Long-distance sensors for temp/humidity and water leaks

[J2W2]

Hi,

Full disclosure: I am in no way affiliated with this company, and I get nothing whatsoever from this post. Other than, perhaps, a selfish desire to keep them in business, as losing them would be a big blow to my home automation!

I have been interested in home automation for longer than I care to remember. A couple of my pet peeves with that are compatibility, reliability and integration. Last year I was looking for a more reliable motion sensor, when I came across a company called YoLink on Amazon. They tout themselves as having the world's longest range products at a 1/4 mile, while also claiming to have very long battery life. They had a two-pack of motion sensors and their hub (required for most, if not all of their products) for $46. I figured I couldn't go too wrong giving them a try at that price.

Long story short, I now own 23 different YoLink sensors, plugs and controllers. I have no way to test their 1/4 mile range, but everything I own shows a strong signal and all of the batteries still show a full charge. I have not had a single connectivity issue with their products.

Two of the products I wanted to mention are their temperature/humidity sensor and their water leak detector. My keezer has an air infiltration issue that I've never been able to solve, and eventually collects water in the bottom, even though I use a number of Damp Rid containers. I've put two of their water leak detectors in the keezer to alert me if water starts collecting. I'm also using one of their temperature/humidity sensors to monitor the keezer temperature and watch the humidity. The app lets you set temperature/humidity ranges to trigger notifications; the leak detector has similar features.

Their products are integrated with Alexa and IFTTT. They are available individually or sometimes in sets. You can get a hub and four leak detectors for $58.99 right now with an Amazon coupon. The hub goes for $22 by itself, leak detectors are $17, and the temperature/humidity sensor is $22 with an Amazon coupon. I really like the fact that I get notices, and can check on them from anywhere on my phone, since they are tied in to my home network.

I'll get off my soap box now - I just wanted to share my experience with these products in case you are in the market.

Happy Brewing!

 

[IslandLizard]

Thank you!
Your post is nicely timed as I'm more seriously looking into water leak sensors for our lower level and possibly other areas.

A few years ago our fridge's 4mm plastic water supply line sprung a pinhole leak, out of nowhere. It's amazing how much water can come from a mere pinhole, alas under (an estimates) 40-some psi!
Glad I was home, sitting in my office in the lower level, when I heard water trickling down. Due to the early catch, there was no serious damage, just a nuisance of mopping and drying off a few shelves with some storage boxes on it.

We also have a lower level bathroom...

 

[day_trippr]

Does the Yolink system require a subscription to access the hub outside one's LAN?

Cheers!

 

[J2W2]

Does the Yolink system require a subscription to access the hub outside one's LAN?

Cheers!

No, there is no subscription fee. You just need to install their free app and then add your hub. Once that's setup, you can start adding sensors, controls, etc. All of their products have a unique QR code on them. When the app is installed, you just click the icon to add a device and scan the QR code with your phone.

 

[J2W2]

Here's a screen shot of the app and some of my devices. The Smart IR Remote is the only one I've been disappointed with - it's very rudimentary for a "smart" remote.

 

[day_trippr]

For the price - and not needing a subscription for WAN-side access to its hub - I find this pretty attractive for keeping an eye on a second home, at least.
Thanks for starting the thread!

Cheers!

 

[cbier60]

I assume your keezer has a collar that is not shielded (with metal). I have a freezer used for storage or fermentation, but it has metal everywhere except at the gasket. I'm wondering if the link between the sensor and hub would be reliable.

 

[eric19312]

Well timed post. Because of the Wink debacle I am in market for replacing that hub and figuring out what to do. I've got half a dozen z wave sensors I've been running on the wink but have not been happy with the battery life. I'm really interested in the 5 year battery claim on those sensors and think that might be my better option vs trying to get a different z-wave hub going.

 

[J2W2]

I assume your keezer has a collar that is not shielded (with metal). I have a freezer used for storage or fermentation, but it has metal everywhere except at the gasket. I'm wondering if the link between the sensor and hub would be reliable.

Correct - it has 3/4" wood on the inside and outside of the collar, with foam insulation in between, and 1/4" oak plywood covering everything. However, I built my keezer with a false bottom, so that everything is level with the top of the compressor hump. It's made out of 1/4" aluminum plating (a friend that worked for the railroad made it for me). I have the two water detectors in the very bottom of the keezer, so they are pretty much surrounded by metal.

I have my hub plugged into a router, used as a Wi-Fi extender, that sits above our kitchen cabinets. My keezer is in the basement, so the signal is going through a cabinet, a couple of walls, a floor, and the keezer. Both water detectors show a signal intensity of Good (-95 dBm). The temperature/humidity sensor sits on a keg, near the top and not fully surrounded by metal. It shows a signal intensity of Strong (-71 dBm). So the full metal surround does weaken the signal, but it's still good.

 

[J2W2]

Well timed post. Because of the Wink debacle I am in market for replacing that hub and figuring out what to do. I've got half a dozen z wave sensors I've been running on the wink but have not been happy with the battery life. I'm really interested in the 5 year battery claim on those sensors and think that might be my better option vs trying to get a different z-wave hub going.

