I currently have 5 Ecolink PIR-ZWAVE2.5-ECO Z-Wave motion sensors that I have never really done a whole lot with. I'd like to start working on some good motion based lighting automations, so I need to add a minimum of 5 additional sensors to get good coverage through the house.
My entire mesh network is Z-Wave. I do have a handful of zigbee devices but they are all battery powered, so no mesh. Never had a problem with any of them, but still...no repeaters, so no mesh.
Given this, what would you all recommend for motion sensors?
Those Ecolink's are cheap, batteries last forever and have decent config with the jumpers. Other than a 4 minute timeout unless you remove the jumper entirely which kills the battery faster...but still....they last a LONG time. I have a few (along with others) that I hooked up to an AC/DC 3v power adapter(I hate replacing batteries). They act pretty quick for a zwave motion sensor compared to some of my other ones....so might just want to stick with those?
The zigbee ones will be faster...but as you said above...no mesh.
I can tell you what NOT to buy. Stay away from the gocontrol pir sensors. They're large, and very slow to respond. I have four and two are stuck in my laundry and furnace rooms for a reason. The others are in rooms that have more than one sensor or in the garage. They suck.
I do have a bunch of Xiaomi motion sensors. Those little guys are really responsive and cheap. They're zigbee, but I have the same situation and they work fine. No zigbee repeaters. I'd recommend them. They're tricky to pair, but blazing fast.
I have had a similarly positive experience with the original (non-plus) versions of those motion sensors. Not the fastest to trigger that I’ve ever seen, but even with the test jumper in place I can get a year out of the batteries.
Ecolink for zwave motion detection, without a doubt. If you jump the test setting they reset in seconds and are super reliable. Jumping it to test does not cause any appreciable battery drain, they last for what seems like forever. I recently discovered you can jump both the test setting and the pet settings, which is awesome.
Any article that advises zooz 4 in 1 for motion detection, is not a reliable source of information, me thinks.
It's possible, but based on all of my testing, the pet settings are ignored when in test mode.
Nothing in that article "advises", it just lists the pros and cons of several motion sensors. (except maybe the title)
That being said, the original Zooz 4-in-1 made a horrible motion sensor, but the 16.9 firmware also had hardware changes that improved the motion detection. The 17.9 firmware which is the latest model has additional hardware changes that improved it even more. It's not the best motion sensor on the list, but I wouldn't say it's near the bottom either.
The Zooz Motion Sensor ZSE18 launched after that article was written and it's probably my favorite. It's motion detection rivals the others, it can run on batteries or USB and if joined as a USB device it acts as a repeater. It's also a vibration sensor, but it requires something like 8 seconds of constant vibration which renders that aspect of the device pretty much useless.
So I added 3 Iris plugs yesterday for a different purpose. Are the zigbee motion sensors that much better? If they are, I was thinking about getting 2 more Iris plugs to replace a couple of TP-Link wifi outlets, that would give me good zigbee coverage throughout the house, so zigbee motion could be in the picture now. I'm happy to stick with the Ecos too if there's not an appreciable difference though.
Yeah, the Xiaomi Aqara are good, but for sure finicky. I'm finding that even with a good signal or repeater in place, they still will occasionally stop responding a few times after initial pairing, requiring you to press the pair button briefly to get them to wake up and start sending again. After one or two times doing this, they are then reliable, as long as they don't lose connection to the hub, otherwise you have to re-pair and then often repeat that process. The door sensors do the same thing.
For that reason, I wouldn't recommend them unless you're OK with that. The prices is definitely right, and they are fast and responsive once stabilized. But for a problem free Zigbee motion sensor that is also very fast and responsive, I like the Centralite (Iris, Sylvania and a few others).
Looks like the Iris motions are on sale at Lowe's right now 50% off. I'll go grab the extra two plugs today and a handful of motion sensors too. Thanks!
I love the zigbee plugs with the Z-Wave repeaters, that's pretty awesome.
Yeah I can't boot the Centralite motion sensor off my network if I wanted to. Even when there was a routing problem due to a bulb, it just picked up where it left off when I removed the problem bulb. I've never had to re-pair it.
I dont need any new motion sensors now...but I'm concerned that they will eventually run out of stock of this model and we dont know how the latest version is going to hold up. To buy and keep in a box or wait for verdict on v3...
