Industrial IoT Wireless Water Detect Sensor

01Overview

The NCD Industrial IoT Wireless Water Detect Sensor is a battery-powered wireless transmitter built for early detection of water and conductive-liquid leaks — server rooms, mechanical rooms, drip pans, basements, pump bases, and anywhere unwanted water needs to be caught fast. A detection probe senses the presence or absence of liquid across its contacts and the sensor reports that state as a digital wet / dry value. Reports go over a long-range wireless mesh network to an Atrium IIoT Gateway both on a user-defined interval and immediately whenever a channel changes state, so a leak is reported the moment it happens rather than on the next scheduled report.

The same board is sold in two configurations — a single-channel model and a two-channel model — and each channel accepts either probe style. The sensor ships with one of three wireless communication modules; choose the frequency band that matches your gateway and region. The sensor core, firmware, and Atrium integration are identical across all three. The 900 MHz and 868 MHz options run on NCD’s sub-GHz wireless mesh network, which cuts through industrial noise and interference for secure, long-range communication.

Model Comparison

Probe Options

What’s in the Box

• Industrial IoT Wireless Water Detect Sensor — puck or rope, 1- or 2-channel (PR63-22A / 22B / 22C / 22D)
• One water detection probe per channel — puck or water rope per your selection (each on a connecting cable)
• Wireless communication module per your selection (900 MHz, 868 MHz, or 2.4 GHz) with antenna
• D-cell (LR20) lithium battery with integrated supercapacitor (power switch ships in the OFF position)

02Specifications

Full technical specifications for the Water Detect Sensor. Values are drawn from the product datasheet; where the 1- and 2-channel models differ, both are noted.

03Prerequisites

Before installing this sensor, make sure you have the following in place.

Hardware Required

• NCD Atrium IIoT Gateway — powered on and connected to your local network
• Water Detect Sensor (this unit) with a probe connected to each channel you intend to use
• The external power supply — only if you ordered the external-power option (the sensor ships with its battery installed)

Software / Network

• A current version of Atrium running on your gateway
• A computer or mobile device on the same local network as the gateway
• A modern web browser (Chrome recommended)

04Mounting & Installation

Detection quality depends almost entirely on probe placement. Mount the enclosure somewhere accessible and dry, and route each probe to the point where water will collect first. The electronics stay sealed in the enclosure; only the probe and its cable reach the wet area.

Powering On

The sensor ships with its battery already installed and the power switch in the Off position — there is no battery to insert.

1. 1
   Open the enclosure

   Remove the screws securing the enclosure lid and lift the cover to reach the 3-position power switch (and the external-power connector, if you are powering the unit externally).
2. 2
   Set the power switch

   The 3-position switch ships in the Off position. Set it to Battery to run on the installed battery, or to External if you are using an external supply (connect the supply to the power connector first).
3. 3
   Confirm power

   Activate the magnetic CFG switch with a magnet, or press and hold the CFG button on the PCB — the TEST LED illuminates while active, confirming the unit is powered. If it does not light, re-check the switch position and, for external power, the supply connection.
4. 4
   Close and seal the enclosure

   Replace the lid and tighten all screws evenly to maintain the IP65 seal.

Connecting and Placing the Probes

Probes connect to the sensor through an 8-pin M12 connector. Each channel is a two-wire contact pair: a closed (wet) pair reports that channel as detected. The 1-channel models (PR63-22A/C) use pins 5 & 6 only; the 2-channel models (PR63-22B/D) add pins 7 & 8 for the second channel.

Pins 5 & 6 map to ch1_water_detect and pins 7 & 8 to ch2_water_detect in Atrium. The probe leads are non-polarized — the red and black wires can land on either pin of the channel pair (the same applies to the water rope’s leader connection). Confirm the pin assignment against your unit before wiring a custom probe cable.

• Connect each probe to its channel. On a 2-channel unit, the first probe connects to channel 1 (M12 pins 5 & 6) and the second to channel 2 (M12 pins 7 & 8) — reported as ch1_water_detect and ch2_water_detect in Atrium. Route each probe cable out through the cable gland.
• Puck probe — place at the low point. Lay the puck flat at the lowest point where liquid will pool first: a drip pan, floor drain, or the base of a pump, tank, or valve, with its labeled side up so all four stainless-steel contacts on the underside sit against the surface. Water bridging any two of the four contacts reads as wet.
• Water rope probe — run the perimeter. The rope is 2 m total: a 1 m active sensing section plus a 1 m non-sensing leader wire that runs back to the sensor. Connect the sensing rope’s black wires to the leader wire, then route the sensing section along the area you want to protect — around the base of equipment, along a wall, or beside a pipe run. It detects water contacting the rope anywhere along its 1 m sensing length. Keep the rope flat on the surface so it makes contact with pooling water.

