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Fibaro Door/Window Sensors or.. what else ?


Mosskit

Question

Hi Folks,

I am looking for an opportunity to extend my system with some door/window sensors. I have completely no experience with it so need some informations before firing an order.  My question is what brands/models do you guys use and weather recommend or not? There is whole bunch of this stuff nowadays like:

-fibaro

-aeotec

-besense

-neo coolcam

-aeonlabs

-philio

-zipato

 

Will be glad for some brief description like battery life, possibility to incluse in a security mode, bugs you've found and avaiability of colours for individual needs of product that you use. Moreover, I would like to use one of these as in my alarming set as well so qurious if those devices are stable enough.

 

Thanks.

Edited by AnonymousJohn
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15 answers to this question

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If it has to be "invisible" sensors, I can recommend Sensative strips. 

Please login or register to see this link.

The battery cannot be changed or recharged but last 10 years. They work like a charm and has never given me any problems.

Edited by Thomasn
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  • 19 hours ago, Sjekke said:

    Could you be more specific? What is "my system"

    My Home Automation System based on Z-Wave protocol with Fibaro 4.150 HC2 controler.

     

    16 hours ago, Thomasn said:

    If it has to be "invisible" sensors, I can recommend Sensative strips. 

    Please login or register to see this link.

    The battery cannot be changed or recharged but last 10 years. They work like a charm and has never given me any problems.

    I have seen those somewhere but I was too sceptical about the battery life.  However they have really clean look. How long do you have them? What is the battery drop since initialization time and where do you use them (how frequently you open/close particular door/window)? I need like 5-6 pieces of these to improve my light auto on/off script and improve my alarm stability.

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    1 hour ago, mosskit said:

    My Home Automation System based on Z-Wave protocol with Fibaro 4.150 HC2 controler.

     

    I have seen those somewhere but I was too sceptical about the battery life.  However they have really clean look. How long do you have them? What is the battery drop since initialization time and where do you use them (how frequently you open/close particular door/window)? I need like 5-6 pieces of these to improve my light auto on/off script and improve my alarm stability.

     

    Mine is approximately three years old. Still going strong. All of my sensors are installed at doors that I and my family use every day. Especially my frontdoor. It is used 20-30 times a day if not more. Battery use is just noticeably in the homecenter battery gauge.

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    1 hour ago, mosskit said:

    I have seen those somewhere but I was too sceptical about the battery life.  However they have really clean look. How long do you have them? What is the battery drop since initialization time and where do you use them (how frequently you open/close particular door/window)?

     

    At first, I was sceptical too about the battery life, but I eventually ordered 22 strips in April 2017. After almost 2 years, most strips' battery level is still at 70% (the windows that are opened several times a week, or windows that are in colder areas like the garage) and almost 100% (windows that are rarely opened). There is one that gives a low battery indication, but I am not sure whether that is correct or rather a communication problem.

    So all in all, I am quite pleased with the strips.

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  • 42 minutes ago, Thomasn said:

     

    Mine is approximately three years old. Still going strong. All of my sensors are installed at doors that I and my family use every day. Especially my frontdoor. It is used 20-30 times a day if not more. Battery use is just noticeably in the homecenter battery gauge.

     

    That sounds like much cheaper solution than all fibaro sensors or even chineese coolcam ones. Lets do some quick math here:

     

    1 x Sensative Strip is around 60E. Let's assume it will last 5 years for a frequent use like at main doors. What makes a cost of around 12E in tottal per year.
     

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    1 x Fibaro Sensor is around 40E - chepest I could find in an official retailer and it's battery life with an 1hour wakeup time on frequent doors is around 1,5year according to some comments found on web. Yearly cost around 26E. Additional cost of  2 times battery replacement in a 5 years period.

     

    1 x Coolcam sensor is around 20E - I would assume battery life of 1 year based on some web comments and tests. Additional cost of 4 times battery replacement in a 5 years period.

    The problem is that after 5 -6 years of a product lifetime you need to buy extra piece of whole sensor what makes an ivestments huge again. So your 5 years savings in comparison with:

    -coolcam are:  (20E - 12E) x 5 =  5 x 8 E = 40E + cost of batteries ( a bit cheaper than a new sensative strip cost nowadays )

    -fibaro: (26E-12E) x 5= 5 x 14E = 70E + cost of batteries (a bit more expensive than cost of new sensative strip cost nowadays).


    I know that coolcam does not have tamper detection implemented and like most cheneese quality product have few niggles here and there but seen several issues with fibaro as well. What about Sensative Strip? Do they have tamper detetction? Also, do they support security mode inclusion?



     

    Edited by AnonymousJohn
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    Sensative strips has tamper detection. Security mode I do not use so no knowledge of that. But is it not standard in z-wave devices?

     

    There is a three year battery guarantee, though. 

    Edited by Thomasn
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  • Not sure whether it is standard or not but I intend to add all alarming parts in the highest possible security mode (S0 or S2 - propably only keylocks etc.). Do you have any experience with fibaro sensors to compare? Can this sensor be armed / undarmed like a motion sensor for alarm purpose?

