Favorite Motion Sensor?

There's a new improved version of the Trädfri Signal Repeater.

Not sure if it is available in North America yet, but they should be soon.

P.S. I used to have 6 of their plugs. Three have failed in 2.5 years - but of course, ymmv.

Well, different anyhow. Kind of prefer the USB only power option of the old one.

Mine (8) are all still going strong.
About 2 years now so might be bad times in my near future.
:wink:

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Nah. Two of mine failed within a year. The third one failed about a year ago. All three failed the same way (overheating, and then they stop responding).

My other three have been fine. My guess is yours will be too.

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I have a variety of zigbee motion sensors ranging from older Smartthings motion sensors to Hue motion sensors to the inexpensive Third Reality motion sensors, which seem to work fine, but I have not had them long enough to ascertain long-term reliability.

A strong ZigBee mesh requires good repeaters. If you are in North America with 110-120 V outlets, there are quite a few inexpensive ZigBee plugs that serve as excellent repeaters. The most recent ones I added were Third Reality plugs that I got 4 for $31. I do have some sensors using them as repeaters. These are 15 amp devices.

https://www.amazon.com/THIRDREALITY-Zigbee-Smart-Plug/dp/B09KNHWF7L/

The CMARS plugs are based on eWelink technology, but also work well. However, they are only 10 amp.

https://www.amazon.com/CMARS-Compatible-SmartThings-Extender-Required/dp/B08K45W4LR/

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Reviving this since it seems my favorite Hue motion sensors don't appear to work (natively at least) with C8 & I'll be returning a couple of them ... what's the current best (responsiveness, battery life) non-Hue motion sensor?

My favorite traditional continue to be the (now Aeotec branded/sold) SmartThings motion sensors. The CR2 lasts for quite a while. I have one in my pantry, one of the first installed about 4 years ago, and I've changed the battery once.

I know many really like the ThirdReality ones and, given that they take AAA batteries, would probably last longer. I can't comment on the responsiveness though.

My favorite overall are the Aqara FP1s. They make rule writing dead simple as you can simply say 'active=light (or whatever else) on' and 'inactive=off' without worrying about timeouts and whatnot.

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FWIW, I have a couple indoor Hue motion sensors working great on the C8 -- both are SML003 models, but I was using a SML001 model for a while too on the C8 and it was also fine.

I had an outdoor SML002 working well for a bit too, but I ended up removing that one (and the indoor 001) for other reasons.

I was fortunate to not have any Hue motion sensor issues with my C8, but others did -- I think the recent updates have fixed that for many folks. There are still bugs to smash in the C8's overall zigbee performance, but it seems like the Hue-related bugs are getting pretty well vanquished these days...

They are excellent motion sensors -- I'd stick with them if you have the patience.

I have 5 Hue motion sensors running on my C8. Four of them are the older Gen 1 model and one is the Gen 2. All are working normally. I did have them already installed on my C7 and migrated them successfully to the C8.

I do not have any idea how the might pair with the C8 if I added a new one.

I have lots of Zigbee 3.0 certified smart plugs around my home. All the smart plugs are connected directly to the C8 and the motion sensors are connected through repeaters. If I try to pair a new devide, I place it next to one of my repeaters rather than next to the hub. That seems to work well for me. They are all using the Hue Motion Sensor driver, not the generic Zigbee driver.

Since the Hue motion sensors are Zigbee 3.0 and the C8 has a Zigbee 3.0 radio, they should work.

I have two Hue motion sensors that work fine and were migrated from C7 to C8 without issue... purchased two new Hues (Costco) and they refuse to work after pairing to the C8. Tried multiple ways to pair... near hub, near a zigbee outlet (far from hub) but nothing works. They pair ok initially but then immediately stop reporting motion

I understand, I know some folks had issues with the Gen 2 devices even on the C7. Somehow, I managed to escape the aggravation.

My most recent motion sensor purchases have been Third Reality. They are not as bulky and work with less drama.

Fortunately, Costco has a great return policy.

Amen to that!

I haven't had your problem with mine but, any chance there is an outstanding firmware update from Philips for your sensors?
My routine for updating Hue devices is to use my Hue Hub/Bridge but it's also possible to update Hue devices using your Hubitat hub.

I've clicked on the update firmware button in Hubitat but I'm not sure it does anything

Check your device page, Device Details should show you the firmware version:

Hue Motion


image

If it's not current (6BB7) then have a look here:

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All I have is this:

Using a lot of different motion sensors in my house.
So far the new favorite are the Aqara FP1
or
The GE Jasco motion switches have 1 or 2 of those in every room.

Overall finding the best results using a combination of more than one motion sensor in each area.

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I don't have any SML003s so can't confirm if the lack of firmware info is normal for them. Really doubt it but sounds like you've already tried the pair sensor, re-set sensor without deleting from HE, re-pair sensor dance.
But, I have had issues in the past with a Hue Smart Button that mysteriously fixed itself just by letting it sit overnight. :man_shrugging:

The only way I was able to update the firmware on my 9 in-service indoor Hues was to temporarily substitute the Hue Smart Button driver. The outdoor Hue motion updated fine in the native driver. @mike.maxwell knows about this.

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Why are you linking to dumb sensor lights? None of these are zigbee, z-wave or even wifi.. Your message looks like ad-copy

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Agreed, smells like spam to me too!

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