Funny you say that. The one binary sensor that was created when this device was first added is gone now.
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Unfortunately OZW 1.4 is kinda outdated by a large margin. Z-Wave has moved on lots, so working with these newer devices with OZW 1.4 is always tedious.
To help identify what “probe” was triggered, you could try to update the memberships of Group 1 with Node “1.1” (note the .1 - it forces the device to send what channel the change occurred on). You may need to use OZWCP or another z-wave tool as I’m not sure HA allows you to set a a group as 1.1
Without that, there is no way for OZW to know what “channel” or “probe” the change occurred on. (hence the note in the manual about “When having a classic Node ID association on this group, the Water Sensor will send the “Water leak detected” notification if any of the probes detect water”
Groups 3 & 4 are almost useless as they use BASIC command class. Group 2 might help to automatically update the config param 88 to HA (but again, not sure if HA can react to configuration params being updated - thats kinda a abuse of the protocol)
Regarding the entities - Its a challenge. Some users only want to see the “basic” functionality of a device, other people want to get all advanced and do fancy things. In OZW, we expose “everything” so the advanced users are happy as well. This does make it a bit confusing to new users.
Regarding some of the entities exposed:
sourceNodeID - You can ignore this. Not used with this device
Alarm Type and Alarm Level - The “contents” of this are vendor defined. So what 0, 254 etc means Aeotec have to tell you… but - These fields are from like version 1 of Z-Wave. Most vendors don’t use them or set them to anything meaningful.
OZW would expose 3 additional “sensors” (Heat Alarm, Home Security, Water Alarm) which correspond to your heat, burglar and flood_*) entities. These are usually “lists” or enumerations, so I’m not sure how HA represents them either…
when I’m “working” with a new device, I always first start playing with it using the ozwcp tool. This allows you to quickly and easily experiment with the device and figure out how it works. Then I use whatever HomeAuto software later to do the actual integration. Maybe that can help you get a grip how its working.
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Thanks Justin. So I think I’m in the area you are referring to.
Is this the area you were referring to in order to set 1.1? If so any help with specifically what I should be doing here?
Also I haven’t had a chance to test if these change individually but assume this is the two sensors?
Yep. That’s the tight place.
So if I put one of the monitors in the water I get
If I stick the other one in the water I get:
If i remove the first one I get
So clearly it’s possible to see each sensor individually but now what?
Also note when I joined the water sensor this time I did a secure connection. Not sure if it’s any different with a water sensor but figured I’d do that to make sure it has full functionality or hear that can sometimes give you more.
Thanks
JR
Well that’s very interesting. So when I added this water sensor as secure, I only get two water sensors. But unlike before, each sensor sits at 254 and individually changes to 2 depending on which is in the water. Wonder if this doesn’t work “right” unless it’s secure which seems odd for reporting as a single entity vs separate.
Still can’t get this thing to make noise and it’s turned on. Probably need to take my second one out of the box and see if it’s the same or something wrong.
EDIT: Also noticed that the burglar and heat sensors are not there either. And the binary_sensor I found in the device list info but says “This entity is not currently available.”
Another update. Well the Aeotec water sensors and hub are in the box ready to ship back to Amazon. Good support but bad product from what I can tell. It seems to work very different if it’s secure vs non secure, and the buzzer was questionable. After a lot of troubleshooting with Aeotec they said to return it and see if another one will work.
But wait, I have another one in the box still. Tried that out and it joined my network but wouldn’t trigger with the water. Unlike the other unit that at least the light flickered when water was detected, this did nothing. And the sensors in HA sat at 254 and did nothing. I dropped the main unit into a pool of water. Nothing. Apparently even though it looks nice, the Aeotec water sensor 6 is not a good product.
That said, and not related because they were both in the basement, however if I have my HA server in the crawlspace (can’t move it. Literally part of a server rack), any ideas how to boost the signal for other things that now won’t maintain a connection due to I’m going to guess the distance? I was thinking of buying an active 30 foot USB cable and run the Z-Stick to the stairwell to upstairs so it’s closer to the first floor. Not sure if that will help or if I need the active USB cable. Note HA is running virtual on a physical server if the USB power factors in.
This is a lot of why I bailed a year ago on automation. Ugh…
Thoughts?
JR
Do you have any mains powered zwave nodes near the stick?
I get signal all over my home even through interior walls and exterior stucco walls with wire mesh to and outside node.
