@Wayne-TP1. Create an automation with repeat notifications and hub alarms.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, Wayne, much appreciated!

 

Sorry for what may look like pontification below, but I really need to get this across:

 

I realize the sensor has a continuous alarm, but depending on the state of the battery it's questionable how long it will last.  Sounding the alarm drains the battery much faster than in surveillance mode. If the battery is near its end of life it may die within a few hours or minutes.

 

All my (now) 3 sensors are on the floor under various sinks and inside cabinets on different floors from where people live. Even though the sensor's alarm is rated 90dB, it comes from a tiny speaker and from within a enclosure. This cannot solely relied on as the primary alarm for something as serious as a water leak in a, say, multi-storey wooden building.

 

"Water leaks" are in different category from: "I like my lights on when I arrive at home". I would rate water leaks almost as serious as fire alarms (which leads me to the question why TP hasn't ventured into smoke alarms yet? Hint, hint 😉).

 

If TP is taking water leaks seriously, some improvements would be great. And they are all software-based, the hardware is working flawlessly, totally adequate, in my view. 

 

Back to T300, I'd much rather use the "smartness" of the Tapo system to supplement the sensor's battery limitations and its "alarm" capacity. I.e. I prefer the sensor to be on low volume, or even mute, to preserve the battery to provide just surveillance for as long as possible, and have the Tapo system pick up a robust warning regime (permanent Hub alarm, on mains supply, and notifications on a mobile with plenty of battery reserves).

 

I managed to implement the suggested Automation, streamlined the repetition by using a Shortcut for notification & ringing to reduce the number of instructions. In the absence of repeat features I tried recursion (i.e. calling a shortcut from itself) but the smart "Tapo universe" prevents this (which is good and bad - in my case).

 

I'm a developer, but new to home-automation. Repeating instructions to achieve repetition seems, well, "pedestrian" at best, but an outright inefficient and error-prone workaround really. It's also limited, i.e. I can only do X many repetitions rather than "indefinitely", and I can't do copy & paste to ease implementing this for multiple sensors. 

 

I totally get it: advanced programming complexities are far beyond consumer apps and gadgets. But I think a "developer mode" and/or a scripting language/editor would be a great enhancement and a bonus for the usefulness of Tapo products, especially if clever developer solutions could ultimately be turned into "Recommended Automation" buttons in the evolving future.

 

One simple enhancement would be to allow indefinite alarm time for the hub alarm. It could come with a hint on how to turn it off in case it goes awry. Another feature of repeating instructions, plus cut & paste would be great, too.

 

Finally, the suggested automation works (thanks for setting me off onto that path, Wayne), but I had to turn the cancelled automation "ON" again to keep the sensor alive after triggering the alarm. So the automation sequence now looks like:

 

Name: "Water Leak Alarm and Notification"

 

[When] T300 water leak detected

 

[Then] 

1: Call Shortcut "Start Hub Alarm and Send Leak Notification" (shortcut will start a 10 min alarm and issue a notification)

 

2: Delay for 10 minutes+

 

<Repeat.... Up to 64 actions can be added in one automation.>

 

3: Create an automation to stop the above notification when water leak issue is resolved. 

 

E.g.

 

[When] T300 water leak is solved

 

[Then]

- Disable Automation "Water Leak Alarm and Notification"

- Make Hub Alarm go silent

- Re-enable Automation "Water Leak Alarm and Notification"

 

Hope that takes us forward... 

 

M