Reliability of Sense Monitor

I’m a relatively new user of Sense. I have had it installed for approximately 2 weeks and have been pleased overall with its performance and detection. In fact it has identified 18 devices so far although I am obviously in the process of confirming what exactly is the Heat3, AC2, etc.

This morning I got a message from Sense that my monitor was off-line. I went through all of the troubleshooting steps recommended by the app and website and was not able to rectify the situation. What is happening is that the “Mains” and “Voltage” in the Signals section of the Settings page both show 0 (zero).

I contacted Sense customer service and after waiting all day and sending a second email from me they replied that their was a problem with my monitor and wanted to initiate an RMA. I told them to go ahead with the RMA since I am (or was!) enjoying the operation and data from the monitor.

My question is have any of you experienced anything similar? I realize that there is the possibility for any electronic device to malfunction but having it do this after only 2 weeks is a bit disconcerting. My other question concerns the warranty period for Sense. I’ve looked at their website and couldn’t find anything definitive. Does anyone exactly how long the warranty is for? Not the “satisfaction return” period - but the warranty period.

Thanks . . .

Having spent a lot of time reading here (including a ton of historical threads) hardware failure of the actual Sense unit is incredibly rare. I think I only came across a single other thread where I read about someone who had an RMA situation.

Sorry to hear that you’ve had an issue, but it’s the exception for sure, not the rule. :wink:

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Thanks @oshawapilot for the reply. That certainly makes me feel better. Any idea about the length of the warranty period?? Also (forgot to ask in my original post) - when the Sense monitor is replaced will I lose all historical data and devices found?

I’m going to put myself out on a limb here and say that HW (hardware) reliability isn’t something you should worry too much about. Why ?

  • The hardware is fairly solid and based on off the shelf chips, as @oshawapilot has noted. I have had mine for 2 years with no HW issues.

  • Sense is incentivized to keep your HW working reliably, because their lifeblood is accurate data. With one early batch Sense monitors there was an issue with possible pin corrosion (that connect CTs to monitor). Sense automatically reached out to me and sent a fix when they detected the issue with my monitor.

I would be more worried about network reliability and power continuity in your household because those are more likely to affect your data collection and analysis going forward.

Sorry about the HW issue.

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That would be for the support people to answer, so be sure to reach out to them when it comes time to actually make the hardware swap.

Perhaps @kevin1 may have some insight on that part since he has (as mentioned) actually done a HW swap.

On the bright side, if you do need a full reset, at least you’re still relatively early in the process, although I totally feel your pain. :wink:

Please update with results on whether your data was lost or not.
I suspect that there is something similar to backups and restore points available to the techs but not to us.
Would be nice to know that we could revert sense back to a specific period of use instead of completely starting over.

For me, the HW fix was soley replacement cables that were magically sent to me when Sense saw some data degradation on their end. No data lost - better quality data when replaced.

My monitor had to be replaced last year due to an issue with locking up in brownout conditions. Unfortunately, there’s no data migration process. If the hardware dies, you’ll be starting from scratch. I think that’s an unfortunate feature to be missing.

Incidentally, the same situation exists with Samsung SmartThings. If your hub dies, there’s no migration path for all of your automation routines, custom devices, custom code, etc., which is a major inconvenience.

My new Sense installation goes on and off line at irregular times.
This is not caused by my WIFI going on and off.
I suggest a notification to users when Sense goes on/off line for some reason.

@grovehaven When my monitor went off-line I did get a notification via text message from Sense.

@samwooly1 I’ll certainly keep everyone updated on how the replacement goes and if my data/devices is lost, although based on @pswired post it looks like I’m going to lose everything.

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@grovehaven
I believe I read the same post from @pswired
And he said detection was better the next time around. If you had 18 in two weeks (I also had that many in that timeframe) then maybe you’ll be setting a record. It sure does seem like those of us getting in now have had faster detection rates than those that have paved the road for us.
At one month I have had 26 with 21 active now.

Different hardware = lost data/start from scratch, guaranteed. Hardware meaning the main brain box.

