How can I configure an Ecolink H214104 to use its binary sensors instead of state sensors?

Configuration
1

I have some Ecolink H214104 Z-Wave Plus flood/freeze sensors. I tested the flood state by briefly submerging the contacts, and my Home Assistant received the notification and found the leak. However, after removing the sensor from water and drying it off, it still is reporting as “Wet”, continuously.

I found this GitHub issue which describes the behavior. It appears that the sensor isn’t setting its state variable correctly, and there is a suggestion to use its binary sensors instead. Quoting from one comment:

I’m not sure I’d call the binary sensor a workaround, it’s something the device is implementing. Furthermore, it seems to work exactly the way you want it to (on = water detected, off = no water detected), where the notification sensors don’t. What’s your hesitation with using it? Just customize the entity with a moisture device class and hide the other entity. Problem solved?

How can I do that? I’m new to Home Assistant and haven’t done anything like that before. I’m running Home Assistant OS on a Raspberry Pi 4, core version 2022.2.8. I have the Visual Studio Code Server installed and can edit my configuration.yaml.

I tried adding a section like this at the bottom:

homeassistant:
  name: Home
  customize:
    binary_sensor.ecolink_unknown_type_0005_id_0010_sensor:
      device_class: moisture

but that didn’t change anything I saw in my Entities list.

I got that sensor name from a product review, and I’m not sure how to double-check it.

Thanks for any help.

1 Like
2

I have the same problem, I think I fixed it but let me know if this works for you.
If you open the H214104 device under Devices & Services, you’ll see some disabled entities in the sensors section.

Click on “flood/freeze_sensor”: Water
For me it was showing the entity as unavailable however after I enabled it, updated, and waited 30 seconds it was acting normal.
After some testing it seems to be working.

Hope this helps,

3 Likes