Motion Not Detected Not Working with Alexa Skill

Well, it squarely places this issue on Amazon's side of the net, doesn't it? Their support was excellent when I used them a few years ago.

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That is an interesting finding but doesn't explain why everything works when I switched back over to Smarthings hub?

If the blame was placed squarely on Alexa why does it work with ST hub? This is even more odd because people are running from ST because of the numerous problems they are having. For the sensors to work here and not with hubitat is unsettling.

For it to mimic similar behavior with echo zigbee Hub that's odd. Don't know what to say or what to do for a fix.

I've reported this issue to Amazon 3 or 4 times and got radio silence after an initial hi email response.

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What capabilities does ST expose for that sensor to Alexa? In @ogiewon’s example, HE and direct pairing to the Echo 4 exposed the same capabilities to Alexa (motion/temperature).

The sensors that I exposed to Alexa have a single capability (motion or contact), and seem to work fine.

In either event, his example apparently reiterates that Alexa has issues with sensors that expose multiple capabilities. A possible workaround for HE users would be to create virtual sensors, exposed to Alexa, with a single capability that mirror the state of a physical sensor.

Don’t know if this number still works, but try calling Alexa Support:

877-375-9365

I last used this number in 2015 or 2016.

Well, I have some more data... I decided to spend some time troubleshooting the directly paired Iris 3326-L motion sensor to the Alexa Echo 4th Gen. Turns out, that there may be an incompatibility between these two specific devices. Alexa properly reports motion as active when the 3326-L sensor detects something moving. However, after ~18 seconds Alexa report No Motion, even though I am constantly moving in front of the 3326-L sensor. I have to then make sure there is no motion in front of the sensor for 30 seconds (its normal inactivity period) so that it will send a no motion zigbee message to the Echo's Zigbee radio. Then, if I move again, the sensor sends a motion active msg and the Echo displays the correct status. However, the cycle starts over again. Thus, I believe my test is not indicative of what @joeswann.biz has seen using Hubitat's Alexa Skill. Sorry for taking us off on a tangent.

Note: I am disappointed in how Alexa's Zigbee radio is behaving in this instance. I even tried a completely different Iris 3326-L device with the exact same results. One thing I haven't figure out is how to tell what Zigbee channel is being used by the Echo. Perhaps I am experiencing some Zigbee interference? Just a guess. :thinking:

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Out of curiosity, have you tried a different sensor - like a Hue motion sensor (assuming they work with the Echo's zigbee hub).

Not yet. I don't believe I have any other Zigbee motion sensors on hand to test with. The Iris 3326-L sensors have been rock solid and have great battery life. Thus, I haven't had a need to try anything else. :wink:

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I wasn't knocking on the Iris sensors. I was just curious if this Echo zigbee bug was sensor-independent.

Completely understand.

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Turns out I can lay my hands on an Echo Show - I think they also have a built-in zigbee hub. And I have an unused Iris V3 motion sensor and a Hue motion sensor. I'll test them to see if the behavior parallels what you've seen with the Iris V2 motion sensor.

Looks like the behavior I have seen is pretty well described below (albeit for other Zigbee motion sensors.) Looks like Amazon's support for Zigbee Motion Sensors varies significantly by device.

I did find an old PEQ 3305-P Motion Sensor (Centralite OEM) motion sensor. It behaves the exact same way as the Iris 3326-L (Centraliet OEM) motion sensor when paired with Alexa.

I just don't understand why Alexa's Zigbee implementation seems to behave like this. It really doesn't make much sense to me. The device in Alexa should only go 'inactive' after the actual sensor sends a Zigbee message to the hub stating so. Instead, Alexa sets the device status to "No Motion" after about 20 seconds, regardless of whether motion has really stopped or not.

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At some point I thought it could of been how the sensors are presented to Alexa. With hubitat my sensors show up as temperature Sensors, though they have the ability to read temperature that's not what I bought them for. I'd expect them to show up as motion sensors in Alexa just as Smarthings hub presents them. So the way the sensors are presented to Alexa certainly seems to have an effect.

Also I noticed, if you look at your routines and hit the top right corner 3 button when your in a routine, it'll allow you to view activity. For whatever reason amazon does not show inactivity details, ever, even when it's working right. They only show activity for when motion is detected (routines). This kinda tells me they have some sort of of issue with "not detected activity/ routines). Otherwise why is it not available.

I'm using Samsung v2 Motion Sensors. When I use the exact same sensors in Smarthings they show up as motion sensors and also correctly show up in Alexa as motion sensors. When you view the device you can see when there's motion and when it goes inactive (clicking devices, then the motion sensor) the routines report the motion based activity but do no show anything when "motion not detected" was the trigger for the routines.

I left one motion sensor in hubitat, it still shows as temperature sensor in Alexa, still works sporadically. Motion based alerts work but inactivity doesn't. Give it a few days and it "may" work. I'm just happy everything has been working in Smarthings hub. Just hope they don't push anything or update something to break it

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Agreed. This makes little sense to me.

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I agree. It definitely seems like Alexa doesn't treat 'motion inactive' in the same way that I have come to expect based on my previous home automation experience with SmartThings, Hubitat, and Home Assistant.

Revisiting this a year later. I did absolutely nothing to fix, It's fixed outside of my control. I assume mitigation in the technologies