Mounting the Puck Probe

Lay the puck flat, labeled side up, so all four stainless-steel contacts sit against the surface being monitored at the lowest point where water collects. Water bridging any two of the four contacts triggers detection, so mounting it flat (not on edge) lets even a thin, spreading film of water reach the contacts.

Mounting the Enclosure

• Threaded mount: use the 1/4 NPT or 1/4″–28 UNF fitting to mount the enclosure to a compatible bracket or conduit fixture.
• Magnet mount: attach the optional magnetic mounting hardware to any flat ferrous surface — ideal for equipment frames, panels, and skids.

05Pairing with Atrium

Once powered on, the sensor transmits over its long-range wireless mesh and the gateway begins hearing it. New sensors are held pending (blacklisted) until you whitelist them through the Sensor Details wizard — data is not logged until a sensor is whitelisted. The wizard walks you through naming and whitelisting each detected sensor. No radio pairing or pre-registration is required.

1. 1
   Power on the sensor

   Set the power switch to Battery (or External) and close the lid. Within one transmission interval, the gateway will begin receiving its reports. You can force an immediate transmission by briefly bridging a probe’s contacts (or wetting the rope) to trigger a wet/dry change.
2. 2
   Open Atrium and go to Sensors

   Navigate to your gateway’s local address (e.g. http://ncd-[last-4-of-MAC].local) and click Sensors in the top navigation. A banner shows “X sensors need setup” with detected sensors grouped by type. Your unit appears under the Water Detect sensor type.
3. 3
   Open the Sensor Details wizard

   Click the sensor in the banner (or in the Sensors table) to open the Sensor Details wizard. New sensors start pending (blacklisted) — completing the wizard whitelists the sensor so Atrium begins logging its data.
4. 4
   Enter details and save

   Give the sensor a Sensor Name, Asset, and Location (see Section 6). Use Save to whitelist and finish, Save & Next to move to the next pending sensor, or Skip to leave a sensor pending for now.
5. 5
   Confirm it is reporting

   The whitelisted sensor now appears in the Sensors table with a recent Last Heard timestamp. Open its Dashboard to confirm the live wet/dry state for each channel.

06Sensor Meta

The Sensor Meta tab controls how Atrium identifies and tracks this sensor. Access it via Sensors → [your sensor] → Configure → Sensor Meta.

07Metric Configuration

The Metrics tab lets you configure conversion formulas, units, custom labels, and dashboard visibility for each data channel. Access it via Configure → Metrics. This sensor reports a small, discrete set of metrics — the wet/dry state of each channel plus power and packet metadata.

Custom Conversion Formulas

Each metric supports a custom conversion formula using value as the variable name. Leave the formula as value or blank to display raw data. The water inputs are discrete states, so most deployments leave them unconverted; a formula is only useful if you want to rescale the 1/0 for a particular gauge style. Examples:

value                  // Pass the raw 1/0 water state through unchanged
value * 100            // Scale 0/1 to 0/100 for a percentage-style gauge

Custom Labels & Visibility

Each metric can be assigned a Custom Label that replaces the default metric name throughout Atrium. Unchecking Visible on Dashboard hides that metric’s card and chart without deleting data — useful for hiding the channel-2 metrics on a 2-channel unit when you are only using one probe, or hiding the raw-value channels to keep the dashboard to just the wet/dry states.

08Hardware Settings

Hardware settings control the sensor’s on-board configuration — scheduled transmission interval, network addressing, and node identity. Changes are staged in Atrium and pushed to the sensor on its next check-in. Access via Configure → Sensor Configuration.

