Z-Wave Glass Break Sensors

BraveSirRobbin

Moderator
Has anyone had any luck with a Z-Wave Glass Break Sensor?  The one from Go Control didn't get good reviews.
 
I'm thinking of just getting a conventional one and using a zwave door sensor that has the capability of using external sensors (use this now for washer monitor), but I would like something battery powered so it's a bit more WAF pleasing.
 
 
 
I have been looking at Z-Wave sensors of various sorts and the first question I ask myself is "Why would I not use a sensor on my Elk M1 instead?" I just don't think Z-Wave is the right protocol for for most sensor applications unless you are only using the sensor to control another Z-Wave device like a motion sensor controlling a light. Water, window, glass break, smoke, CO, all seem better suited to an Elk M1 whether it be wired or wireless.
 
Of course some folks don't have an Elk panel and aren't going to use enough sensors to justifiy the initial investment. Just doing a reality check for anybody that does though to suggest Z-Wave shouldn't be your first choice for everything.
 
Here do not mix Z Wave wireless / battery sensors with 120VAC powered switches.  That is me.
 
I have tested Zigbee, X10 Wireless, Wifi sensors to do OK with this stuff.
 
Currently testing wired OmniPro to garage sensors and button and a DIY'd Tasmota Basic modded device side by side.
 
The Tasmota device has two hardwired door sensors, temperature sensor and button and it works as fast as the wired sensors to the GDO.

BUT you have to trust it that sunspot, microwave, rfnoise activity will not take down your wireless network.
 
The old X10 wireless stuff batteries last forever as I have a few of these in place today.  When testing the Zigbee wireless stuff the batteries lasted less than one year.
 
For hard security I still like wires best.  That is me as the trending these days is all wireless.
 
 
I have various Z-Wave devices; one motion detector, two multi-sensor (motion, temp, lux, etc.), three water/temp sensors one wireless sensor used on a dog door (might as well as be a Dutch door though) and plenty of light and outlet modules.
 
For starters, I have found that the GE/Honeywell branded Z-wave products from Jasco don't hold up.  The first switch died at 22 months (they have a two year warranty) and now I've had two more failures just past 24 months.  I never had the first one replaced as I figured I didn't one any more.  Reading the reviews, others have had failures as well.  So as they die, I just use a different brand.  People past the 24 month warranty, Jasco is not doing a single thing for.  There is obviously a design flaw in the product.
 
One of the three water/temp sensors just decided to quit reporting.  I have two on the same USB power adapter, so when one stopped and the other still reports, I figured something was up with the module.  I check the first one and it was happy, the other had the rainbow LED ring which means it is not associated with a controller and that it was successfully removed.  It had ran fine for years and yesterday afternoon ( no power outages and is fed by the same USB power adapter) it just stopped reporting.  So while I can see the rainbow led, I have to crawl through a small area to actually get to it.  So a real PITA to get one whereas the other one is easily accessible.  Go figure.  Oh, I left the battery in the water sensors as a battery backup.  So even if the powered failed, it still had a battery.  So there really isn't a reason why it just dropped off.
 
This does have me thinking that I could just do a wired water sensor to the alarm panel and call it a day.  I can have my HA system do the same action(s) as it does with the Z-Wave sensor.  So in this case, not a good fit for Z-Wave since I have to go get the water sensor, remove it, bring it to the computer and re-associate it with the controller, then go put it back.
 
While my Z-Wave system has had great uptime, I would not trust it to handle alarm scenarios.  There is a lot more that can go wrong software wise with a Z-Wave controller/hub than an alarm panel.
 
So I included that temp/water sensor back into the Z-Wave controller yesterday and it dropped off again.  So the device itself is faulty and it is about 1 to 1.5 years old.
 
This one was used to monitor the drip pan under a HVAC unit.  The drip pan has a water float switch that will turn the HVAC unit off.  I used this as a preventative measure to know that the pan had water in it before the float switch would even get activated.
 
I definitely would not trust Z-Wave in a security setup.  Some of the Z-Wave devices also have terrible battery life.  I have a Z-Wave window/door sensor on a dog door and the battery needs to be recharged quite often.  It was charged around 1/1/2020 so here we are two months later it is at 39%.  The previous firmware that was on it was not accurate at all.  It would sit at 100% until it would just drop to 8%.
 
My Z-Wave has a plugin that is used to monitor Z-Wave systems and after an hour of no response it send me an alert.  A lot of the Z-Wave systems don't have this capability, so if a device (especially battery) drops off, it doesn't know.
 
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