Fibaro Window/Door Sensor battery dying every few weeks

[DinoKustas 1]

Hi all,

 

I'm having issues with a door sensor which keeps dying/not responding, but Fibaro HC2 doesn't report the unit as offline or battery low. When I replace the battery it will begin to work as it should again, but the battery seems to need to be replaced every 3-4 weeks. 

 

This door sensor is used on my front door and is currently being used for alarm purposes as well as a scene to push an open/close notification. The scenes are simply breach/safe for push notification and then armed/breached for the alarm scene.

 

Door sensor config is default other than LED turned off (for battery saving!).

 

Symptoms are as follows:

• Sensor is probably the closest to the Fibaro HC2, only a few metres away
• Sensor will stop registering every single open/close action - I notice as lack of push notifications when opening/closing the door
• Sensor stays "online" according to Fibaro HC2
• Eventually sensor will stop registering any open/close actions, but Fibaro HC2 still shows sensor as online and able to arm/disarm
• Reseat battery and sensor will then register a few open/closes before going back to as it was, not responding
• Replace battery and everything will work fine for 3-4 weeks again before symptoms start reoccurring. 
• Have tried resetting sensor completely, re-associating sensor with HC2 etc. all still come back to the same issue.
• This is the 2nd window/door sensor to do this as I had the first one replaced under warranty - supplier now believing an issue with my HC2 or setup causing the battery draining quickly again but can't see an issue with my scenes or config.
• All other door sensors have no issues on the system, working fine for alarm and other scenes. Most have been in place around 1 year without battery replacements.

 

So any suggestions here would be great as obviously the door sensor's main job is for the alarm, if the battery is going to die every month it's going to get expensive quickly.

 

I can happily post pictures of the door sensor config and scenes if required.

 

Many thanks in advance. 

Edited December 19, 2016 by DinoKustas

[chaicka 195]

A wild suggestion - try updating the mesh network for this device and its surround devices (within 2 meters), one by one and make sure manual wake-up if it is battery operated device.

 

When you exclude from HC2 and reset the sensor, did you reboot HC2 before re-inclusion? Did you disable the scenes that use the sensor prior to rebooting HC2? 

[DinoKustas 1]

Hi,

 

I didn't reboot the HC2 before re-inclusion, nor disable the scenes to be fair. But the HC2 has been rebooted many a time.

 

I've replaced the battery last night and redone the meshing. But I may as well exclude the sensor, disable the scenes etc. and reboot as well then set it up again. 

 

I'm not convinced this will net me more than a month's life and these batteries are expensive!

 

Thanks

[petergebruers 1,261]

You gave a very complete report. Just one thing: you are using genuine batteries, original brand? I bought some no-brand and they have higher internal resistance and the sensor doesn't like that. If you have a multimeter and a 1 k resistor I can elaborate on that.

[DinoKustas 1]

Hi,

 

I believe I have purchased the exact same batteries that they originally shipped with, please see below link:

 

Please login or register to see this link.

[petergebruers 1,261]

Correct. Here's one more thought. Maybe the device is transmitting too much, because the magnet is not close enough to the body... Hmm, improbable, you would have noticed false alarms from the sensor. I don't know if it might be the tamper switch. I've read several reports and experienced myself that the double sided tape sometimes cannot hold the tamper button in the 'pressed' position. Hmm. Measuring battery consumption is no easy task, so you're probably stuck with replace-battery-and-see strategy. Expensive. If I'd want to salvage this sensor, I'd remove it from the door and keep it on my desk. If the battery still dies too soon, I'd say it's defective. I'm also thinking... wake up interval. But you excluded the sensor and that resets the interval. Sorry, running out of ideas!

[DinoKustas 1]

Definitely closer than some of the ones I've got going!

 

I'm going to order some more batteries this week. Do the excluding and associating, recreating of scenes etc. and go from there.

 

Shame to keep killing batteries, but what more can I do at this stage!

[chaicka 195]

I can understanding the frustrations as I have been through similar for a few z-wave devices (Fibaro door/window sensor, Fibaro motion sensor in encrypted mode, Aeon MultiSensor 6) too. Lack of z-wave level logs to help in diagnostic is a pain for us. (@Fibaro).

 

Just sharing some of the things I did and now no longer face these battery-related woes. At least not to extend of such fast drain. The only one left is MS6 longest last per set of batt is only 3+ months, far from the 1 year mentioned in manufacturer's materials.

[DinoKustas 1]

Thanks chaicka, I'll definitely be giving all of that a go over the holiday period.

[chaicka 195]

Maybe I missed something. The door/window sensor isn't z-wave plus right?

 

I know those z-wave plus battery operated modules are faster batt drain when included in secured mode. Probably because it uses more juice with encryption on. Once reinclude with non-secured mode, it functions much better/normal.

[DinoKustas 1]

I'm wondering if it's picking up a neighbour instead of the HC2 during inclusion or something.

 

Any ideas how or if it's possible to see a device's list of neighbours?

[petergebruers 1,261]

Interesting theory. If your neighbors transmit on the same frequency, that could happen (I know about one case!). Older wireless headphones, for insance, might use that band. But there is an issue with that theory... Any transmitter would have to be relatively powerful and that isn't allowed. It's a bit like this: imagine you're talking to someone standing at 1m distance. Now a person standing 10m away tries to interfere. He won't be able to interrupt your conversation, because the signal he sends is too weak. On the other hand, if he has an amplifier, or he walks up close, your conversation can be disrupted. So it depends on power and distance. Z-wave does not have a tool to detect this. I know you can buy radio scanners to find out if "someone" transmits "something" but I have never used them. I do own a software defined radio dongle (price ranges from € 3 right up to more than € 1000, mine cost 30) but I wouldn't call that "an end user friendly" solution. Can you move your sensor and your HC2 a few meters? To see if it's really interference?

[petergebruers 1,261]

A fibaro HC cannot show you a routing table. Other controllers can. It's been a feature request for some time. Neighbors can be either a specific Z-wave term or... just the people nextdoor. I'm unsure what you meant.

[DinoKustas 1]

Z-wave neighbours lol

[petergebruers 1,261]

Ah. Oh!

 

I had a Aeon MultiSensor, mounted outdoor, that probably got its transmitter "stuck on". I didn't have my SDR back then, so it is only a theory. I had to dismantle it and clean the printed circuit board and I now I use it indoors. It caused massive delays on my network. I've also had a Fibaro Door/Window sensor, whichestarted to transmit something every four seconds. That caused trouble too... Can't remember the details, but I'm reosonably sure HC2 was running 3.X software! So, long time ago!

[Mo19 1]

Set the poll time to 172800 and it will continue to live for at least half a year  It works for me on my fron door and the other doors in my home which i use even more frequently!

[DinoKustas 1]

I reset the front door one fully and reset the HC2 whilst doing so. It now actually triggers the alarm without its own scene finally.

 

But I've got a problem with another door sensor now. Constantly flashing despite have been excluded, reset, included again with resetting of HC2 etc. Getting frustrated with these things !

[DinoKustas 1]

 

[DinoKustas 1]

That's after a reset. It double blinks, then LED stays off for about 10 seconds before going crazy again.

[petergebruers 1,261]

Long shot. Can you check, with a magnifier, or your phone, if the greenish looking glass tube at the detection side is intact? No cracks where the leads come out? What happens, in this state, if you put a magnet to the case?