I have a new van with tools etc, its parked on the drive, I want to put a motion sensor in the back to alert me to a break in. Would a zigbee sensor disconnecting cause issues to the hub?
Happy Christmas Everyone
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No they should not
make sure that you have a good zigbee network range though so that it works whenever it is in the driveway.
I have zigbee Xbee and arrival sensors that disconnect and reconnect all the time.
I even have Zwave devices that power off all the time and never had an issue.
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As long as they are battery powered you should be fine. Battery devices don't route for other devices.
When the Van leaves though and can no longer reach it's mesh it would go in to panic mode and I would imagine quickly drain the batteries. I have not tried this but pretty sure this would be the case.
I would think this would be a perfect case to hook up to vehicle battery (using a step down converter) or an auxiliary battery pack using D-cells or something equally powerful.
Usb to one of these UPS plugged into an inverter should last any amount of time you're away from the mesh. May need a step down converter depending on the device voltage.
I haven't drained it but it lasted at least a week running my hub when the wife unplugged the ups.
It would probably run a little sensor for a year in panic mode
I think this depends on the particular device. I know the xiaomi sensors can go offline and not reconnect, but does not drain the battery (I presume if it has a panic mode it must stop doing this after a period). Unfortunately this means that they are probably not suitable for this use case.
I'm not sure if other zigbee sensors are able to automatically reconnect to the mesh (without at least a button press), probably some one else can advise.
I also am unsure, that was my secondary concern with having the device fall off the mesh. Someone else may know, but worth getting answered before getting a motion sensor, step down and mini ups.
If I had a van with $000's worth of tools I'd probably use something like this instead of relying on HE. Wireless pir sensor motion detector gsm alarm system alert a9 Sale - Banggood.com
And have motion lights for the driveway to light up potential thieves as well as outdoor security cameras.
I'd park it in the garage and not depend on sensors.
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Or sleep in the van.
Make sure the windows are blacked out too!
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Ok for a super simple non technical test I took a motion sensor down to my community mailbox (out of range of my mesh) approx 40 minutes ago. Just brought it home and let it sit for ~5 minutes. Then went in front of the sensor and it lit green meaning the sensor detected motion. So far no event being registered in Hubitat. I will update later this evening if it reports. This is an Iris v2 motion sensor.
[Edit]It has now checked in. Just minutes after this post. I would still suggest more research and trials to be certain this will work ok.
Also some good reading I found on the subject : How does Iris or Smartthings presence fob work? What makes them special?
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Be nice to have both motion sensor and contact sensor on the van doors. Tools are expensive, sensors are cheap.
Don’t forget the metal of the van will reduce the signal strength considerably. Might need to factor that in...
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