Looking for a light sensor that works with Hubitat

proffalken · March 25, 2020, 10:47am

Hey all,

I'm looking for a sensor that just measure light levels and works with Hubitat, can anyone help?

I've seen the Aeotec multisensors and the like, but I don't need the motion or temperature, just the LUX.

I'd rather not build my own if I can help it!

snell · March 25, 2020, 11:02am

A model that only does light that I found searching is Climax LM-1ZBS. It is a pretty simple ZigBee model so it SHOULD work with Hubitat. But I did not find anyone selling them. It seems like multisensors have this particular space in the market.

bobbles · March 25, 2020, 12:17pm

Phillips Hue and Fibaro can connect directly to HE. They are multi sensors though.
Hue is zigbee. Fibaro zwave.

TechMedX · March 25, 2020, 12:28pm

What about getting a AM6 using the community driver, and turning all the settings high except lux?

Too bad temp won't let you go higher then .70, but looks like you could setting motion super low and humidity supper high and they would not trigger a report.

Are you doing this to save battery power?

proffalken · March 25, 2020, 12:34pm

Thanks folks.

I'm primarily doing it to save money to be honest, I was assuming that as the multi-function sensors were around the £50 mark then someone should surely be selling a "light only" sensor for about £15 - £20.

I'm also something that's small and discrete, because WAF is a large part in getting all of this working and if I have to put up obvious sensors (especially ones like the Aeotech that change colour!) then this isn't going to fly at all.

TechMedX · March 25, 2020, 12:45pm

Supply/demand more than competent cost. AM6 does not change color, but has an LED that turns green on motion (driver says it can be turned off, have not tried).

I understand the "non-discrete" WAF. My wife won't let me automate the bathroom light with one. She feels they look like cameras and visitors will freak out.

I'll be watching to see if someone has a better solution.

scottgu3 · March 25, 2020, 4:50pm

Try this!

proffalken · March 25, 2020, 4:54pm

That's just a motion detector, right?

I'm not worried about motion detection, I want to detect light levels and then act accordingly so I can setup stuff like

If LUX < 400:
    turn on light

That kind of thing - I'm not worried about detecting movement, because then the lights come on when someone walks into the room regardless of whether it's light or dark outside (in the autumn in the middle of a storm it can get really dark here no matter how far away sunset is)

jeubanks · March 25, 2020, 4:56pm

The Hue motion sensor has a very good Lux sensor and updates the lux in real time unlike most other multi-sensors. I'm using one in my dining room for this exact purpose currently for turning on the lights only when low lux levels.

proffalken · March 25, 2020, 4:57pm

Ah, ok, thanks, that wasn't clear from the Amazon description.

I'll take a look later on.

TechMedX · March 25, 2020, 5:09pm

Had to check myself. Yep

Daylight sensor detects light

The Hue Motion sensor's integrated daylight sensor detects when there is still enough daylight so that lights do not turn on until you need them. If it's still too dark, adjust the light sensitivity of the sensor in the Philips Hue app to personalize when you'd like the motion sensor

Check in the cheaper (somewhat) column. Not sure it is much more "discrete"

proffalken · March 25, 2020, 5:11pm

I stand corrected, not sure how I missed that!

Thanks

TechMedX · March 25, 2020, 5:28pm

EDIT: I removed this then added it back. It seems they are discontinued and only 1 left on ebay. However if you only need one maybe it is OK, so I put it back for your review.

Any tried these? Small and cheap. Reviews are very mixed, but I did find Hubitat drivers for it.

github.com

erocm123/Hubitat/blob/master/Drivers/zooz-mini-sensor.src/zooz-mini-sensor.groovy

/**
 *
 *  zooZ Mini Sensor
 *   
 *	github: Eric Maycock (erocm123)
 *	Date: 2016-10-05
 *	Copyright Eric Maycock
 *
 *  Code has elements from other community source @CyrilPeponnet (Z-Wave Parameter Sync). Includes all 
 *  configuration parameters and ease of advanced configuration. Added software based light offsets.
 *
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
 *  in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed
 *  on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License
 *  for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
 *

This file has been truncated. show original

jeubanks · March 25, 2020, 5:32pm

The Lux changes are not very quick to adjust and report. The sensitivity of the motion detection is crazy though and takes adjusting/tweaking otherwise it generates a lot of false positives.

scottgu3 · March 25, 2020, 5:58pm

Yeah, sorry, I should have made more clear that it was a Motion Sensor and a lux sensor. But I was in my car, and ran out of time! I don't use the indoor ones personally, but I use the outdoor ones solely for the Lux sensors. They've been great so far. Paired them with my Hue Hub initially to get the latest firmware, and then paired them to Hubitat.

The price is a bit higher than what you were looking for, but they are available in the UK which is a plus.

S.

mag · March 25, 2020, 6:16pm

Zooz, Dome and Neo look very similar. However, for some unexplainable reason, I had much better luck with the Neos; using them now.

mag · March 25, 2020, 6:25pm

There are Inovelli 4-in-1 sensors (~ $34 on Amazon).
If you agree to synchronous reporting (min interval - 1-minute), they seem to report light, humidity and temperature well.

(Unfortunately, I also needed the motion sensor functionality but that turned out to be a disaster.)

Ryan780 · March 25, 2020, 6:39pm

I have one. The motion reporting on it is terrible. Slowest sensor I've ever owned. But it does lux pretty well. I now have it in a window sill to get outside lux reading and not using the motion at all.

Rxich · March 26, 2020, 1:53am

I own the Hue motion sensors. I love them, fast accurate, temp/motion & lux reporting and a very robust connection.

I have no experience with the Inovelli one below, but love all their other products, so far
https://inovelli.com/4-in-1-sensor-z-wave/

leeonestop · March 26, 2020, 1:26pm

I have three of the Inovelli 4-in-1 motion and they have done a good job for me and they are fast at reporting and been reliable and have not fail in the few months that they have been in service. I would recommend these.