THIRDREALITY Zigbee Water Leak Sensor with Dripping Detection 4 Pack, 120 dB Alarm, App Notifications Enabled When Compatible with Home Assistant and Compatible Zigbee HUB, Batteries Included

My Overall Pick
The Thirdreality sensor case has a distinct form factor, but in a house with a number of other small sensors of various types, that could be a good thing. Good build quality, and reliable operation so far.Stuff I’ve liked:It had the best range for pairing and operating of the ones that I’ve tried. It had a loud, on-board alarm. The version with the drip leak function can optionally detect very small amounts of water, depending upon physical configuration. It has paired easily and worked well with my Hubitat system. It uses common AAA batteries.Possible issues:Where an audible alarm is not wanted, another brand/model sensor would be needed.The case is much thicker than others in its class, and may not fit beneath a refrigerator or other device.The first unit I received used slot-head screws. A very small screwdriver was included in the box, a really thoughtful touch. But, a jeweler’s kit, like many folks use to tighten eyeglass screws, would be much easier. The sensors in a subsequent order had screws that could be worked with either a Phillips or straight-bladed driver.Where a low-profile case, or a sensor with a remote head, is not needed, this is my choice so far for an inexpensive Zigbee unit.Background:Most homes have many potential sources of leaks – water heater, dish washer, clothes washer, refrigerator, bathroom plumbing, etc. – that could cause expensive damage. I decided to buy and try five different, inexpensive, Zigbee leak detectors that might work directly with my Hubitat home automation hub. They were by iAlarm, Neo, Thirdreality, and Treatlife, and a generic “Water Leak Detector Zigbee” was added to the mix. At the time of my purchase (August, 2023), each was slightly less than $20.All worked properly with my system using the Hubitat “Generic Zigbee Moisture Sensor” driver. All but the Thirdreality also worked with the custom “Tuya NEO Coolcam Zigbee Water Leak Sensor” driver, which adds an explicit state indication of online or offline. But, both drivers support current wet/dry status and battery % reporting. A tip would be to install the custom driver first, if desired, then let Hubitat choose it during device pairing. Also, each of these should be paired within a couple of feet of the hub, then moved to the desired location.Some thoughts about the group:Overall build quality of the group seemed quite good, with the exception of the generic “Water Leak Detector Zigbee”, which was only mediocre.The Thirdreality and Treatlife devices have onboard alarms, and could be used as stand-alone detectors, although there appear to be several detectors available that are only stand-alone, and less expensive than the Zigbee devices. The Thirdreality alarm is much louder than the Treatlife’s.The Thirdreality unit had a longer range than the others, both in pairing and in operation. It and the Treatlife both use common AAA batteries, but I haven’t used these sensors long enough to be able to compare battery life.The Neo device was the only one with a “remote” sensor – limited to the length of the attaching cord, but still may be needed functionality. However, the cord actually plugs into the wall mount, not the unit itself, so the mount must be used when remote sensing.

Simple, Reliable, Power Efficient, Wonderfully Sensitive
I purchased these to help monitor locations around the home that could have water leaks, including where the main water line comes into the house, my mechanical room, underneath various sinks and in our laundry room. They work perfectly with my Home Assistant setup. The devices were instantly recognized by my Sonoff Zigbee 3.0 USB Dongle Plus (connected to my Pi5 running Home Assistant) and I could setup everything from there. So far, zero complaints as they work like a charm.The ability to adjust the sensitivity by either adding or removing the arms is a wonderful bonus.For those folks frustrated that the siren/alarm cannot be disabled, I simply opened the devices and carefully de-soldered the leads that went to the alarm. I know this voids my warranty, but I wanted to use these wonderfully reliable and widely compatible sensors, just without a siren/alarm, so that’s a risk I was willing to take. Removal was easy and after the leads were insulated, snap it back together and no more siren/alarm. And, if I do end up wanting the alarm back, all I have to resolder the wires and I’m good to go.Thanks for another great product, ThirdReality!

Work with Home Assistant but incorrect battery status reported on some of them.
These take an extra couple minutes to pair but they work very well. I like that they use AAA batteries and that they have a local alarm.There are two problems with these devices.1) HA sees an extra entity after pairing. In addition to moisture detected, they also show an invalid entity called “Opened”, which never changes state. This is even though these are part of the “Works with Home Assistant” list. This does not affect the use of the device for the intended purpose.2) Three out of twelve sensors report low battery status, even after replacing the batteries twice with fresh new ones. Two read 43% and one reads 63% with brand new and tested batteries. This makes it very hard to rely upon the reported battery status or use it in any automation routines.

Lässt sich zwar mit IOBroker koppeln, aber meldet nicht den Alarm weiter….piept nur…dann brauche ich auch kein ZigBee

Ein Zigbee Wasser-Sensor… Sehr gut daran ist die Tatsache, daß der Sensor mit AAA Batterien gefüttert wird, und nicht mit irgendwelchen exotischen Knopfzellen. Spontanes Anlernen in Home Assistant, via Z2MQTT, keinerlei Probleme. Bisher funktioniert mein Sensor ohne Macken…