Proteus AQUO - WiFi Water Detector with Buzzer and Email/Text Alerts

Easy setup - no issues whatsoever, including adding additional sensors. Flawless operation. Excellent web-based control center with multiple options for each sensor, including: ability to name each sensor, specify if sensor is normally wet/dry, buzzer settings (continuous or silence after X minutes), advanced mode (for an additional monthly fee which includes Voice Call Notifications, Extended Data logs, Elevated Alarm Notifications, IFTTT, Slack Webhooks, Amazon Alexa Notifications and more), notification settings for emails and mobile numbers, ability to resend alerts every X minutes, notification when alarm has been reset, notification if power goes down for longer than X minutes, and optional email list for power/wifi issues (primary email is default). There are also links to product FAQs, instructions for adding the control center to your phone as an app (Add to Home Screen on iPhone), and the company's contact info. While these sensors are certainly on the pricey side, they provide invaluable peace of mind. Could not be happier with my purchase decision and would highly recommend them to others.

After reading the reviews, I questioned the issue of 2.4MHz and 5 MHz internet bandwidth, as I have “pods” which I am told have makes my internet coverage a “mesh system”, thus it uses both bands. I spoke with a customer tech directly at Proteus (how refreshing to talk with a person!) and was informed that their unit was singularly 2.4MHz. My provider is Comcast (which is a whole story in itself trying to talk to a human) and found the following information: Why do I no longer see the 2.4 and 5 GHz radio band names of my network? Pods require that you only have one WiFi network name and password. Your network still has both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio bands, but now your Gateway will sort out the best connection at any given time for your devices. Keep in mind, you may need to reconnect devices to your WiFi name and password, if they were previously connected to a name designated for a single radio band. I ordered the Proteus AQUO WiFi Water Sensor – PSFD07 – with a 6-foot cord. It was extremely easy to set up, and after a variety of self-test exercises (water detected, unplugged (loss of power), power restored, the text and email notifications worked perfectly! I did make a typo in setting up the optional second field for power notifications but solved that by copying and pasting from the first field (to enable texting and emailing, and all is working just a described by Proteus.

This alarm sensor is great! It saved me thousands when a water heater at my vacation house sprung a big leak. Got there in time to shut the water off and avoid a catastrophe. Works reliably and flawlessly.

Overview: I chose two brands of products, in case one system was down, or my power went out or the battery or something else did not work with one brand. As an example, Honeywell's site went down for about 2 hours (at least) while setting it up. It was quite frustrating to figure out it was down. Luckily they were available via chat on their support website. Below I'll compare the two to each other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Review for the following type of water leak detector: $99 - Proteus - Wifi Water Detector with Buzzer and Email / Text Alerts https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FG9Y2MC Purchased 2 of these It only took me about 2 minutes to set this up. The wifi was easy, the website seems good. The only long term concern is that this depends on a hosted web service for notifications, so that part only works when the site is up. I love that this: 1) Plugs in, so no batteries 2) Has a long cord, so easy to move to where you need the water detected 3) Alerts in seconds - super FAST (and to my cell & email for no added charge) 4) Easy to setup 5) If water is detected, I can remove the cord and the alarm turns off instantly 6) Alarm is loud (very good) CONS: * The water detection is only two little metal tabs which means it is really hard to actually detect water. The Honeywell has a long cord which detects water much more easily. NEUTRAL: * The website to manage the Proteus is decent, but nothing amazing. The Honeywell app is amazing cooler and more functional Comparing the Proteus / Honeywell: * The Proteus web interface is not as good as the Honeywell phone app. Not a big deal since I am not checking all the time, but worth noting. * Proteus is much faster alerting (in seconds vs minutes for Honeywell) IMPORTANT - How I fixed the water detection - IMPORTANT : I highly recommend doing this if you want to detect even a small leak. The Proteus was not triggering water unless it got pretty high (bigger than a small pool). The problem is the water leak detection was not being hit by the detectors. I really need the water detected even if there is a little, since it builds fast. So I put a cloth paper towel (dried baby wipe) around the device and put a rubber band. If water just passes by, it causes the leak detector to trigger VERY quickly (@2 seconds). It is great. I got the idea from reading reviews. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Review for the following type of water leak detector: $60 Honeywell Lyric Wi-Fi Water Leak & Freeze Detector by Honeywell https://www.amazon.com/Lyric-Wi-Fi-Water-Freeze-Detector/dp/B01HBZQYYC Purchased 1 of these PROS: * Detects when temperature / humidity is low / high Neutral: * Depends on Honeywell's site being up * Battery powered that lasts for 1year - 3 years depending on the configuration CONS: * Notification takes much longer than the Proteus * The alert keeps going even after removing the water / attached cord. I had to wait for the alert to trigger / show in the app, then turn it off in the app. Then after about 2-3 minutes of hearing a loud blaring alarm, it turned off. * Wireless Wi-FI setup is extremely picky and may not work. Even if you mess with your router with Honeywell support for hours (1hr with their support, then their services went down so we couldn't troubleshoot further because the service was down anyway). I had a high end Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 / R7000 router with extender and it would NOT connect. It eventually worked with a EERO mesh network though, I was lucky and happened to have just purchased it to replace my Netgear. It worked with my phone tethering. I can not emphasize how frustrating the setup was.