Adjusting the Transmission Interval

1. 1
   Go to Sensor Configuration

   Navigate to Sensors → [your sensor] → Configure → Sensor Configuration.
2. 2
   Update the Delay value

   Enter your desired scheduled-report interval in seconds. Because a leak is reported immediately regardless of this setting, a longer Delay is usually fine for water monitoring and greatly extends battery life.
3. 3
   Click Save Hardware Settings

   The new value is staged and pushed to the sensor on its next check-in (shown as Pending until confirmed).
4. 4
   Update the Report Interval in Sensor Meta

   Update the Report Interval on the Sensor Meta tab to match your new Delay so offline detection stays accurate.

Battery Life

The sensor delivers up to 5 years of battery life. Actual life depends on your configuration — the scheduled transmission interval (Delay), how often leaks occur, environment, and temperature all affect it. A longer Delay greatly extends battery life, and because leaks are reported immediately regardless of the Delay, a long interval is usually fine for water monitoring. To estimate battery life for your exact settings, use NCD’s battery life calculator. For continuous operation, run the sensor on the external power supply option.

09Temperature Units

Atrium provides a global Temperature Display Unit setting in Gateway Settings that controls how temperature readings appear across the entire interface. This sensor does not report a temperature metric — it reports digital wet/dry states — so this setting has no effect on its dashboard. It is documented here for completeness, as it applies to any temperature-reporting sensors sharing the same gateway.

1. 1
   Open Gateway Settings

   Click Settings in the top navigation to open Gateway Configuration.
2. 2
   Select Temperature Display Unit

   Under Temperature Display Unit, toggle between °C and °F. This applies immediately to all temperature readings across Atrium — it does not change anything on this water detect sensor’s dashboard.
3. 3
   Save Configuration

   Click Save Configuration at the bottom of the page to apply the change.

10Sensor Dashboard

The Sensor Dashboard provides a real-time and historical view of all data from this sensor. Access it by clicking the sensor in the Sensors list and selecting Dashboard.

Live Metrics

Time Range & Charts

Use the time range selector to view historical data for the last hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. A custom date/time range is also available. Each channel’s Water Detect metric plots as a step chart — flat at 0 (dry) with a step up to 1 for the duration of each detected event — making it easy to see exactly when water was present and when it cleared. The Raw Value chart shows the underlying conductivity reading. Drag to zoom into a time window, double-click to reset.

Mesh Route Map

Click View Map in the Mesh Route Map panel to visualize how this sensor’s data routes through the wireless mesh to reach the gateway. Useful for diagnosing signal path issues in multi-sensor deployments.

Interactive Preview

The panel below simulates the Atrium Sensor Dashboard for this Water Detect sensor (2-channel shown). Data updates every 5 seconds to demonstrate the live monitoring experience.

11Setting Alerts

Atrium uses a Triggers & Actions model for alerting. A Trigger defines the threshold condition on a metric. An Action defines what happens when all assigned triggers fire. Navigate to Alerts in the top navigation (the page is titled Alerts & Actions) to configure. For a water detect sensor, the essential alert is simply “notify me when a channel goes wet.”

Creating a Trigger

1. 1
   Go to Alerts → Triggers

   Click + New Trigger to open the Create Trigger form.
2. 2
   Configure the trigger

   Select the Device, the Metric (ch1_water_detect or ch2_water_detect), Condition Above, and Threshold 0 — so the trigger fires as soon as the channel reports 1 (wet). The Reset At column sets the value the metric must return to before the trigger can fire again; set it to 0 so the alert re-arms once the channel is dry. Click Create Trigger.

Creating an Action

1. 1
   Go to Alerts → Actions

   Click + New Action. Actions link one or more triggers to a response — when all assigned triggers fire, the action executes.
2. 2
   Assign triggers and configure the response

   Select the trigger(s) to watch and configure the response. Atrium supports email notifications and relay output actions (to drive an external relay — for example, sound a local alarm or close a solenoid valve on a leak). Email must be configured in Settings → Gateway Configuration for email actions to work.

12Exporting Data

All sensor data can be exported to CSV directly from the Sensor Dashboard for use in spreadsheets, reporting tools, or maintenance records.

1. 1
   Open the Sensor Dashboard

   Navigate to the sensor and click Dashboard.
2. 2
   Select a time range

   Choose the time range you want to export using the selector at the top of the dashboard.
3. 3
   Click “CSV” on the desired metric

   Each metric chart has a CSV download button. Click it to download a timestamped CSV of that channel’s wet/dry history for the selected time range — useful for documenting when and how long water was present.

