Repository navigation
I am very proud of this release. Its eighteen pre-releases since 0.26.8 were about finding and fixing the small bugs and the incorrectly worded reports, and about settling how the dashboard looks in Simple and in Advanced. Device Sentinel is very close to a 1.0 release. If it runs on hardware I can't test, such as Tuya, SmartThings or Alarm.com devices, your diagnostics are the way that hardware gets support: open an issue and attach them.
Integration Status
| Area | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard | Working | Everything Device Sentinel knows, one click apart, with each device's own page. Simple shows what is broken and what to do about it; Advanced adds the trends, charts and setup. Administrators only. |
| Freeze Detection | Stable | Catches frozen, unavailable and flapping devices, each on its own rhythm. Devices with four or more weeks of history get a steadier rhythm that a few bad days can't stretch. An ESPHome device is judged by its connection. Freeze and unavailable mute apart. |
| Battery | Stable | Warns on low batteries and on batteries falling or speeding up, with the time left to your threshold as a range drawn from each cell's own history. Records the day a battery was replaced and asks you to confirm it. |
| Signal | Experimental | Weak links shown on the dashboard; stuck readings alert. |
| Storage | Hardened | Survives power cuts and restores itself from a backup. Long histories live in a file of their own. |
| Zigbee2MQTT | Working | A bridge outage is one alert, and your re-pairs are never mistaken for faults. |
| MQTT | Working | A broker outage is one alert, not one per device. |
| ZHA | Working | A coordinator outage is one alert, and your re-pairs are recognized. |
| WiFi | Working | A Wi-Fi outage is one alert. Needs a wireless adapter on your server or a supported router. |
| Z-Wave | Working | A node Z-Wave JS reports dead makes its device unavailable, and an integration outage is one alert. |
| Matter | Working | A device that loses power is reported unavailable within minutes. A light, plug or button that reports only when used is judged by being available, so it is not reported frozen because it is quiet. |
| Lutron Caséta | Experimental | Devices are judged by their hub: a hub that goes down is one alert. |
The Dashboard
Simple shows only what is neccesary to act on. Advanced adds the trends, the charts and the setup details, such as area, battery level, firmware and fourteen days of outages.
Correct device details on the dashboard. A type, an area or a battery nobody has set reads "Not Set" and is a link that sets it in place. The Recommendations cards set each device's area, name and type on their own rows. Press a type or an area to filter to those devices.
One press to exclude or mute an integration. The Integrations tab has Exclude and Mute buttons for each integration, with Device Sentinel's advice given under the integration's name.
More accurate and descriptive titles and row descriptors in the device table. Device information is categorized under descriptive titles such as Power, Signal, Reporting and Actions. Row descriptors are also more descriptive of what the device information beside it contains.
More information in the status bar. It is green while the device reports on its rhythm, yellow once it is late but not yet frozen, and red when frozen. An unavailable device is gray and states the time it became unavailable.
Fewer False Alarms
Down times are truer. A device that comes back is reported down from its last report. Before, a window sensor out for 66 minutes was announced back "after 8 minutes".
Re-pairing one device restarts only that device. On Zigbee2MQTT and on ZHA, a device that came back on its own during a pairing window does not lose its learned rhythm.
Matter lights, plugs, switches and buttons are not judged for freeze when it has no reporting rhythm. A Matter button, that has no rhythm and only reports when used, and that nobody has pressed is no longer reported frozen.
Quieter phones: BUGFIX. A Problem List item that has been acknowleded stays silent, and a device back for less than a minute is considered noise and not reported. A frozen or unavailable device stays on the Problem List after Home Assistant restarts.
Batteries
More accurate falling battery forecast. Battery Trends gives the time left to your low threshold as a range, such as "about 4 to 5 weeks", and a battery falling fast goes on the Problem List regardless of charge or whethere it is within your chosen "Days Till Low Warning" timeframe.
One notice when a battery crosses your threshold. It counts as recovered only above the threshold plus 3 and its next timeframe will be 'till empty'.
Device Sentinel is now recording battery voltage. A Recommendations card lists battery devices whose voltage sensors are switched off, with a button to enable them.
Outages
An outage reports when it began (BUGFIX), across a Home Assistant restart.
An integration outage covers only that integration's devices. BUGFIX A Wi-Fi outage ends when the network comes back, a quick MQTT broker restart is reported with how long it lasted, and a Lutron hub is called down only after two readings.
A Zigbee2MQTT pairing window shows the times Zigbee2MQTT gave it. BUGFIX Before, the Daily Brief could date a window up to a minute late.
The Daily Brief
Separate failures get separate sentences. BUGFIX Two devices that stopped on their own are no longer grouped because both came back during the same pairing window or restart. A device that went during an outage is still counted with the outage, even when it was listed minutes later.
Integrations are named as Home Assistant names them. The brief reads "A Zigbee2MQTT pairing window opened" and "Matter acknowledged at 9:30 AM". A recovery on the next day names both days.
The Rulebook
The rules Device Sentinel follows are now in the repository. Code comments and docstrings refrence these rules, so when you review the code, you can refrence the rules document.
Known Limits
If Home Assistant starts while a Zigbee2MQTT pairing window is open, Device Sentinel will not be able to see who joined in that window. For that window, a device that was frozen or unavailable and comes back during it restarts its 42-day count.
A device that stops reporting shortly before Home Assistant restarts can be called frozen up to one freeze window late. This applies only to devices without a Last Seen sensor that are not on ZHA. No alert is missed, and nothing wrong is learned.
Upgrading
Update and restart. Your learned rhythms, battery history, and signal history are safe. The Recommendations tab may offer to exclude Alexa Media Player or Google Cast; nothing is excluded until you press Exclude.
Thanks to Tim Plas for the reviews and the files behind this release.
Co-authored with Tim Plas (@tplas)
