D-Link DCH-S161 WiFi Water Sensor and Alarm, Smart App Alerts, Battery Powered Remote Water Leak Detector, 90dB and LED Signal

Easy set up works well and gives an alert to your phone no matter where you are. Great way to catch leaks fast before you have to replace all your drywall.

If I could I would give it negative five stars. Bought in Feb. It lost Wi-Fi connection less than one month since the installation. Not able to reset it. Contacted tech service and provided problem description and contact info. Took more than ten days with multiple chats and emails to proceed to warranty claim. Being told to pay return shipping. I provided requested info and receipt. Another ten days still not receive warranty approval and shipping address. I will never buy any D-Link product. I also bought 2 Honeywell water leak detectors. Both have stable Wi-Fi connection for over 6 months since installation and provide daily temperature and humidity readings. Excellent product.

Installation was easy and internet connection the same. I tested the unit first, by sorting out the internet connection and then lowering the sensor into the water. The alarm went off immediately and I got an email within a couple seconds. To set up for monitoring, I lowered this sensor into my sump, about an inch above the where the float turns on the pump. I fastened the thin sensor cable to the sump lid and called it a day. Yesterday I received an email from DLink's monitoring software that was basically a test notification that the sensor was working fine. If you worry about water levels in your sump, this device works fantastically well for the mony.

I have a sump/pump I need to monitor for high water. I purchased the first-generation D-Link water sensor (DCH-S160) which plugs into a A/C wall outlet. Advantages: it's always online/connected to your WiFi network. Using the first generation Dlink app (myDlink Home – account is free), you could see the sensor was online and the detection status/events. The sensor probe could be extended using a standard telephone (RJ11) extension cable. Downsides: during a power failure, there is no battery backup so no warnings (app or sound)! Additionally, the warning siren is not very loud. Dlink's solution - buy the Dlink Siren (DCH-S220) unit and install it in another part of the house. So, enter the DCH-S161 Battery Powered Wi-Fi Water Sensor. Advantages over the first gen unit. Battery powered and has a loud siren (sounds continuously for the first 1 min, then short bursts every 30 seconds so not to deplete the batteries), Sends both water detected and "dry" events. One serious fault that made the DCH-S161 nearly useless appears to have been corrected with firmware v1.04.01 released 09/19/19. The fault was the sensor would activate the siren when water was initially detected however it would not send an alert to the app. If the sensor no longer detected water, you would receive the “dry” event along with the detected event…this could be hours later and the damage is done. If you were not in earshot of the siren, you would miss the water detection which invalidates the very reason for installing such a sensor! The problem seemed to be related to how the unit wakes up and connects to your WiFi access point (WAP). Since the DCH-S161 runs on two AA batteries, it uses a sleep strategy to conserve the batteries. I can confirm the initial issue (no events being sent) and it appears to be corrected now. Another potential issue is the quality/signal strength of your WiFi network. Depending on the make/model and location of your WAP, the DCH-S161 might have sporadic issues connecting to your network. There is a test button on the DCH-S161 which will wake the unit and display a flashing orange LED while its attempting to connect to your network - if successful, the LED goes green and stays lit for ~ 1 minute and then goes out to show the unit is in sleep mode again. The unit has a self-test function where it wakes up, I believe daily, and connects to the Dlink web site to check for updated firmware. If an update is available, it will be automatically installed (you can configure the time of day for this) via the 2nd generation "myDlink" app. In the past 3 months, I received one event saying the unit was having difficulty connecting. I simply pushed the test button, and all appeared to be fine. If you receive many of these connectivity events, might be time to upgrade your WAP or get a signal repeater/mesh system. When water is detected, you will receive a push notification to your smartphone. It will appear as a banner event and can also be seen from the myDlink app. One really nice feature is the support for IFTTT (if this, than that). Via an additional smartphone app (IFTTT – account is free), you can configure to say send an email or SMS text message if a water detection event is detected. I configured a TXT event as a backup to the myDlink app because SMS texts nearly always arrive, regardless where you are whereas internet connectivity (WiFi or LTE) cannot always be relied on. I have both the old and new model of Dlink water sensors installed for redundancy. Any type of sensor that relies on the internet have the same major downside – should there be an internet network failure (localized or along with a general A/C power failure), you would receive no warnings. One of the reasons I like the old DCH-S160 sensor, via the app, I can check it and see its online which of course means the A/C is online for the pump as well (same outlet). If you have a A/C outage prone area – you could connect your router/WAP/cable modem etc. to a UPS (A/C battery backup) however that does not solve a general wide area A/C outage. If your home network (modem-WAP) can’t connect to your ISP (akk internet), then the water alert won’t reach you. You may want to consider a cellular based water detection system or an internet modem/router/WAP that has a fail-over to cellular data network (LTE) instead. Some routers support the use of a LTE USB modem adapter. Many home alarm systems have cellular connectivity along with water sensors. Update: via improvements to the Android app (assume the same for iOS), you can now see when the S161 does it's nightly check-in. See attached screen shot. I also included a couple of events when the sensor fails its nightly check in. You will receive a banner alert on your smart phone as well as the in the app.

Pros: Well made product, long lead to sensor from device, app makes it easy to setup, Can use IFTT to send text or emails. Cons: instructions are not great, the offline operation makes this a different device and difficult to know if its really working, there is no test button. Can use IFTT to send text or emails, but there are no instructions and if you have multiple sensors the IFTTT apps seem to support only one of the three.