13Product Notes

Reference information for ordering and accessories.

Buy Now — Puck Variant →

Buy Now — Rope Variant →

14Troubleshooting

Common issues and their solutions.

Sensor not appearing in Atrium

• Confirm the sensor is powered — activate the magnetic CFG switch with a magnet (or press and hold the CFG button) and check that the TEST LED illuminates.
• Verify the sensor’s wireless frequency (900/868 MHz or 2.4 GHz) matches the gateway’s radio.
• Verify the sensor’s Network ID matches the gateway’s Network ID.
• Move the sensor closer to the gateway to rule out range issues — test within 10 feet first.
• Trigger a transmission by briefly bridging a probe’s contacts (or wetting the rope) so the sensor reports right away instead of waiting for the next scheduled interval.
• Check that the Atrium gateway is powered on and connected to your network.

Sensor showing as Offline in Atrium

• Verify the Report Interval in Sensor Meta matches the sensor’s scheduled transmission interval (Delay) in Hardware Settings. Remember that wet/dry event transmissions do not count toward offline detection — base Report Interval on the scheduled Delay.
• Check the battery_pct on the last received reading — replace the battery if low.
• Check the RSSI value — remember higher numbers mean a weaker signal. Readings consistently above 75 dBm indicate marginal signal; reposition the sensor or gateway, or add a repeater node.

A channel reads wet (or dry) when it shouldn’t

• Stuck reading wet: check for residual water, condensation, or conductive residue bridging the probe contacts. Dry and clean the probe; mineral scale or an oil film can hold a false wet reading or, conversely, insulate the contacts.
• Never reads wet during a known leak: confirm the probe is flat on the surface at the true low point (puck) or that the rope actually contacts the pooling water along its run. Verify the probe is connected to the expected channel terminal.
• Wrong channel: on a 2-channel unit, confirm which probe is on channel 1 (ch1_water_detect) vs channel 2 (ch2_water_detect) and that the Custom Labels match the physical placement.

Hardware settings not updating on sensor

• Settings are staged and applied on the sensor’s next check-in — wait up to one transmission interval (Delay) after saving; the change shows as Pending until then.
• To apply changes immediately, wake the sensor with the magnetic RESET switch (or the PCB RESET button), or by triggering a wet/dry change on a probe.
• Confirm the sensor is actively transmitting by checking the Last Heard timestamp on the dashboard.

15Factory Reset

A factory reset restores the sensor’s wireless module to default settings — useful if the sensor is not being detected by a gateway, or if you are redeploying it to a new network. The unit has both external magnetic RESET/CFG switches (operated with a magnet, no disassembly) and physical RESET/CFG buttons on the PCB. Either method works; the magnetic switches are quicker since they need no tools. In both cases, holding CFG for more than about 15 seconds after a RESET triggers the factory reset — a shorter hold may only enter configuration mode.

Option A — Magnetic Switches (no disassembly)

1. 1
   Trigger the RESET switch

   Hold a magnet near the magnetic RESET switch, then move it away.
2. 2
   Wait ~1 second

   Allow approximately 1 second before proceeding.
3. 3
   Hold the CFG switch for ~15–20 seconds

   Hold the magnet near the magnetic CFG switch for at least ~15 seconds (a shorter hold does not fully reset), then move it away. This restores factory defaults.
4. 4
   Wait 3–5 seconds

   Allow 3–5 seconds for the reset to complete.
5. 5
   Trigger RESET again

   Hold the magnet near the RESET switch once more, then move it away. This returns the sensor to normal Run Mode. Re-pair it in Atrium (Section 5) and confirm the Network ID matches your gateway.

Option B — Physical Buttons (open enclosure)

1. 1
   Open the enclosure

   Remove the lid screws and lift the cover to expose the PCB RESET and CFG buttons.
2. 2
   Press and release RESET

   Press and release the RESET button on the PCB.
3. 3
   Hold CFG for ~15 seconds

   Within about 1 second of the reset, press and hold the CFG button for approximately 15 seconds, then release. This restores factory defaults.
4. 4
   Wait 3–5 seconds

   Allow 3–5 seconds for the reset to complete.
5. 5
   Press RESET, close, and re-pair

   Press and release RESET once more to return to normal operation, re-seal the enclosure, then re-pair the sensor in Atrium (Section 5). Confirm the Network ID matches your gateway.