This post is based on an idea put forward by @Nick4.
Forum members are encouraged to add short hardware reviews of similar hardware items they have used in the format below. (Note that you must have actually tried the hardware as a user - no spam please!)
This thread is for Door/Window contact sensors. Add a new post to review yours. Start a new thread in the same format to review other types of hardware.
Template
Please use this format when adding items to this thread
Brand: Model: Link to exact product: Protocol: HA Integration: In use since: Number of this item in use: Positive: Negative: My rating (1-5, 1 being bad, 5 being super): Comment:
Brand: Philips Hue Model: Link to exact product:Hue Secure contact sensor | Philips Hue UK Protocol: Zigbee/SkyConnect 7.3.1.0 HA Integration: Philips Hue, ZHA In use since: September 2023 Number of this item in use: 2
Positive:
Local
Zigbee
Pairs with ZHA
Included in Philips Hue integration
Well made
Long battery life (2 years claimed)
Negative:
Philips integration requires Hue hub
Hub may require cloud account in future
Larger than expected (7cm long, 2.2cm wide)
Philips Hue app now requires Android 10 or above (IOS 15)
Expensive
My rating (1-5, 1 being bad, 5 being super): 4
Comment:
Size means it may be a struggle to fit on some doors or windows. However, the mounting distance between sensor and magnet is generous at 2cm.
Brand: Shelly Model: Door Window 2 Link to exact product:Shelly Door Window 2 In use since: September 2021 Number of this item in use: 2
Positive:
Local
WiFi
Relitively quick <1 sec.) state change notification
Additional sensors including temp, tilt angle, vibration, and LUX
Negative:
difficult to open the sensor housing to install the batteries
battery contacts were too far apart to make contact with the batteries so I had to bend them using enough force to make me worry that I might break the contacts
The web interface setup required waking the device multiple times to continue and complete the setup
Expensive: sensor = $43 US for 2 pack; batteries (2 CR123A 3V Lithium for each sensor)
My rating (1-5, 1 being bad, 5 being super): 2
Comment:
Actual use was fine but battery drain was bad enough to ensure they would not last the advertised 2 years. A search of this forum and Github confirmed that turning off the majority of the sensors and triggers should conserve battery life.
Then one of the DW2s started to intermittently go “unavailable” around January (5 months after installation). I found and contributed to an existing issue on GitHub (Shelly Door/Windows sensors appear unavailable after some time of idle state · Issue #60123 · home-assistant/core · GitHub ). In summary: batteries lasted ~5 months (with everything set to conserve power), the battery sensor is very inaccurate (ex. 85% battery = 0.0 to ~2.7 V = dead battery), and the “root cause” was attributed to either a network problem or firmware bug (and/or possibly a hardware failure - more on that later). I have a proven solid network and the packet loss was due to dying batteries.
In addition to the batteries lasting only 5-7 months for each DW2, both DW2s have failed and needed to be replaced, firmware updates have failed for unknown reasons, troubleshooting sometimes requires factory resets then suffering through setup again (and sometimes removing then re-adding them to HA).
The most recent firmware updates, as of this post, have installed without issue. Battery life appears to be better.
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