Reliable and cheap door/window sensors

Hardware
40

I posted a specific question elsewhere and got this response. Not perfect but a big improvement.

1 Like
41

thank you. did you try it?
edit: didnt read well first time. it still has the same problem. If the door is open during restart HA wont know.

42

Not yet, I am about to!
Yes it still has the problem if the state changes while HA is down but as I read it, it should remember the previous state when it restarts, which is better than always changing to ‘Closed’.

Let’s see if it works…

EDIT: It does but read the whole thread as some small changes were made. Now there is only a problem if the sensor state changes while the 433 Hub or HA is offline, which is a big improvement on them being wrong after every HA restart.

43

Just an update - I have received my first batch of Xiaomi sensors and I ended up using deconz/conbee as the zigbee controller. It so far works flawlessly and a pretty cheap solution :slight_smile:

2 Likes
44

Hi, have you succeded with the flashing?

45

No I couldn’t flash them and gave up in the end. There must be something interfering on the circuit?

They do now work with IFTTT though, although the project is on temporary hold at the moment due to doing other jobs so I haven’t really set anything up yet.

46

Device that has only 1 code, you can add " off_delay: xx " xx = time in seconds to reset payload_on, such as Motion sensor, Carbon Monoxide Sensor, Leak Detection.

  • platform: mqtt
    name: “PIR Motion Sensor”
    state_topic: “tele/RF_Bridge/RESULT”
    value_template: ‘{{value_json.RfReceived.Data}}’
    payload_on: “xxx7742”
    device_class: motion
    off_delay: 5
    retain: false

  • platform: mqtt
    name: “CO Sensor”
    state_topic: “tele/RF_Bridge/RESULT”
    value_template: ‘{{value_json.RfReceived.Data}}’
    payload_on: “xxx16387”
    device_class: smoke
    off_delay: 10
    retain: false

47

Thank you. I tried your suggestion and that doesn’t work. It doesn’t actually turn off the sensor. My understanding of of_delay is that once the device is off it will need to be off for at least 5 seconds (in this case) before it actually reports off, but it doesn’t turn the device off.

now this works without a turn off automation:

- platform: mqtt
  name: "pir8_mastertoilet"
  state_topic: 'tele/sonoff/rfbridge/RESULT' 
  value_template: '{{ value_json["RfReceived"].Data if value_json else "825888OFF" }}' 
  payload_on: "825888"
  payload_off: "825888OFF"
  device_class: motion
  scan_interval: 10
  retain: true

the sensor scans every 10 seconds, if the template doesnt get the on payload it assumes its off.

So easy, not my idea :wink: I got it from an unrelated post.

48

I just received two Neo NAS DS01W door switches- are they useless in a Home Assistant installation?

49

You can use them with IFTTT so not useless.

There is an extra MCU on them that seems to be putting them to sleep if you flash them with another firmware.
So need to work out how it’s doing it or find a way to mod the existing firmware to redirect the MQTT destination to a local one.

50

Thanks. YAML is easy compared to IFTTT, so for me, it’s a no-starter.

51

I’m also interested in use tasmota with those Wi-Fi door sensors. I have some from gocomma brand which are the same as the ones from Neo.
Please share if you find the way :wink:

52

I have a bunch of these Neo/gocomma sensors too. First I’m going to make some current measurements to see how long the battery will really last. If it seems reasonable (at least a year) I’ll have a go at reverse engineering the circuit and try to work out what the extra processor is doing. Don’t hold your breath though. I have a lot of projects on the go at the moment and this low down on the priority list.

53

can anybody send me the original firmware of the door sensor?
i have mine flashed with tasmota and forgot to backup the original firmware

54

Does these cheap gs-wds07 sensors work correctly for You? I have around 15 and around 30% of them are really unreliable. Not always giving the close/open state to the Tasmotized Sonoff RF (I have 2 of these to cover the whole house, so the signal is not an issue) . I am thinking the reed switch is faulty and needs to be replaced. Does anyone have the same issues with these switches?

55

I have 4 of those same GS-WDS07 sensors installed at the moment, with no issues so far. I have one more to install, and was planning to order another 13 more (remaining doors and windows).

Same as you, using them with a Tasmotized Sonoff RF bridge (just one, so one of my sensors is a ways away, but no issues yet).

Be interested in others experiences. I ordered my first batch here, but was looking at some of the cheaper “bulk-order” options for my next lot (probably still on AliExpress).

56

I’ve got a load of these.

I find them pretty reliable except I have a couple that don’t always seem to respond to being closed (only, open seem fine). I am not sure if that is down to poor signal (highly unlikely), some kind of mechanical bounce (it seems to happen most on a door that gets closed pretty hard sometimes), battery power (the worst culprit is the one that gets opened and closed the most) or just plain cheap Chinese technology.

At the price I’d definitely say give them a try but I have built in to my front end an easy way to set their state in cases where I see one saying ‘open’ when it isn’t. I’d say it happens once a week at most. It depends on your use case as to whether you expect 100% accuracy.

57

This issue is discussed here also:

You are not the only one…

58

Yeah, looks like bad reed switch. It works on close, but when I pull off magnet nothing happens. When I tap on the reed switch, LED blinks and it sends open. So it looks like defective lot on these sensors are quite big. Wil try to resolder new reed switches and check if that helps.

But the one which I got outside in a waterproof box, works perfectly for a 1+ year.

59

Bought these reed switches https://www.aliexpress.com/item/10pcs-N-O-Reed-switch-Magnetic-Switch-2-14mm-Normally-Open-Magnetic-Induction-switch/32803902404.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.40e14c4dZrRBtE and replaced with original reed switches. After testing multiple open/close, sensors did not gave any wrong state. So it looks like there is defective batch of these sensors, with reed switches that gets stuck in one position. Lets see will they still work after few weeks :slight_smile: