If I were to attach the Wyze Contact Sensor or the Motion Sensor to a metal door, or metal door frame or other metal component/bracket (i.e., galvanized steel, painted steel, aluminum), what effect would that have on the ability of the Wyze sensors to transmit a signal? And, how far away from a metal obstruction should these two types of sensors be placed to avoid signal interference?
It’s really hard to say. For example, it would depend on whether the bridge was on the same side of the door as the sensor. Would also depend on the volume/extent/density of the metal. That’s why Wyze doesn’t quote a specific range for the sensors.
Perhaps some folks will chime in with info about their specific metal-related installations, but that would only be an approximation for someone else’s situation.
Works okay for me directly mounted on metal freezer doors. I just temporarily mount, then adjust distance to watch the red led flash to indicate “open” or “closed” until it triggers at the distance I’m satisfied with, and verify that the Wyze app reports the open/closed status I expect. For whatever reason, the reliable contact sensor trigger distance is different for my two units that are mounted on two different freezers.
My bridge is on the far opposite side of one freezer mounting position, probably 25-30 feet away on another floor, and no problems with communication to sensor. YMMV depending on anything present that might attenuate whatever radio frequencies the bridge uses.
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I amend my previous statement.
I have been having issues where the freezer door sensor registers “open” but fails to register “closed” even though I can see the contact sensor unit’s red light flash upon close.
I moved the sensors to the other side of the freezer, so the body of the freezer is not in between the sensor and the sensor bridge, and now Wyze sensor bridge is reliably detecting the “close”. I think there must have been a negative effect on the radio frequency transmission due to the freezer metal body being in the way.
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I had a similar problem where a contact sensor registered “Open” even with multiple open/close actions on the door. It would not register as “Closed” or send a notification. I deleted the sensor with the App, then re-installed it and the problem no longer exists.
You can also have problems if you are using a magnet to attach the sensor up to metal because it uses a magnetic relay to detect proximity.
I found that direct contact of either part of the Wyze Contact sensor with metal, especially ferrous-based, can distort or deflect the transmission signal from the sensor. For direct attachment to metallic surfaces, the sensor works better if mounted on a small wood spacer of one quarter inch thickness or greater, or on plexiglass or some other non-magnetic material whose density insulates the magnetic field.
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Just received my starter kit, my cam/bridge is on 2nd floor. I had one contact sensor mounted on front door, no problem with that one. I mounted another one on the metal door on the side of the house on 1st floor, and I cannot get any notifications. I moved my cam/bridge to a closer location temporarily and it is better but not quite consistent/reliable. Sometimes it only sends close notifications and not open notifications…
Is there any way to increase the signal strength? I hope to get sensors for every doors, but looks like range and the materials of the doors would be a problem…
Another way may be to get another cam/bridge set up closer to that sensor… but that adds up to the cost… or maybe Wyze can make a signal repeater.
I ordered an additional bridge. My hope is that assigning certain sensors to Bridge 1 and others to Bridge 2, I can optimize the configuration.
I put 3 layers of this double sided tape on between the magnet and sensor - really only on the senor to bridge the gap. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008RDYG7A/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I painted my sensors black, and then did really crappy attempt at using a sharpie to blend in the tape. I need a finer tip. No idea how long this will last - probably not long, but we will see!
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