Z-wave Contact Sensor

[Baldomero Prado]

ŸMonitor inputs independently from output control

Ÿ Powerful dry contact NO/NC relays to control loads up to 20 A for NO

Ÿ Perfect for DC motors, pumps, commercial gates, or HVAC equipment

Ÿ Control up to 2 connected loads independently or together

Ÿ Z-Wave or optional wall switch control (toggle or momentary type)

Ÿ Built-in timers for each relay to simplify automation

Ÿ Built-in Z-Wave Plus signal repeater to extend network range

Ÿ Powered by 12-24 V DC/AC or USB C port for easy set-up

Ÿ Wall mounting and minimal design for clean installation

Ÿ NEW 700 Z-Wave chip, S2 security, and SmartStart

@user494 @aaiyar @gavincampbell Great suggestion. I use them for my generator xfer switch (dry contact lets me know it's running) and a home-made HomeLink gateway that turns on my alarm system from the car.

I still use the older GoControl contact sensors for the same purpose. They're quick enough for my needs. I use two for power monitoring, one connected to a current transducer to indicate the state of the HVAC blower, and one as a tilt sensor for the garage door.

Guys, thanks for the "dry" contact device recommendations but I have noticed, coming from the "other" automation control hubs, that Zigbee 3.0 and Z-wave+ contact sensors are expensive!

Has anyone tried the "SONOFF ZBMINI ZigBee Mini Smart Light Switch" for around $10?

I have this one working as a switch but can also work as a sensor according to the specs. I use it for my air exchanger. Never had a problem with it.

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It does have a set of contacts used to control the internal relay via an external switch, but it does NOT report the state of the external switch. It is easily possible for the relay and the switch to get "out of sync." Is not the right device for this application.

You are free to try, but I don't think you will be happy with the results. The state of the relay does not match the state of the connected switch. The switch can be ON (closed contacts) and the relay can be off. This happens because the relay changes state any time the switch is toggled. In theory, you could get the relay OFF and the switch OPEN and hope they stay in sync, but they will very likely get out of sync, especially with a photo beam that can change from open to closed and back to open faster than the ZBMINI can respond.

But there is some good news. The ZBMINI is also a very useful device and I'm sure you will be able to find somewhere to put that to good use as well, I just don't think you'll be able to make it work for your photo beam application.

I am using the Seco-Larm "Enforcer" with Retro-Reflective Photobeam Sensor (E-931-S45RRQ).

There is an adjustable output 5 ms. to 100 ms. response delay which worked perfect with my Shelly 1L "WiFi" switch - bad word on this forum. Moving to HE's Zigbee Sonoff ZBmini should not be a problem due to the Enforcer adjustment response delay. Thanks for your engineering concerns.

Will try this switch to see if it is reliable enough for my home automation/security system.

To pair the ring contact sensor you must hold the button on the face of the sensor for at least 10 seconds. When it starts to flash rapidly it can take up to one minute to connect. My sensors have be very reliable and solid once they are connected.

Hey guys, I just got these new Ring Outdoor Contact Sensors (2 Pack), and these are with Z-Wave Plus LR (link below). After a painful pairing process (5 attempts of inclusions and exlcusions), but I am having this issue where they pair as a generic sensor, and then never stay online. Does the Milan Driver for Ring Sensors include these sensors? Also, is there a way to edit SmartThings to have these only appear as a contact sensor, and not every sensor out there?

I am considering purchasing a new Ring system - no video, just for the alarm monitoring. I see this thread about directly integrating the z-wave sensors, but is the HA ring integration able to expose the contact sensors, motion detectors and other Ring components natively? Arming and disarming via HA would also be a plus.

I was able to pair my sensor in ZWave JS using the steps above and it seems to be reporting safe/unsafe correctly. One question. When I look at the sensor on the ZWave JS dashboard, the security shows with a red circle with a dash for Security, is that expected? I was thinking these would connect with security as they are S2.

I had the Gen 2 sensors setup flawlessly the first time, just with the reset on the back they went in to the triple blink then connected s2 auth, Just needed to put in that Pin# on the side and good to go.

But it looks like this has worked on All Nodes I put in tonight 6 Door Sensor re mounted and time for a Nap. lol

if you have HTTPS you can just scan them an not take a photo and upload them in. I wanted to make sure it worked before went back into HTTPS and bring it back online for remote access.