This is the most compact and economical gizmo you'll find to use as an early warning system for leaks or moisture contact. Comes with a 7ft cable attached to a sensor which you plug into the brains of the unit using the 3.5mm phono plug. Easy to install, connect to the internet, and configure to receive alerts. The controller unit detaches from the USB/power adapter plug... so IF you need the sensor to be further away, you can probably use a USB male/female extension cable. Be advised that if you need an extension cable longer than 16ft 5in, you should probably consider using an "active" USB cable to drive the signal. Unpredictable results can occur if you're being unreasonable. Pros: No batteries. Simple, easy, runs off standard power outlet Cons: 1) Needs household power to operate (obviously). 2) Needs residential WiFi to be active (of course). 3) Relays communications through the Proteus cloud server (middleman). If any one of these three things are down, you're blind for the duration. However, you can always connect it to a battery backup unit (UPS) and run for hours if your power source is unreliable. Overall, a good unit and great peace of mind, especially for those unfortunate enough to have a water heater in the attic!

I purchased 4 of these sensors and installed them without much difficulty. However, after two years 2 out of 4 stopped working, meaning they no longer were able to connect to my Wi-Fi network. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get them to connect. All my other Wi-Fi devices have no trouble. I communicated with the developer when the first one crapped out. At first he seemed helpful, but then stopped communicating. I was able to get that one working by taking it apart. That technique did not work for the two that have now stopped working. The website is also antiquated, as is the setup page. I do not recommend these sensors if you anticipate having them functioning for any length of time.

Pros: Installation was quick and easy, especially in the laundry room where cord can lie against the wall and the device is hidden behind the washing machine. Cons: Cord is too short (needed to use an extension cord for kitchen application unless we were willing to drill holes into our oak cabinets or through granite) and is plainly visible snaking up the outside of the kitchen cabinet. We didn't want to screw the device into our hardwood floors, so we had to use double-sided tape to secure it to the floor. Not sure if that will hold in the long term. We had a hose to a refrigerator ice-maker burst in 2015 causing $80,000 in damage to our house and don't want a repeat of that fiasco, so we want a monitor near the refrigerator. Hence the need for two devices. The main problem is the cord. If the device operated on batteries so a cord wasn't necessary, this would be a much better product. I would say it's better for the laundry room than for the kitchen, but if you could plan your kitchen around the device (say during a kitchen remodel), it might work better for you.

I've had one for years, my older one that is about 13 years old kept losing Wi-Fi. So I switched to the newer model, I guess they have a better antenna, I haven't had problem wit this new one losing Wi-Fi. Update after 1 month still no problem.

Super simple to install, easy to set up, works great. That's all that is needed from this kind of product. As mentioned by other reviewers, it's annoying that text messaging in Canada sucks, but that's on mobile monopolists and not on these fine folks who make this product. Keep up the good work! It might be good to develop/add some sort of cloud-to-cloud integration for these alerts into other home automation hubs (ie z-wave or Lutron or smartthings etc)

Installation TRES simple et TRES rapide. Fonctionne bien. Très satisfait de cet achat

This gadget is easy to install and remote notification by text is amazing. I have three of them in different locations/properties. Just last week, I got a notification at 1:30am that my laundry room was sensing water. It turned out a water line to the laundry sink burst. Being able to get to it right away helped control the damage to the laundry room. I have another in a rental property and, last year, got a notification that the hot water tank was leaking. Again -- saved me getting to it fast while the problem was small.

Works great ... as tested the sensors with water and I was notified very quickly. I think the electric connection could be longer to reach a plug without using a extension cord..

amazingly easy setup. You put the app on your phone or tablet, find where you wrote down your wifi password and you're good to go. We haven't had any water at the sensor yet, but I'm thinking it will probably work. We liked it because you can turn the buzzer off, and just go with emails.