Fibaro FGFS-101 ZW5 notification behavior

I have a Fibaro FGFS-101 ZW5 (Gen5) flood (water) and temp sensor (connected to a VeraPlus.) It’s been installed for years in my basement. I test the water sensor portion by touching a wet cloth to the contacts, receive the notifications as I have configured for the device, dry the contacts, and all is well. The sensor is (was) held to the wall with double-sided tape. The tape let loose today and the contacts touched the floor and there was enough continuity for the sensor to trip. I then received hundreds of notifications (obviously a loop) while I figured out the problem. (At first I thought the issue was with the VeraPlus.)

I reviewed the device configuration and there’s no option for notifications per set amount of time. For example, a frequency of one notification per two hours.

Were the hundreds of notifications the correct operation for the sensor and VeraPlus? If yes, is there a method to control the number of notifications. Otherwise the sensor is worthless as it flooded (pun not intended) my e-mail and text messenger.

Hello @FiveNines ,

Likely the sensor sent multiple notifications cause it was detecting the leak intermittently.
You can set the general notifications lmit under Users & Account Info>Notification limits

Regards.

The resolution you state applies to notifications in general, and not specific devices and notifications. I have door sensors (Ecolink DWZWAVE2.5-ECO) that are operating correctly, therefore, this issue is with the specific installed instance of the Fibaro FGFS-101. Your proposed resolution has no value to the problem.

After extensive testing, I determined the problem is hardware caused. I powered the sensor with an AC adapter and battery. When powered by both (battery is backup to the AC), the sensor would “short cycle” – trip, not tripped – every ~second when the electrode wires were shorted. Thus I was receiving tons of notifications within a few minutes. I could see the short-cycle by watching the device’s icon turn red, then not, and by watching the Tripped field (1 then 0) in the Variables page. When running on battery alone, the sensor works as it should – icon stays red and the Tripped field stays at 1 – until the shorting is removed. The AC-to-DC adapter is within specs for the sensor. I am unsure the reason, but I have other sensors operating on CR123 batteries lasting years, so the AC is not needed.

Prior to finding the real issue, I implemented a couple of novel software solutions using scenes, virtual switches, and LUA code. But as I was testing, the short cycle would only occur when I tested with a damp paper towel. When I tested by placing the electrodes in a small container of water, the sensor operated properly. My conclusion there is an electrical resistance problem when operating on AC.