A few years passed now. Back in 2021 I indeed had gone through all 6 steps in order to properly include ring devices (contact sensor gen2 in my case), but now 2023/11, I verified step#4 (4. Press the pin hole button for 5 seconds.") onward can be skipped and yet HASS can interact with ring device (I actually verified with the same particular device that I factory-reset).

There is no home automation without devices featured in the next two categories covered by the "Year in Review " series . Today's episode brings the Most Popular Contact Sensors, followed by motion sensors, tomorrow.

My Visonic MCT-340 E contact sensors have been great. Small, reliable, and fast. They were very inexpensive as well. I do have a couple of the recessed Aeotec Door/Window Sensor Gen7s, so far they have worked well once I got the latest firmware on them. I am using Z-wave associations on one to turn a light on and off with a door opening and closing, which is handy.

A little heresy here - most of my contact sensors are Xiaomi Aqara. They are paired to a CC2652-based coordinator using zigbee2mqtt, and brought into Hubitat as virtual devices. While I don't recommend this convoluted setup to anyone, it has worked with no issues for me.

Aqara and Mijia are my go-to. They are small, inexpensive, attractive, great battery life, and respond perfectly when joined via HA using a ConBee 2, then brought back into Hubitat with Home Assistant Device Bridge.

The key here is utilizing my favorite Z-Wave Door Sensors by EcoLink because they have an internal connection for wired sensors allowing you to connect almost anything to these. I was able to find a heavy duty stainless steel garage door contact sensor and I was off and running.

You'll want to enclose your Z-Wave Door Sensor in something that is rated IP65 or higher to protect it from the elements. I went with this sealed project box here that was just deep enough for the sensor and mounted nicely on my 4" fence post.

Drill a hole in your enclosure to pass the armored cable from the sensor and attach it to the contacts inside your Z-Wave sensor. It's a little messy, but I used some outdoor sealant to seal up the cable entrance into the enclosure.

What I really like about this garage door contact sensor is that it has a 3" open gap where it will still read as closed. You can mount the magnet on the gate door in such a way that it isn't visible from the outside and it made for a very clean and covert installation.

Now the fun part, I will presume you know how to include the Z-Wave sensor in your network. I use Home Assistant for all of my home automation needs. I like to use template sensors to make my Door Sensors make a little more sense to me in the frontend:

It's been about 3 years since I wrote this post on using this Z-Wave Door sensor for your backyard gate. This past week I noticed the gate sensor was not functioning and showing closed even when it was opened. Today I took a few minutes to inspect and change out the battery. Sure enough the CR123a lithium battery was dead.

Here's a picture after 3 years of exposure to rain, snow, sun, thunderstorms, polar vortexes and heat waves. This project box has held up incredibly well and still seals up nicely. (Picture taken after battery was replaced, it's flipped around from how it was installed). As you can see- the only issue I've had has been rusted screw heads- please use weatherized hardware as needed for your climate!

Please note: Dry Contact Sensor function has been upgraded and added to Door / Window Sensor 7. Please consider purchasing this newer sensor if looking for a Z-Wave dry contact sensor.

To see whether Dry Contact Sensor Gen5 is known to be compatible with your Z-Wave system or not, please reference our Z-Wave gateway comparison listing. The technical specifications of Dry Contact Sensor Gen5 can be viewed at that link.

The installation of your Dry Contact Sensor has two major steps: the Main Sensor and the External Sensor. Powered by batteries, your Dry Contact Sensor will use wireless technology to talk to your Z-Wave network once installed.

The following instructions will tell you how to link your Dry Contact Sensor to your Z-Wave network via an Aeotec Z-Stick or Minimote controller. If you are using another Z-Wave controller as your main controller, please refer to their respective manual on how add new devices to your network.

You can wire up any button or switch to your Dry Contact Sensor to use Dry Contact Sensor as a button or switch type device to trigger your scenes. Or you can use it for a current application that you have in which the technology or sensor you are using is based on dry contact output.

Your sensor can be removed from your Z-Wave network at any time. You'll need to use your Z-Wave network's main controller to do this. The following instructions tell you how to do this using Aeotec Z-Stick and Minimote controller. If you are using other products as your main Z-Wave controller, please refer to the part of their respective manuals that tell you how to remove devices from your network.

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