Ready to move to lutron...Caseta motion sensor?

Got a pro bridge but now looking at motion sensors. Should I get the lutron one for speed or a generic one for Hubitat? Which do you recommend? Wyze?

Do mean the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro? If so, the only sensors that work with that are the Caséta motion (occupancy/vacancy, as Lutron usually calls them) sensors. Unlike the nearly-identical looking RA2 sensor, these are not exposed via telnet, so they're only useful on the Lutron side and cannot be used in Hubitat. That's fine if your entire automation can be controlled via Lutron, but if you're hoping to use them for other things in Hubitat, you're out of luck--unless you "upgrade" to RA2 (not RA2 Select), in which case you'd also need pretty much entirely different hardware, aside from Picos that work with both systems.

Wyze is even worse: as far as I know, their motion sensor (like nearly all of their products) doesn't work with anything outside of their own ecosystem, aside from proprietary integrations they've created for services like IFTTT, Alexa, and Google Home. Not impossible to get these into Hubitat, but it would be cloud-dependent, possibly laggy, and generally not as good as you could do with other devices on Hubitat. Similar to the above, if the only use you have for these is within the Wyze system, I suppose it's not a terrible choice (and I'm sure they are/were cheap, though they currently appear to be out of stock pending a second-generation refresh).

If it were me, I'd get sensors that work directly with Hubitat. Lots of Z-Wave and Zigbee devices are natively compatible, and those will generally get you the best results. I'd generally recommend Zigbee for speed, though not all Z-Wave sensors are terrible (and may be better for security and often have configurable sensitivity and more options). If price is a concern, Sonoff is pretty cheap (but ugly and may have a weak signal based on the comments of some; my mesh is strong and I've never noticed any issues). Lots of Zooz sensors can also often be found on sale, though I'd avoid the 4-in-1 if you have a C-7, and most of the others are pretty slow in my experience. If you can still find any (used, probably) Iris v2 motion sensors (model 3326-L or -L2), those are a favorite of many, as is pretty much any device by Centralite (the OEM for that generation of devices). Otherwise, there are lots of threads here where people ask for favorite sensors, and you'll get about as many different answers as there are devices--those are just a few of mine. :slight_smile:

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I have a large number of Lutron Caseta devices throughout the house. I had and original Caseta hub, but it does not support Telnet, so I had to upgrade to the Pro 2 hub. After repairing all the switches, dimmers and Pico remotes to the Pro hub, everything works quite well. The Lutron integration works brilliantly using Telnet connectivity.

However, I do not use any Caseta sensors. I use a combination of Zigbee and Z-wave sensors connected through Hubitat. That enables them to connect to anything in Hubitat, not just the Caseta devices. That gives the sensors far greater utility than just controlling Caseta lights.

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Ditto. I have about 40 Caseta switches and I have a mishmash of zigbee and zwave motion sensors. If I had to do it all over again I would probably standardize on a single model of motion sensor but which motion sensor one likes is kind of like opening the Nikon/Canon or Apple/Android debate (Nikon/Apple for the record).

And a crappy mount.

I'm not sure that's true anymore?... While adding a new Pico recently, I decided on a whim to try my 2 Caseta motion sensors too -- and it seemingly worked -- they came in with a "Lutron Motion Sensor" handler.

I haven't tried to do actually anything with them in Hubitat, but I was surprised I was able to bring them in at all- I had always been under the impression it wasn't possible.

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If you export a telnet integration report are they listed in there?

Affirmative - I added them using telnet just like a pico, switch, or dimmer. IIRC, the Hubitat device integration code is "m" for motion sensor (like "p" is pico etc).

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Can I presume that a motion device got created?

Edit: the device might be in the list of devices. But I don't think that motion/occupancy sensor state changes are part of the telnet stream.

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huh, the motions are included in the integration report, however I'm not seeing any data being sent...
also come to think of it, there doesn't seem to be a bridge firmware version listing available anywhere in the app...