@samheidie
Is that because each sense box is impossible to manufacture exactly the same? Just like my previously detected water heater that was replaced with the exact same model?

I don’t think that’s the reason. Pretty sure that all Sense’s use the same brains inside, though I’m sure there are minor tweaks to improve reliability over time (i.e. improved cable pins with sealing grease). More likely that Sense hasn’t put the time into the special software functions required to save an account setup on one piece of hardware and restore it on a new piece of hardware. Especially when identifications have been coming faster over time.

I’ve noticed from reading the threads and topics that detections are
much faster for most people now than in the past. I think if I had Sense
for 2 years and had 10 detections then I’d reset and take my chances.
I’m not following about it being much software to be able to image one
Sense onto another. With backup and restore along with things like
disk imaging, it doesn’t seem difficult.
I just read a post where some one had a detected device that started not
reporting correctly. He deleted that device and waited for detection. The
device was detected again and after a couple days, there was months of
history for it. How did the device have months of history? There had to be
DATA stored that Sense associated with it and merged that Data. so
deleting does not completely remove the device. Wouldn’t that be the case
for all devices?

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@samwooly1 You certainly make some good points. Guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens once I receive the new monitor.

@RyanAtSense Can you answer my question about the length of the warranty period for Sense?

Our Warranty can be found on help.sense.com: https://help.sense.com/hc/en-us/articles/211975338-Warranty

Sense guarantees that the hardware will be free from defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 1 year from the date of delivery following the original retail purchase. If the hardware fails to conform to the warranty within the warranty period, Sense will either (a) repair or replace any defective hardware or component; or (b) accept the return of the hardware and refund the money actually paid by the original purchaser for the hardware. For more details about our warranty policy, please consult our Terms and Conditions.

And unfortunately, yes, a new Sense monitor means that you will lose all of your previous data. A data migration process is being explored, but it’s a bit more complicated than it sounds. We do offer Data Export in the web app, so a download of data can be grabbed in many cases.

@samwooly1 you spurred a thought that’s rattling around in my brain now.

I’m thinking snapshot related backup and restores wouldn’t work as it would likely have to be a complete image, start to finish.

I’m sure it’s possible to clone a Sense monitor, but there’s so many variables to making it work that I don’t think it’s something they want to tackle on the big scale.

Depending on how it’s configured and possibly partitioned, it may become a doable scenario but I can guarantee it’s very low on the to do list. Step one is nail device detection otherwise they don’t have users in the first place.

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I think you put that better by saying “cloning”.
But I don’t think it would require a complete history as your thinking. Picture a windows computer starting out at version 8 that gets updated to 8.1 and finally to 10. When I backup making an image, it doesn’t transfer everything from its history, it’s a picture of that exact monomer.
I would think the monitor itself doesn’t save anything as far as detection goes anyway. From what I can tell the monitor measures and relays the information. While it does have some very small storage capacity it appears it’s just for the measurements.
I would agree that it needs to be lower on the list of priorities. From the beginning I have felt that reality comes nowhere close to website presentation of the product. I even put on the wishlist for them to slow down and make the basics work well first. I do t understand the logic in rolling out updates for new features when the very basic things are still so poor. There is about 3 years of topics to show that the complaints then are still going on today.
I read a very long topic yesterday about people being upset and feeling like “Guinea pig”, I ha e felt similar at times.

As promised I’m keeping everyone updated on my faulty monitor switch out.

I received the new monitor today and just finished installing it. As @pswired indicated I did lose all of my data and devices. Since I had only about 2 weeks of data that’s not so bad but I do wish I could have been able to keep the 20 devices the original monitor had found. Cie la vie.

I would like to compliment the support staff at Sense Customer Service especially Kristin. All of my questions were responded to quickly and professionally. Additionally, the new monitor was shipped within 1 day of the problem being reported. It is a pleasure to work with a company that is so responsive to its customers. Well done Sense!

Hopefully I won’t have any additional hardware problems in the future and the devices that the old monitor had found will be rediscovered quickly.

Looking forward to interacting with everyone . . .

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