I use Hue motion sensors (both indoors and outdoors) and have noticed upon setting up my first motion activated light that there is a delay between the motion and the light going on. I have done some troubleshooting and see that the Hue motion sensor is changing state and detecting motion instantly, verified by walking in my closest with my laptop and viewing the sensor's page in Hubitat. However my Leviton DZ6HD dimmer isn't turning the light on immediately. Am I missing something? Is there a little tip or trick that I haven't picked up on to make this more instant? The delay is only a couple seconds but it kind of defeats the purpose if you have to step into a room and wait in the dark a bit considering the motion sensor is instantly detecting and triggering a response. I have it setup under Motion Lighting in the built in apps.
I don’t have this dimmer personally, or a C-7 hub, but it sounds like this might be a z-wave mesh issue at least with this device. If the radio is having difficulty reaching the device, it may be resorting to using less direct methods to control it, which would result in the delay you are experiencing.
Your best bet is to post a screenshot of your z-wave details page to show one of the more experienced z-wave guys like @thebearmay@rlithgow1@danabw what’s going on.
Thanks! I’ll grab that and post it once I’m back home. I’d be surprised if my Z-Wave mesh wasn’t too strong, the majority of the switches in my house are now the DZ6HD’s. If anything I’d be more inclined to think my zigbee mesh was low but that’s responding instantly. I’ll post back tonight and see what I can find.
I’m also on a C-5 hub as well, I forgot to include that in my original post.
Never mind then. That page doesn’t have the same info on the C-5, so it’s probably not going to be helpful.
Maybe try pausing the ML rule and creating a Simple Automations rule for it just to see if it responds faster and let us know what you find. The Hue sensors are lightning fast, but I don’t generally find z-wave to be suitably speedy on my C-5s, which is why all of the dimmers I use indoors with Motion Lighting are Zigbee. I have relegated z-wave dimmers to outdoor lighting and use as button controllers in some places.
1st, I tried creating a simple automation rule and just had it turn the light switch on. Same delay.
2nd, instead of using my dimmer as a dimmer to 50%, I used it as a simple switch for On/Off. Same delay.
Unfortunately I forgot to factor in the Z-Wave dimmers into my plan when choosing the faster Hue zigbee motion sensors. Kind of makes their speed useless if the device they're triggering can't respond to their updates as fast as the sensor does itself. Pretty disappointing considering I installed these dimmers throughout my entire house because they worked the best with my recessed light fixtures after a lengthy trial and error process in finding good Z-Wave dimmers. Seems zigbee would have been the better choice for anything with motion/speed of use.
I definitely understand. I originally had z-wave dimmers, but discovered this speed difference by accident a couple years ago when Lowe’s was clearancing their Zigbee GE dimmers/switches.
You could try doing a z-wave repair or two and see if the mesh finds a faster route. Also, if you have z-wave devices that report power usage, this could be bogging down the mesh.
BTW, the newer Enbrighten version don’t seem as well behaved, but Inovelli have some coming out soon that look very nice.
Nice work to narrow down the issue. I can't claim any Z-Wave experience myself, but like @Ken_Fraleigh suggests, sounds like some work on your Z-Wave mesh may help....
This is how I first noticed the difference. The bathrooms have Zigbee dimmers and motion sensors. Even though the switches are right next to the door in all of them, I can’t get my hand to it before the lights come on. It wasn’t that way with z-wave for me. That’s the only way to make reaching for the switch no longer a habit. Of course I am terribly disappointed when I am away somewhere and walk into a bathroom in the dark. I usually shake my head and call myself an idiot.