Everything uses AA's or AAA's, so nothing weird for batteries. I've only been using the products since last August, so I can't comment on the 5-year claim, but all my sensors show full battery indicators. If that is accurate they have not drained hardly at all. And that includes the motion sensors I have outside in 5 degree weather. The motion sensors are listed for indoor use, but I have one under our covered porch, one protected by our deck and one in the eaves by our back garage door and they have been working fine. Last year YoLink said they plan to launch an outdoor motion sensor 2Q this year, so I'm waiting to see what those are like. I'm hoping they include a light sensor for turning on lights only when it's dark out; right now I'm using IFTTT to accomplish that.

 

[eric19312]

I ordered the 4 pack of leak sensors, one motion detector and one temp/humidity detector to start. I'm thinking to put the motion detector in my mail box my wife loves her mail, I'll get Alexa to tell her it's here...

 

[J2W2]

I ordered the 4 pack of leak sensors, one motion detector and one temp/humidity detector to start. I'm thinking to put the motion detector in my mail box my wife loves her mail, I'll get Alexa to tell her it's here...

You'll have to let me know how the motion sensor works in your mail box. We have cluster-boxes in our neighbor hood with twelve small (4" x 4"?) boxes all grouped together. The sensors aren't large per se, but I don't trust the mailman not to knock it off or something. I don't know if you're familiar with Wyze products, but they have a super tiny set of contact and motion sensors that connect through a small device that plugs into their cameras. I tried one of their motion sensors in our box, but I kept getting false triggers. Not sure if it was temperature fluctuations since they sit in the sun or what, but I gave up on it.

 

[eric19312]

My YoLinks came in this week and I've got to hand it to @J2W2 these units seem really really nice and great value. I've previously set up a bunch of different wifi, z-wave and zigbee home automation sensors, plugs and switches and these were by far the easiest out of the box to up and running set up experience I've seen.

For the mailbox unit I have a rural mailbox so I used the magnet to stick the sensor to the rear inside wall of the mailbox. Seems to work just fine and well protected from the weather. So far no false alarms from vibrations or anything like that.

I had no issue getting the skill for Alexa up and running and she is happy to let us know when the mail is delivered. I also taught Alexa to turn off the AC using my Honeywell thermostat if the sensor on the AC condensate pump detects a leak.

 

[J2W2]

I'm glad you're happy with them. I've also used a lot of different home automation products and YoLink is the only company I've seen that seems to have done everything right.

I may try a YoLink motion sensor in our mailbox sometime. Unfortunately, in cluster boxes like ours, the entire back swings open for the postal carrier to load the mail, and they are small enough the mail sometimes gets jammed in, so my only choice would be to install it on the front door of our box. The boxes are aluminum as well, so I'd need to use Velcro or perhaps the metal mounting plate they come with.

Any idea what range you're getting on the mailbox? Getting a signal from in there may answer some of cbier60's concerns on a metal enclosure causing signal issues.

 

[eric19312]

Not all that far. Probably 25 yards from the hub that that would be through two interior walls and an exterior wall before getting to the mailbox. Signal strength says good(-111 dBm)

 

[n8s]

Very happy to find this discussion, as I too am a recent adopter of YoLink products. I installed the hub onto my Eero Mesh 6 main unit and got a gate sensor for the yard gate which cannot be seen from inside the house, to be sure the gate is closed before each time we let the dog out; and now I have added their garage door sensor which contains a tilt sensor to let me know whether the garage door is open or closed. I like their software and had no trouble getting Alexa to answer my question as to whether the garage door is closed or open, but I haven't yet figured out to get the "notice" feature working automatically whenever the garage door is open for a set period of time, let's say 30 min. I see the software includes a notice feature by text message or email but I can't seem to figure out how to implement it. Any suggestion as to how to set up the notice would be very much appreciated. I set it but it doesn't seem to stick or perform. Has anyone else run into this problem and overcome it?
If I knew how the notice would come to me and the name of the sender, I could have Alexa do a watch and notify routine to give a notice like e.g. "The garage door is still open."

 

[J2W2]

Hi n8s,

I'm glad you like the YoLink products, I really do think they're very solid.

I have two of their garage door controllers, which include the garage door sensors. In my YoLink app, I see my two garage doors, and can open and close them on the main screen. If I open the detail for a door (3 dots in the upper right), I see a number of choices, including 'Alert', which I don't use, and 'Open Remind', which I do use. You set it to a number of minutes, and the app will put a notice on your phone that the door has been open past the limit. I haven't tripped it in a while, so I can't remember if I also get texts or emails, but the app notice is enough for me. I'm not sure if the section for just the garage door sensor looks the same or not.

You should also be able to create an Alexa routine that checks the status of the garage door sensor at a specific time. If it's open, you can have Alexa announce a message on one or all of your Echos.

Out of curiosity, are you actually a home brewer, or did you just happen to come across this post? YoLink just recently got more active with their user community. Here are some links they sent me. They're just getting started, but it should be a good resource for all things YoLink.