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    1 hour ago, mosskit said:

    Not sure whether it is standard or not but I intend to add all alarming parts in the highest possible security mode (S0 or S2 - propably only keylocks etc.). Do you have any experience with fibaro sensors to compare? Can this sensor be armed / undarmed like a motion sensor for alarm purpose?

     

    No. It is a functionality I do not use.

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    @mosskit your math assumes that you have to throw away the Fibaro and Neo after 5 years. Almost all my sensors are 5 years and none have failed, I bet they can work for 10 years in total. Z-Wave as a proven track record of compatibility, so that assumption seems plausible.

     

    Assuming 5y life and constant price for the strip that is 2 x strip 60 EUR per strip = 120 EUR

     

    Fibaro D/W2 40 EUR + 6 batteries x 5 EUR (brand name cells) = 70 EUR

     

    Neo 20 EUR + assuming they use 1 cell per year 10 x 5 EUR = 70 EUR

     

    You can find cheaper cells, but you'll have to find out their capacity and internal resistance.

     

    I tend to use 10 years in all my HA calculations because of (a) work involved to mount mains modules (b) learning curve of technology (c) it is a reasonable life expectancy.

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  • @petergebruers Maybe I did not make myself clear enough but anyway.. obviously the longer lifecycle of product the cheaper the ones with battery replacement feature.

     

    Btw, how long does your fibaro sensor can survive on single battery on some frequently open doors ?

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    35 minutes ago, mosskit said:

    Maybe I did not make myself clear enough

    Indeed, "not clear enough" was what I thought. Your math was not wrong, and I did not underestimate you, I was very sure you knew about the relevance of the lifetime. And because that was my first thought, I wanted to know myself what happens if you take 10 years, I had to calculate it because I never had done this before. The "strips" with non-replaceable cells did not exist yet when I bought the bulk of my D/W sensors, all sensors at that time had user replaceable batteries. It was not to criticize, but I had to do it because I am an "inquisitive guy".

     

    42 minutes ago, mosskit said:

    Btw, how long does your fibaro sensor can survive on single battery on some frequently open doors ?

    I honestly don't know... I don't keep a record. On some cells I did write a date but I've stopped doing that because it meets my expectations. I've got good, cheep cells but with lower capacity than the EVE ER14250. I've also got some cheap, bad cells and also some low capacity rechargeable ones (I do not really recommend this unless you know the downsides)... I use a trick on an outdoor sensor to prolong battery life (add an LR2032 to lower resistance).

     

    Almost all my D/W sensors are first generation (FGK-101) and many have a DS18B20 temperature sensor.

    Battery life depends on many factors like ambient temperature, wake up interval, temperature reporting interval and if the sensor has a routed or a direct connection to the HomeCenter.

    I'd say battery life with good cells is between 12 and 24 months.

     

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  • @petergebruers Thanks for reply. My assumption is that those sensors will be support for motion sensors in rooms like: bathroom, restroom, wardrobe, some frequently open windows (for airing purpose) so that my heating system is temporarly bypassed AND for alarm setup:

     

    -1oo2 motion sensor

    -1oo2 door sensor interconnected with Siren, IP Camera and some light flashing scene. 

     

    Assuming I will use Fibaro sensors and do not need temperature reads to be frequently pulled from device to gateway, thus setting wakeup interwal longest possible, will that has an impact in status feedback and/or scenes triggering? Like delay or smth? Hope that does not sound like a dumb question but I have no experience with battery devices (just one motion sensor and some LUA built for test purpose) and try to avoid those in my setup.
     

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    On 1/7/2019 at 2:27 AM, Thomasn said:

    If it has to be "invisible" sensors, I can recommend Sensative strips. 

    Please login or register to see this link.

    The battery cannot be changed or recharged but last 10 years. They work like a charm and has never given me any problems.

     

    I am also using these strips, primarily the ones for temperature and light. I have mixed experiences and can't really recommend them due to lack of stability.

    A few of them work fine and have been doing the job for a year now without any issues.

    Two of them are constantly malfunctioning and report completely wrong temperatures or get stuck on a temperature for longer periods. Sometimes these things correct themselves after a day or two, but most of the times I have use the magnet to wake them up.

    It is not very convenient at all.

    I have a Fibaro HC2 controller btw.

     

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    17 minutes ago, perjar said:

     

    I am also using these strips, primarily the ones for temperature and light. I have mixed experiences and can't really recommend them due to lack of stability.

    A few of them work fine and have been doing the job for a year now without any issues.

    Two of them are constantly malfunctioning and report completely wrong temperatures or get stuck on a temperature for longer periods. Sometimes these things correct themselves after a day or two, but most of the times I have use the magnet to wake them up.

    It is not very convenient at all.

    I have a Fibaro HC2 controller btw.

     

     

    Strange since I have never experienced any problems. But my strips are solely for doors. No light, no temperature.

    I too have a Homecenter2.

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