Thanks for the info about button cell voltage drops under load.
I have moved that Null-MAC V1 Motion Sensor to my Home Monitoring System that runs on an ESP32. Since I only have 1 Null motion sensor, the software can still uniquely identify it. I also have 2 Null contact sensors that my system treats as the same sensor.
If you have the time (you will need lots of time) and the money to buy the Texas Instruments development board (around $30, if I remember correctly), the ‘wyzeback’ method for restoring firmware works to get everything back to normal, but only if you have saved a copy of the firmware from a sensor before it fails. On each sensor, the MAC address and some other string of bytes is stored - numbers that are unique to each sensor. To connect the sensor using Wyze, the sensor must have both of those unique numbers properly programmed. And the only place to get the second number is to read the sensor firmware (the MAC can be read from the sticker on the back).
A smart idea if you have the time and the Texas Instruments development board would be to read the firmware from every sensor which has not yet failed. Then, if it fails, reprogram that firmware and all will be well again.
Or be sure to replace batteries before they get low. Or just buy more sensors if the old ones die - and be prepared to replace those if they die.
If anyone wants or knows how to unbrick, send me a message. I will mail you my collection of bricked motion and contact sensors. Just pay for shipping. And if can unbrick them, keep them, FREE!
These V1 door sensors are getting expensive. You are lucky to find a Wyze V1 Sensor kit SEALED in the box for under $30 shipped. Sometimes it is cheaper to buy the kit that includes a V2 camera too.
I try to keep up with them, but sometimes I miss the low battery. This year I lost two of the motion V1 sensors because the battery went too low. This is frustrating .
With a raspberry pi and home assistant, you can use tuya compatible sensors with wyze devices. that’s the solution I’ve landed on.
I like the small size of the Wyze V1 sensors. I picked up extras on eBay. But before I tap into those boxes, I wanted to exhaust Wyze I had already been using where I needed small ones. In order to do that, I swapped some Yolink sensors that are 2-3 times larger to places where Wyze V1’s were, but could sub using the Yolink. Yolink has such a long long battery life, they are so very handy. I use Alexa to combine different manufacurers vice using Wyze or Yolink rules.
Oh man, I wish I’d read this before attempting to flash mine using the reddit method. All I did was change the AABBCCDD to my MAC and tried to flash mine, as that’s all his instructions said to do. It got so far, then Flash Programmer 2 reported “FLASH_FAILED”. Power cycling the sensor results in complete DOA, no LED flashing at all. I was able to get into bootloader again, but all subsequent attempts to flash instantly results in “FLASH_FAILED”. This is because I didn’t re-enable the back door by changing those bytes? Is the only way to rescue it is by buying the $30 dev board?
Definitely not worth it if that’s the case.
