I bought some Third Reality contact sensors and motion sensors. Added them to Homey, no problem and they worked as intended … for about a day. Now they no longer report their status back to Homey.
They still show as connected but no updates. I tried repairing them and sometimes they’ll work again for a short time, but fail again after that.
Is this a problem anyone else has come across with these sensors. Anything that can be done to get them to report correctly?
Sensors that stop responding after some time is starting to become a common issue with Homey. There are many reports of it here on the forum.
Maybe they’re out of range? How far is the nearest router (mains powered) device from the sensor? How many routers and end devices do you have connected to Homey?
Don’t think it’s a range issue. The motion sensor is in the hallway outside the room where I have my Homey. Also, other zigbee sensors (like the aeotec ones) work fine.
This is the first time I used Third Reality devices, so wasn’t sure if this was an issue with that brand or an issue with Homey. So far, I have no problem with my other devices.
@robertklep Are those issues with zigbee in particular, or could it be any type of sensor
It’s likely not an issue with the brand itself. I use ThirdReality smart plugs with a ThirdReality hub (integrated in Homey via Google Home and virtual devices) and I don’t have an issue there. I’ve never used them directly to Homey.
What information is shown here? Is there a “Route” column (only on Homey Pro 2016-2019)?
No Route column (I have the Mini).
Out of curiosity, why not connect your plugs directly to Homey? Is there any benefit in doing it your way? I can see how this works for plugs, but don’t think it would be a solution for sensors.
Yes, you can get firmware updates (OTA) only by using their hub. Unfortunately, Third Reality sensors are AFAIK not supported in Google Home (it depends on if the ThirdReality cloud service exposes the sensors to Google Home, I don’t think it does but I don’t have any myself to test) so you can’t add them to Homey using this method.
I can test it for you as well if you’re interested (I am able to create clones of the actual thirdreality devices with my ESP32C6)
But the newer Homeys have some extra details, right? Last seen date is AFAIK only on the newer models, but I’m not sure since I only own a Pro 2019.
Good point about the firmware updates; those slipped my mind for a sec. (even though it’s why I got their hub as well; I got the Gen2 Plus).
I tested it with one of the motion sensors using the hub and it shows up in Google Home. However, it doesn’t update it’s status immediatly, and I can see no way to get it to talk to Homey.
This is my first Homey, so not sure what extra details it has compared to earlier models. Last Seen is one of the columns though. It shows “1 day ago” now
I have the same model. Also Gen2 plus
It can indeed take a while for the change to reflect in Homey. The status update needs to go from your ISP to AWS in US where the ThirdReality cloud is located. Then it’s sent to Google after the ThirdReality cloud has processed it. Then, Google will update the status and run the automation (which may take a while because Google likely has millions of automations running at all times). Then the Turn On command for the virtual device is sent to the Athom cloud in Ireland, sends the command to your Homey (which is on another network so that also takes time) and then the update finally reaches Homey . You see, this can take quite some time for a command to get sent. My smart plug takes about 10 seconds from sending the command in the mobile app to the plug being turned on. I can live with that, since it’s only to turn on/off a phone charger when I’m away from home. But for motion sensors, this is ofcourse not an ideal solution.
I had similar issues and had posted this in another thread… High level.. ThirdReality zigbee devices were all going offline and getting errors. I changed my Orbi Wifi Mesh 2.5Ghz to channel 1… rebooted the Orbi and the Homey… that fixed it… (so far).. good luck!
Useful zigbee (tuning) info (as zigbee is only plug & play when you’re very lucky):
Unfortunately, I have a Google Nest mesh which doesn’t let me change the channels.
I have put the ThirdReality sensors aside for now; maybe some future updates will fix these issues but I’ll stick with the ones I have from other brands that have been working great so far.
I’ll check the ThirdReality ones on occasion to see if anything changes.
