I am looking for a Zigbee vibration sensor that has good battery life when constantly triggered.
The specific use case, is that I leave the sensor on a wall mount AC unit - to provide feedback that the AC is on. I currently use a Third Reality Vibration sensor, it works fine, but it eats batteries because it is constantly transmitting whilst it’s detecting motion.
It’s not uncommon for the AC to be on a total of 8+ hours per day.
Hence I would like a sensor that only transmits the change of detecting/not detecting motion.
EDIT:
The AC has no external moving doors so a contact sensor is not an option.
I rent an apartment so modifying the apt wiring is not an option.
The AC unit is part of the apartment so modifying the internals of the unit is not an option.
The AC is on a 220V plug (US style) and I haven’t been able to find a off the shelf smart Zigbee plug that will work.
A DIY project to create a box contain a socket and a lead and a 220V switch - so I could plug the AC into the box and the box into the wall, might work but it’s overkill / messy.
If this is a split type AC, then a small door/window sensor like the Aqara ones would be more suitable.
You stick the sensor on the side of the vent flap & the magnet on the flap itself. That way, the sensor only needs to report open/closed state twice a day instead of constant vibration for 8 hours.
There’s a couple of door sensor hack threads in these forums. Look them up - it’s where I got the idea from.
if you have a power socket close just invest in a battery eliminator cable for the battery type it uses then you don’t have to worry about replacing batteries for it again.
I have one for one of my switchbot bots that I currently have setup to turn on and off my larger dehumidifier in the bathroom.
Depending on its power draw, a better option would be to use an energy monitoring smart plug for the ac unit and eliminate the need to use a battery device like a vibration sensor. With the smart plug, you’d also be able to hone in on different fan modes and/or speeds determined by their power draw giving you more robust options on how the ac unit is operating.
Most energy monitoring smart plugs are rated at 15A for Zigbee and WiFi, but I think Zwave has some 20A ones.