No, the water sensors were my first attempt at something with Z-Wave again. The only device I now have is a Zooz ZEN15 for monitoring my washer and dryer (2 ZEN15s) and they can’t maintain a connection. So they are 12 feet possibly from the corner of the crawlspace to the stairs. Then 15 stairs up. Go basically thru the family room 20 feet and left into the laundry room. Those are guesses. I know when I did this a year ago, even a plug in the wall in the family room would keep loosing connection
For zwave, the more mains powered nodes you have the more stable the network becomes.
You could try extending the USB with a cable. I prefer adding more nodes myself 
I’ve had great luck with the GE Zwave devices.
Taken from wikipedia:
Devices can communicate to one another by using intermediate nodes to actively route around and circumvent household obstacles or radio dead spots that might occur in the multipath environment of a house.[26] A message from node A to node C can be successfully delivered even if the two nodes are not within range, providing that a third node B can communicate with nodes A and C. If the preferred route is unavailable, the message originator will attempt other routes until a path is found to the C node. Therefore, a Z-Wave network can span much farther than the radio range of a single unit; however, with several of these hops a slight delay may be introduced between the control command and the desired result.
Yeah I’m kind of stuck due to my own decisions. I do not want anything noticeable in my house that isn’t necessary, but also do not want at this stage to modify what I’ll call my core infrastructure wiring with new switches and wall plugs that have Z-Wave. Plus I do not have a neutral wire in my walls so this is an entire different venture to take with Z-Wave proving so unreliable for me to date on a number of levels.
I do have a very small light at the top of the stairs to the basement that maybe if I could find the right size could put a Z-Wave bulb there that is a repeater, but guessing the repeater won’t work if the light switch is physically turned off.
Should also note that I’m doing a secure connection to this device. Not sure how far the distance support is between secure and non-secure.
For what it’s worth, I’ve only had 1 Aeotec device work the way i wanted. I pretty much avoid the company if I can. I’ve returned 2 different devices, minimote and wallmote. The devices that have worked for me are the aeotech zstick and the multisensor 6. I’ll never buy another multisensor though because it doesn’t have what I want (wall powered, not a plug in). All in all, I usually go with devices that work well but look like shit. To me Aeotec is fancy looking shit devices.
I’ve had luck with the following brands:
Fibaro. I have about 4 door sensors. All work great
Jasco. I have 35+ switches, dimmers, and fan controls. 2 have failed over the past 3 years. Both failures were caused by power surges. I have 3 door hinge sensors. All work great. They don’t report battery life. But ive been on a single battery on all doors for 3 years now. I have 5 outlets and 1 outlet plug. All work great. Very little setup in home assistant.
FortrezZ. I have the mimolite, use it to open and close my garage door. Works great, only had it for 4 months tho.
Ecolink. I have the tilt sensor. Works great so far. Only had it 4 months though.
I avoid…
Aeotec - See reasons above
Nexia - I bought a doorbell sensor. Thing never worked. Partly because it does not sense voltages under 10v. Needs to be 12v or higher. I don’t know who at the company thought a doorbell solution would be great without supporting below 12v. Poor design decision.
Other than my zstick the only other Aeotec device I have is their HEM (US Version) which sits outside in the Arizona heat 115-122F (46-50C) temps in summer and keeps humming along. After reading about others experiences with Aeotec devices I think these are the only devices I’ll ever have from them in the future.
I have about 10 Jasco devices, 1 dimmer, 1 fan controller, rest are switches and 3 of the plug in type outlet control devices, I plan on getting quite a few more. They seem quite stable and work like a champ.
So I’ve really wanted to get this item… it’s been on my list for years but I don’t trust them. Does it work well?
It works well if you only want to monitor your whole house power usage, I’ve since paired it with an IotaWatt to monitor my PV output and currently the dryer activity (it has it’s own breaker).
Honestly the 1 IotaWatt can cover the HEM’s operation, and if I had to do it over, I’d likely only use the IotaWatt mainly for simplicity.
So those clamps just go around the wire(s) you are trying to monitor?
Correct they are just CT clamps. For my my mains are not wires they are bus bars, little harder to get them on since you can’t turn off that side of the power I installed them myself.
Huh, much easier installation than I thought. I might have to get a few of these. Thanks. That IotaWatt looks much better than the aeotec IMO. Also, I dislike them (as you can see).
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I was looking around for a few things and preferably powered so they can act as a repeater.
- A way to monitor my sump pump so I can tell if my main and backup have failed and it’s nearing the top of the tank.
- General leak detector on the floor near the water heater.
- Leak detector under my kitchen sink. Have to see if I have power under there but that may have to be battery.
- Nice if I could at least have a way to show the temperature in the locations as part of a singular unit.