Leak Sensor Question

[matapan]

I recently acquired a set of Leak Sensors. Never having played with any of these devices before, I added two of these leak sensors for testing.

For each leak sensor added, three nodes are created, a wet node, a dry node, and a heartbeat node. The initial state of these nodes is undefined after the device is added.

When the terminals on the bottom of the sensor are shorted, the Wet node state is set to On and the Dry node state is set to Off for both test sensors.

However, when the terminals on the bottom of the sensors are no longer shorted, one of the devices sets the Wet node state to Off and Dry node state to On. The other sensor remains set to the states set when the terminals were shorted.

In searching through the forum for posts on the Leak Sensor, one poster said that the Leak sensor needs to be reset after it registers a wet condition in order for it to detect a dry condition for certain revision devices. Other devices toggle the node states as they change. There was also a very complicated post with 3 or 4 programs for using these sensors I could not understand at all with the intent or the logic.

Could someone on the forum who uses these leak sensors help me understand if I have some bad sensors or sensors of different revisions that behave differently by version? How are these sensors supposed to work when there is a wet condition and then the condition changes from wet to dry? Is there someone who can explain the logic of the post with the 3 or 4 programs?

[Techman]

When the leak sensor is in the WET state, the ISY should show the wet status as on and the DRY status as off.

Once the sensor is no longer detecting water the SET button on the sensor needs to be pushed once in order to clear the wet state as the sensor will not automatically switch its status to DRY

[matapan]

There seem to be two versions of the Leak Sensor:

For the first version:

When the leak sensor is in the WET state, the ISY shows the WET status as ON and the DRY status as off.
When the leak sensor reverts to a DRY state, the ISY shows the WET status as OFF and the DRY status as on.

For the second version:

When the leak sensor is in the WET state, the ISY shows the WET status as ON and the DRY status as off.
When the leak sensor reverts to a DRY state, the ISY does not change any of existing states set until one presses the SET button on the sensor to clear the WET condition.

Is it possible to configure these sensors to all operate and behave the same way?

[larryllix]

I have 7 or 8 of these leak detectors and they all operate with the required link button press to reset them. However, mine are all older versions, possibly.

I think the designer's idea was to force you to check out the leak location, and you have to clean the water out of the unit before it can be used again anyway. The compact design ensures you will have electronics underwater if you have a serious leak. The insides of the LDs usually need to be dried out before re-using them.

[Teken]

Just to clarify there were three releases of the leak sensor. The first generation would reset its state once the wet condition at the sensor wasn’t detected - no user intervention required.

The interim and very short lived second iteration of the leak sensor would behave the same way as the first but would also flash its LED.

The last iteration requires the user to manually reset the sensor. There is no way to change this behaviour at the user level.

There are use cases for both behaviours. The problem as was in the past Smarthome / Smartlabs / Insteon provided NO information to the changes!

[MrBill]

4 hours ago, Teken said:

The problem as was in the past Smarthome / Smartlabs / Insteon provided NO information to the changes!

Amen.

I have versions 1 and 3, I don't think I have any 2's but I've never paid close attention. I just so some reset on there own, and some need the button to be pressed.

[jkmcfadden]

I have several of the Insteon leak detectors.  They work fine, but I always had 2 complaints.  First, the one you mentioned, where you have to press the reset after it goes off.  And second, it is battery only.  One of our detectors needed to be used for a sump pump in a crawl space that was not easy to access.  So I opted for a z-wave solution.  This detector resets automatically and I can power it using a micro USB connector - so no batteries to die.  It does require that you have the z-wave option in your ISY.

ZLINK Z-Wave Plus Water Leak and Freeze Detector with S2 and SmartStart, Amazon Alexa Ready - ZL-LD-100 - - AmazonSmile

 

[matapan]

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I could not tell from the official documentation what the proper behavior is supposed to be. This gives me a baseline from which to work from to better understand the device's behavior and how to use it.

[Teken]

12 minutes ago, matapan said:

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I could not tell from the official documentation what the proper behavior is supposed to be. This gives me a baseline from which to work from to better understand the device's behavior and how to use it.

Just some things to keep in mind and consider if the units purchased are old. The advertised ten years will never be seen. Replace them with Energizer Lithium cells knowing they will offer you no less than eight solid years if not ten!

Take a few moments regardless of the type of batteries in place and place a dab of dielectric grease. This will promote conductivity, reduce moisture, and God forbid there is a battery leak.

It will prevent the battery terminals from being corroded / rusted. Smear a lite coat of the same on the plastic housing as this will prevent the case from melting and breaking apart. On the small metal round feet dab some WD-40, Dielectric grease, Deoxit as this will prevent the very cheap material breaking down! ?

Lastly, if your sensors (antenna) aren't a shade / hue of yellow or some other odd color just accept the fact Smartlabs, Smarthome, Insteon used the absolutely cheapest material known to man and deal with it!  

 

[larryllix]

Just some things to keep in mind and consider if the units purchased are old. The advertised ten years will never be seen. Replace them with Energizer Lithium cells knowing they will offer you no less than eight solid years if not ten!
Take a few moments regardless of the type of batteries in place and place a dab of dielectric grease. This will promote conductivity, reduce moisture, and God forbid there is a battery leak.
It will prevent the battery terminals from being corroded / rusted. Smear a lite coat of the same on the plastic housing as this will prevent the case from melting and breaking apart. On the small metal round feet dab some WD-40, Dielectric grease, Deoxit as this will prevent the very cheap material breaking down! 
Lastly, if your sensors (antenna) aren't a shade / hue of yellow or some other odd color just accept the fact Smartlabs, Smarthome, Insteon used the absolutely cheapest material known to man and deal with it!  
 

Careful with WD40. It connot be identified as a lubricant in Canada and is very corrosive.

Took us a few dozen corroded brass locks with dissolved tumblers before we got the service technicians stopped using it and our purchase agent stopped buying cases if it for field usage.

American cans may still label it a lubricant.

Great penetrating oil but will eat the plating off almost metal going.

Note the WHMS hand skeleton on the can?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[Teken]

Careful with WD40. It connot be identified as a lubricant in Canada and is very corrosive.

Took us a few dozen corroded brass locks with dissolved tumblers before we got the service technicians stopped using it and our purchase agent stopped buying cases if it for field usage.

American cans may still label it a lubricant.

Great penetrating oil but will eat the plating off almost metal going.

Note the WHMS hand skeleton on the can?

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[MrBill]

39 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Careful with WD40. It connot be identified as a lubricant in Canada and is very corrosive.

Took us a few dozen corroded brass locks with dissolved tumblers before we got the service technicians stopped using it and our purchase agent stopped buying cases if it for field usage.

American cans may still label it a lubricant.

Great penetrating oil but will eat the plating off almost metal going.

Note the WHMS hand skeleton on the can?

You need to order Lock Ease ... I use it for way more than locks, it gets more use than WD40 since I discovered it... Dry graphite in Alcohol base aerosol that cleans then evaporates and leaves dry lube behind.  Once I've used it on a door hinge I've never had to repeat.

Watch it tho, a little goes a long way and when it "runs" its hard to wipe off.  Squirt it as micro-bursts.

 

[larryllix]

5 hours ago, Teken said:

You been cross-border shoppin', or that can is over 40 years old.

Edited August 1, 2022 by larryllix