Should I relace my SONOFF SNZB-04 Door/windows sensor with Aqara Door/windows sensor - its going unavailable

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1

I am using a SONOFF Universal Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus Gateway with Antenna and a SONOFF SNZB-04 Door/windows sensor.

My front door is on the other side of a wall maybe 5 meters away, probably less. the walls are fairly standard thikness, think the house as build in the first half of the 19th century (a terrace in the UK).

When I first got it I set it up and put in in a plastic storage box (a few meters from the Gateway so it was not opening or closing). After a while (1 or 2 days I think) it went unavailable. I am fairly sure I got it out and placed the 2 pices together and it became available again.

I then put it on the front door. I set up a Node-RED flow to t owarn me if door was left open for more than 2 minutes. I tested it and it semed to work. I then left it and forgot about it.

In the early houres of the morining I got woken up my the alert I had set up. I looked and it was unacailable. It was last activated 6 houres ago. Obviously this is far from ideal :). I opened /closed the door and it was available again.

I did some reading up and it may be I got a duff (people who have seceral they find most do not go unavailable but some do, whitch they get replaced) but others seem to think this is a vcmon problem.

What are peoples experience with rgese sensors. I’ve heard good things about the Aqara ones (i.e. 5 years battery like) but gather that they are not zigbee 3. They are zigbe, just not zigbee 3. Will Aqara ones work well with my SONOFF Gateway? Should I switch?

I heard good thinks about the Lidl ones but they are not in my local store.

2

I have the Sonoff Zigbee dongle-P with 10 Aqara contact sensors using Z2M.

Some of those sensors are in my attic - as far away from my dongle as you can get. I’ve had them for a number of years now and they have never gone offline.

3

I have had this happen a couple times with different sensors throughout the house… any time the sensor is “Closed” for 6 hours (95% of the time it’s just under 6h 3m) it goes “unavailable” until the next time the door is opened.

Every time it was the battery slowly dying.

4

Mine says battery 100%, is the batery entity unreliable?

5

The battery sensors are unpredictable… I have some that work great, some that always report the same value (100%, 60%, 30%…) from the minute I put in a fresh battery to the minute they die.

6

I believe you can ‘force’ a temperature update with a quick tap of the button on the sensor.

I read somewhere that you should change batteries that show less than 50% on Aqara devices.

7

You mean the first time theu go unavailable