I just installed one of these sensors in my network. I may be away for some time so I’d like to maximize bettery life. The installation guide addresses this below, but I have no clue how to accomplish what they’re talking about with my Vera 3. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.
Please follow the guidelines to maximize your unit?
s battery life
:
Program the unit into your home automation network
according to instructions provided by your specific
controller/gateway. Note:
Every z-wave controller has its own default ?wake-u
p? cycle that it will automatically apply to the WW
A-01 once installed into your
network, typically 4 hours. FortrezZ recommends ?w
ake-up? cycle time to be increased to no less than
12 hours. Remember, that
this ?wake-up? notification cycle time does not aff
ect the unit?s measurement settings for water leak
detection. If a water leak is
detected by the WWA-01, it will send an alarm notif
ication within seconds to the controller/gateway. I
n your controller interface,
manually set the ?wake up? interval in your device?
s settings to 12 hours or more according to your pr
eference. You may need to
consult your controller/gateway manufacturer with q
uestions you may have.
I have one of these and I see in the device’s settings, on the Settings tab, a field called “Wakeup interval (seconds)” which for me is set to 14400. This is four hours. I am now changing it to 36000, which is ten hours. It now reports “Waiting for wakeup to configure device,” which will theoretically occur within the next four hours.
I bought my WWA-02 last August, and the battery that shipped with it was dead by March/April. I tested with my multimeter and the battery was almost completely flat, and no longer worked. I was able to get a couple more at a Batteries Plus store, but they’re not cheap!
I have two of these and the batteries last about a year for me (I do a leak test a couple times a year) with the default settings (wakeup: 14400).
My first unit actually shipped with a nearly dead battery, and that alarmed me. But since replacing the original battery, length has been good.
I have looked at replacement batteries from a local store and they were very pricey (Radio Shack ~$20 per battery). I ended up buying mine through Amazon. You can get a pack of 4 for ~$12.00.
OK, thanks for the info. For the record, mine came with two “super heavy duty” AA batteries, which are junk. Once I’ve finsihed testing it, I will replace them with some Everyready lithium batteries. They are expensive, but I’ve gotten great run times on other devices with those - much better than any alkalines. I have a remote weather sensor that went nearly two years on those.
Well that must explain the full name of the device I got - it’s a “WWA02AA”. The “AA” must refer to the battery type. I’ve seen those “half AA” batteries and they are indeed hard to find and very expensive. I’ll bet Fortrezz took some heat from customers if that’s what they were using and they “improved” the device to use regular AA’s.
So does that work for you? I changed that field to 36000 and did a Save, but when I come back again the next day to look at it, it’s back to 14400 again. This happens with both of my sensors. How do I get this to stick?
Well I didn’t look at it again until now, prompted by your post, and mine is also back to 14400. So I don’t know how to make it stick. I’m setting it to 32000 now in hopes that the change will stick this time. The device on the dashboard now has an annotation below it: “Waiting for wakeup to configure device.”
I would also be very interested to know how to make the change permanent!
You might be on to something. Depending on the size of the integer they’re using, there might be a limit at 32,768. I just changed mine to 32,000. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
I’m not sure why this thing was every made with lithium non-rechargables. Those batteries offer no advantage in low power devices, AFAIK. Several versions of this unit are still sold. The AA version is the one to buy.
Be sure to not set the unit directly on concrete. I set mine on folded paper towel.
I’m curious what you find with maximum wakeup interval. The manufacturer does respond to email questions.
Yup - looks like I spoke too soon. Mine’s back to 14400 too. This is starting to get annoying. Guess I now have to see if I can figure out how to get in touch with Fortrezz. Bummer
[quote=“Michele, post:15, topic:175753”]Huh? I don’t get it - what’s special about 32400 and how does that relate to 4 minutes?
I’ve sent an email to Fortrezz (support@fortrezz.com) about this. We’ll see what they have to say about it.[/quote]
I’m just saying for example the Aeon 4 in 1 sensors wakeup has a minimum of 4 minutes and then the next setting possible would be 8 minutes and then 12 minutes and so on. So the wakeup setting needs to be divisible by 240 seconds.
I’m now trying to add one of these sensors to my other Vera - this one a Vera 2 running UI4. When I pressed the Program button, it included it but only as a “_generic IO” device. How do I get this to include properly in UI4?
Well I got a reply from Fortrezz telling me I needed to upgrade my firmware. But going to Advanced → Firmware, it said " You are running the latest version: 1.1.1350 ." So I opened a ticket with MCV and they told me (I think) that I need to upgrade to UI5. I’m still waiting for some clarification from them on exactly how to do this.
No, they don’t! I wonder if this means the latest UI5 as well, since I’m running 1.5.408 still, and my wakeup interval is still reverting to 14400. I might have to dive into the latest firmware version and cross my fingers.
Well as of right now, I have not received any reply from the person at MCV I was referred to by Fortrezz concerning the 14400 problem.
As far as the sensor installation problem in UI4, the reply I got seems to imply that I need to upgrade to UI5 to get it to install correctly. I’m trying to figure out how to do that now.
I wonder if this means the latest UI5 as well, since I’m running 1.5.408 still, and my wakeup interval is still reverting to 14400. I might have to dive into the latest firmware version and cross my fingers.