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But do they actually get events generated in Hubitat? That's the real question--you can tell Hubitat's Lutron integration app any device ID and any device type, and it will happily create something on Hubitat (even if it doesn't exist on Lutron or is a different kind of device). But it won't work unless Lutron changed something to actually expose these events over telnet.

Alas, I can't test, as I've traded Caséta for RA2, mostly for this exact reason (I really like their sensors!).

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Yeah, I'm pretty sure you, Mike, and aaiyar are all correct - although I haven't tried to use the sensors in any way within Hubitat, it sure doesn't seem like they are passing any data/activity into Hubitat.

Interesting stuff - maybe laying groundwork for cooler stuff, or maybe it'll go nowhere :man_shrugging:

Most of my motion detectors are older Smartthings devices (Zigbee). They are relatively inconspicuous for use inside the home. However, they are not particularly sensitive, so placement is critical. I have one older Iris sensor (Zigbee) that is super sensitive, so it works quite well detecting motion in my walk-out basement with a large open area.

When installing motion sensors outdoors for my deck and patio, I used Zooz Z-wave outdoor motion sensor ZSE29. It is built to be used outside and has a lot of adjustments either on the device or in the driver so it can be fine tuned for the specific application. However, it is not something I would want attached to my living room wall. Thus, different devices may be needed for specific applications.

Vote for Iris V2 or V3 motion sensors if you can find them. Reliable and fast. Battery reporting is a bit iffy but many zigbee are IMHO. My ST multisensor (I use for MyQ) battery reporting is just as wonky.

V2 is smaller, CR2 battery.
V3 adds humidity, CR123A battery.

The Hue sensors are also popular and pair directly to HE. $60/pair at Costco.

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I really like the Philips Hue motion sensors (Zigbee), which connect directly to Hubitat. In addition to motion, they also report Lux and temperature. You can adjust the motion retrigger time (from 30 seconds to 15 minutes), and the motion sensitivity (low, medium and high). They use regular AAA batteries which seem to last a fairly long time.

As mentioned earlier, Costco sells a package of two for $60.

There is also an outdoor model.

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At first I thought it was a system limitation. That is, I thought they set it up so that the sensor would talk directly to the light switch for faster response time, and the hub wouldn't even know it was going on. However, a closer look at the Lutron app shows a little icon that looks like a keyhole or a person's head and shoulders or a circle with a wide beam coming out of it. It is an indication that the sensor is active. Therefore, the hub absolutely knows the sensor's state. The limitation then is software. Lutron chose not to expose the sensor to third parties. Maybe to force them to buy the more expensive RA2 system. I guess it works. However, wouldn't they sell a lot more sensors if they did?

FWIW, the Caséta integration in Home Assistant exposes the motion sensors. So the sensor can be exposed to third parties - it just isn't exposed in the telnet integration that Hubitat uses.

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So I'm curious - I see they are using certs etc.. does HA not use Telnet? That is very nifty. I have such a love/hate relationship with HA. I could never support it in the wild but for my personal home use - a very compelling add-on. Note: the key word here is "add-on"!!! :wink:

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With the non-pro bridge, HA uses the new Lutron LEAP API. With the pro bridge, I believe HA uses the LEAP API for most things and telnet for Picos.

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That is interesting. If I had known that up front, I might have gone the Raspberry Pi and Home Assistant way and continued to use the Caseta sensors. But now that I've chosen the HE path and tested three other sensors (and found them just as good as Caseta) the die is cast.

It's crazy really. I resisted all of this "next step" in the home automation game, but I'm falling down the slippery slope now just because I wanted to have my lights come on automatically fully during the day and dimly at night. Next thing I know, I'm upgrading hardware; buying a new switch, rack, power supply because I was at capacity. Then I'm thinking, "well, now I have the ability to measure humidity and turn on shower fans automatically." And on and on.

I need to join some kind of HIA (Home Improvement Anonymous).

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