Have a situation where I want to put a motion detector on the outside back of a metal shed/barn. The hub will be inside the barn. What would be the best motion detector that would work thru the metal siding? Or is it possible?
Are you using z wave or zigbee? I think that it probably will work but will depend on a range of factors like how far away is the hub from the sensor. Your shed isn't really a true Faraday cage so the signal can get through but will certainly be attenuated somewhat
Ultimately the only way to confirm this is to actually implement it. Are you able to set up a test?
Not without buying a motion detector first. This is for a friend place a couple hours away. I have a spare hub I can use to test, but no spare motion detectors. I don’t mind buying one but don’t want to have to buy several to test. Which would be best, Zwave or Zigbee?
I don't use z wave so can't comment on the relative merits of either nor have I actually had to go through metal. If you had another device (zwave/zigbee) to test with it should give you a reasonable indication of whether the motion sensor would work reliably.
However from what I've though read z wave might be better than zigbee in this case but the best outcome would almost certainly be had if the hub can be positioned as close as possible to the sensor(s).
Another thing to consider might be adding an External Antenna . Not sure if @lewis.heidrick is still doing these mods. An antenna would certainly boost the receiving gain of your hub.
Or buy one of each from Amazon and return what doesn't work. I like the Hue Outside motion detectors (Zigbee) but they are kind of expensive.
I like these a lot too. Many times you see them advertised as dusk-to-dawn sensors. In my case they generate a lot of false positives during the day, but very few at night. If you want the sensor to control lights then that probably won't be an issue. They also report lux and temp, have great battery life, and use AA batteries.
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