I currently have 2 outdoor flood light fixtures that have Sengled āE13-N11 Par38 bulbs with integrated motion sensors. These are ok except that the motion automatically turns on the light. If I could have full control they would be perfect.
Because of Christmas coming up I would like to be able to disable the lights. I have thought about just adding a relay or switch to turn off the bulbs, but then I don't have the motion input. Another idea is using the RAB STL360 motion sensor that came with the fixtures and wiring in something to sense the input and turn on the lights. I am not sure if the STL360 can work without a load like this though, any thoughts? The next idea is the Homeseer HS-FLS100+ G2 sensor. I have seen mixed reviews on this and I am wondering if I would loose some of my motion sensing ability.
Has anyone done any of the above mentioned ideas or have other things implemented? I would prefer to use hardwired motion sensors for this.
I am not familiar with the operation of those specific bulbs, so I will stay in my lane. The STL360 is just a relay output, so no harm in using little or no load. It could easily feed a ZBMINI or ZEN51 to tell your hub that motion was sensed.
This is partly why I am not a fan of devices that try to do multiple things. It seems that you will have multiple sensors and multiple relays in order to control smart bulbs. But, I also understand the desire to tweak an existing setup.
I had these installed for a while. They worked great. Not sure what issues people where having. I actually had the original and bought a few of the G2's after. I have floodlight cameras now so use that for motion detection so pulled most of them except 1.
Not too hard to install, gives you a lot of control. The way I had it setup was as follows:
installed in the light fixture. I had to buy a new mount as it was a 3rd piece. Wasn't expensive.
hard wired the control switch to bypass the switch so they always stay on. Easy.
The smart switch that I had that controlled that light I then programmed so that it sent the on/off command via zwave to the light (instead of cutting power). I used the associations feature of zwave so it was near instant.
In the end it acted just like a regular switch/light combo but gave me even more control.
I have the STL360 and a Zooz Zen52 setup on the bench now and am not having much luck.
Toggle Mode
Motion on - Light turns on
Motion off - Light remains on
Motion on - Light turns off
-It is like the Zen52 is not properly sensing the voltage change.
With my meter connected to neutral and STL360 output I can see the voltage changing. When motion is off it only drops to 7v. Do I need a load resistor/triac to the Zen52 input?
On/Off Switch mode isn't doing anything reliably. I cannot get anything to happen.
Any other ideas? Am I trying to do something that is not possible or do I need a different sensor?
Two possible issues that I can think of. First is the advanced settings for Zen52. Second is that there were some hardware and firmware tweaks to the Zen52 over the past six months or so.
It is worth reaching out to Zooz support. I have found them to be quite responsive and helpful. They will also be the experts on how your exact device will react to the slightly induced voltage.
@wmmah do you have your bulbs connected to Hubitat or the Sengled hub? So I assume you have a rule to turn the lights on? Would you mind sharing your device page and what driver is being used?
When my bulbs sense motion they automatically turn on if it is below their internal lux level. I can turn them right back off if I wanted. I see the motion as a separate entity from the bulb switch. Per my research this seemed to be the normal operation in Hubitat. If connected to the correct Sengled hub there are some parameters that can be changed to affect how they react.
