I have a couple of chainlink fences I’d like to add Z-Wave binary sensors to.
Previously I used the Honeywell gate sensors. They worked okay, but they are Honeywell’s proprietary protocol, and won’t work, to my knowledge with HA.
I tried just using a simple “In-Door” Z-Wave Binary sensor in a waterproof project box, but I found that the tolerances were too tight, and the small amount of play in the gate was enough to give almost constant false alarms.
Does anybody have an outdoor Z-Wave sensor for gates they can recommend?
Correct. I have two models of Z-Wave “indoor” sensor, and they both gave false alarms (the fact that I mounted them inside of project boxes probably didn’t help) since they seem to register open at about .75-1" between the sensor and the magnet.
I use an old Monoprice (Vision) door sensor that has contacts for a magnetic reed sensor. I’ve put that in a project box outside coupled with an external sensor that supports an extra wide gap, works great. Doubt you can still purchase that device, but look for something with the extra sensor contacts. The Aeotec Door Sensor 7 Pro seems to, there might be others. There’s also the Ring Outdoor Contact Sensor, which allows up to 1" of distance, which may work depending on the actual distance you’ve got.
Haven’t had any false positives. You can also open it up and there is a spot where you can wire your own wires if you don’t want to use the magnetic reed option