POWER USER GROUP: Join the YoLink - Power User Group Discussion Discord Server!
INTEGRATION/API: Join the YoLink - Integration Discussion Discord Server!
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Join the YoLink - General Discussion Discord Server!
FACEBOOK: Log into Facebook

 

[day_trippr]

They need an API to make this really succeed. Constraining the monitoring side to their cell phone app is ok for most perhaps but suboptimal for some...

Cheers!

 

[n8s]

Hi n8s,

I'm glad you like the YoLink products, I really do think they're very solid.

I have two of their garage door controllers, which include the garage door sensors. In my YoLink app, I see my two garage doors, and can open and close them on the main screen. If I open the detail for a door (3 dots in the upper right), I see a number of choices, including 'Alert', which I don't use, and 'Open Remind', which I do use. You set it to a number of minutes, and the app will put a notice on your phone that the door has been open past the limit. I haven't tripped it in a while, so I can't remember if I also get texts or emails, but the app notice is enough for me. I'm not sure if the section for just the garage door sensor looks the same or not.

You should also be able to create an Alexa routine that checks the status of the garage door sensor at a specific time. If it's open, you can have Alexa announce a message on one or all of your Echos.

Out of curiosity, are you actually a home brewer, or did you just happen to come across this post? YoLink just recently got more active with their user community. Here are some links they sent me. They're just getting started, but it should be a good resource for all things YoLink.

POWER USER GROUP: Join the YoLink - Power User Group Discussion Discord Server!
INTEGRATION/API: Join the YoLink - Integration Discussion Discord Server!
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Join the YoLink - General Discussion Discord Server!
FACEBOOK: Log into Facebook

Haha, I'm busted! Yes I found the link from DuckDuckGo and joined assuming this was a home automation group. The "HomeBrew" name didn't set off any alarm bells for me because I remember that as being part of the name of one of the very early computer groups from the '80s, and once I got here I have found the YoLink discussion so good I would really like to stay. I hope I won't get kicked out - if it is of any help I think my son-in-law is sort of into homebrewing. Maybe I could promise to pass on a homebrewing tip or two I read here or get him interested in joining.

I am glad to see that you have been able to implement "Open Remind" with your combination of the Garage Door Sensor and the Garage Door Controllers. I wondered if that is why I am not getting any notices on my phone, because on my Garage Door Sensor page in the YoLink app, there is a message in yellow across the bottom of the screen that says: "To gain full access, please bind your sensor with a controller." I thought that meant to bind the sensor to the hub and was puzzled because I did bind the sensor to the YoLink Hub before I stuck it up high on the garage door and it works perfectly to report the open/close status to Alexa. I wasn't planning on getting the garage door controller. If I could get the YoLink software to send notices to my phone or email, I think there is a way to get Alexa to monitor the sender (maybe with IFTTT) to trigger a verbal announcement from Alexa like "The Garage Door is Still Open."

 

[eric-at-yosmart.com]

They need an API to make this really succeed. Constraining the monitoring side to their cell phone app is ok for most perhaps but suboptimal for some...

Cheers!

YoLink has an API, and is coming out with a SDK and developer board

 

[eric-at-yosmart.com]

Eric with YoLink here. I'd like to become a sponsor but am a little confused on how best to do that. I stumbled upon this site, researching applications for our new WP temperature sensor with probe. I believe we have many other products well-suited to this application, and if there is some feature or capability that that can make our products more useful, we're keen to hear about it - before I worked here, I was a customer that make a couple suggestions to customer service!


I would like to explore applications for these particular products:

indoor temperature & humidity sensor with display
indoor/outdoor temperature & humidity sensor, no display
indoor/outdoor temperature sensor with probe
a waterproof leak sensor with electrodes on top & bottom
a leak sensor with water-sensing cable
leak sensor with probe cable (electrode just at cable end)
this sensor can also detect lack of water, and can be used to check water level going down or up, it can also work with a float switch
wireless valve controller
smart relay
several smart plug/outlet options
dry-contact input sensor
a 4-button/8-function smart fob (Alexa, Google, IFTTT+ YoLink control)
they all work with Alexa and IFTTT, some with Google Assistant
LoRa low-power/long range good for 1/4 mile open air and battery life generally 2-5+ years on 2-4 AA batteries
We have an API and are coming out with an SDK and developer board for the coding and customizing types
we are coming out with a Hub that has a speaker can play tones, system messages, and custom messages
in addition to being able to send you a phone notification, email or (limited) texts, we offer automated calls, as well as full-blown central station monitoring, which includes such offerings as verified-received SMS, automated calls and live calls from a dispatcher. Over the top perhaps, but I know many of you have a big investment in this that's worth protecting.

I'm probably over the top with this post. I don't mean to solicit here against the rules but I would like to make myself available to anyone that has questions.

 

[IslandLizard]

Eric with YoLink here. I'd like to become a sponsor but am a little confused on how best to do that.

Thank you, very appreciated!

I've started a convo with you for the details.