something on a device is triggered.

I'm at a loss.

Any other ideas? - Steve

 

[dbuss]

If all the devices are not in the same location, you might try moving the two that don't work, closer to your ISY tp see if it might be a communications problem.

[apostolakisl]

Here is a video of adding a leak sensor and then confirming its function.  If you do these things and don't get this result, then you may just have a bad leak sensor.  I would start by deleting it from ISY, factory reset device, then add back to ISY as shown and test as shown.  If ISY finds and writes to the device without leaving the 1011 message, then you do not have a communication issue.  I can not really comment to much on the nature of the various batteries discussed.  Mine worked fine with a regular alkaline aa battery from energizer.    

 

[shunsader]

Thanks for the video link. I suspect that today's firmware might present just a bit different. Units 2 and 3 NEVER transmit anything, even though they register on the ISY just fine. The first does NOT show an On/Off until I've taken the unit out of discovery mode, and then push the set button. I've NEVER seen the same input do an ON/OFF toggle. Is it possible that all 3 units, from 3 different sources, could all have some issue? It's hard to believe.

May sound stupid, but all I need is these to be around a dual BAND device, right? all my motion sensors work, scattered around the home. OR, am I supposed to have some type of receiver I haven't read about yet?

Edited May 20, 2022 by shunsader
Terminology mistake

[apostolakisl]

50 minutes ago, shunsader said:

Thanks for the video link. I suspect that today's firmware might present just a bit different. Units 2 and 3 NEVER transmit anything, even though they register on the ISY just fine. The first does NOT show an On/Off until I've taken the unit out of discovery mode, and then push the set button. I've NEVER seen the same input do an ON/OFF toggle. Is it possible that all 3 units, from 3 different sources, could all have some issue? It's hard to believe.

May sound stupid, but all I need is these to be around a dual BAND device, right? all my motion sensors work, scattered around the home. OR, am I supposed to have some type of receiver I haven't read about yet?

No special receiver.  Any dual band device is going to do that.  The video shows version 1.05, which I had multiples of and all behaved exactly like the video.  I don't know why newer versions would behave any differently, but I can't say having never owned any other version.  Certainly the sending of an "on" when getting wet and an "off" when dried would never change.  

[larryllix]

Larry, I DID, I waited a whole week, not a single email, nothing on the counter, and programs are still red, indicating they've never been run....except for the DRY, on ONE UNIT. AND, even when I push the SET button, I get nothing from one of the units. I DO get a green light when I press set, and instructions were written from ISY just fine.

Have you tried using a variable counter to prove it isn't your notification comm technique?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[MrBill]

18 hours ago, shunsader said:

 

@larryllix... looks like he's got that covered.