Looking for your recommendation on the following as far as a temp/light sensor. I've yet to find one that fits my requirements.. Maybe someone has an idea that I missed
Zwave (all my devices are currently zwave, so I have no zigbee mesh at all
Needs to accurately measure and work in the cold winters. All the ones I can find seem to be only indoor rated, and their specs say they don't work much below 0C
Doesn't necessarily need to be weather proof, but would be nice. If it has a separate temperature probe, I could easily put probe outside with unit inside.
Mains powered would be nice. I hate dealing with batteries if I don't have to.
I thought of these, but first thing on their page says "indoor use". I'm also torn when it comes to the sensative strips. I have 2 of their contact sensors in my network (one died). They were the biggest PITA to get to pair, and whoever said 10 year lifetime was definitely smoking some good weed (though it is years, just not 10). And they aren't cheap. I just can't believe that with all the reporting that you get from one of these that it is going to last 10 years.
Hmmm you're right about indoor use... I didnt realize that. I have one outdoors but it is mounted under a roof overhang. Been going strong for 6 months or so, still shows 100% battery. Bummer about the indoor thing though - I was about to mount another one outside!
That and trying to find a source in Canada for them though. The only source in Canada they list is amazon.ca, and I never see the temperature ones listed.
I have been using the Inovelli 4-in-1 sensors for about a year now outside under my front porch (in NB Canada). Haven’t had any issues with it.
I’ve ordered from their US site and though it can take longer to arrive, it does get here. AArtech.ca also carries their stuff, but no sensor right now. Amazon.ca also does sometimes, but alas, not right now either.
Ok. Let another Canadian give his opinion:
I have a AeoTec multisensor 6 under my eavestrough. I like it because it's powered by 2 CR123A batteries. So far, so good, but I haven't put it through a winter yet.
Know you said Zwave but the Zigbee outdoor hue motion is great and awesome lux reporting along with temperature. Home Depot carries them. I am not a fan of the Aeotec multisensors. Super slow, running at 9.6 in my mesh and terrible repeaters. If there were other in ceiling mount options I would get rid of them, have 2.
I don't know if you have any floodlights if so then this could be a possibility with the added bonus of controlling your light as well. This does have a temp sensor..
Also not sure it's available in CA so apologies if not..
The homeSeer HS-FLS100+ looks like it will do exactly what I need.
The only issue is see is in the reviews (at least on amazon), there are quite a few posting saying that the device has some serious bugs (motion detection all the time is one) homeseer hasn't addressed them. Does anyone actually have one of these hooked up and seems to be working okay?
I have one in my basement that is hooked up as a test but not really doing anything. It seems to detect motion just fine.. In fact right now I have it powered and motion set off (after was done testing) and it is not triggering. Of course ymmv... I think @bcopeland has one or two installed...
I have one installed outside on my garage light. I live in Winnipeg, although I haven't had it installed at -40 yet. It works great. No problem with adjusting the sensitivity. Hubitat has a built in driver for the device, with all the appropriate options. It also reports outside temperature.
I removed the old non-smart sensor from my garage lights and installed this sensor. I did not want it to be just for turning on the garage lights, so I actually installed a separate power feed just for the sensor. Based on the a variety of conditions, mostly concerning the status of my alarm (alarm away, alarm night, home, etc...), and the time of day, when the device senses motion on my driveway a variety of lights and/or notifications happen.
Having said this, your original post seems like you are looking for a lux sensor and not a motion sensor, I don't use mine for lux values. It does appear to report illuminance levels on the driver page, although I believe it stops accurately reporting lux values beyond anything brighter than dust/dawn. Not to sure as to its accuracy in reporting differences in daytime lux values, if this is something you need, you should probably look into this issue before purchase. Again, I am not sure about its ability to accurately report lux, it could do a great job with lux. I don't know, since I don't use it for lux, but I do believe when I was researching the product before purchase, there was some concern in this area.
I've ordered a fls100-g2, so assuming I get a few minutes of free time this weekend I'll fire it up and give it a try. I'll let everyone know how it goes.
Sounds good, I hope it works out for you. I should of more closely reviewed the link I posted above, the lux range of the device is posted in the product description:
Well, the FLS100 is received and installed on a older floodlight that I already had running on a inovelli switch on the side of my garage. I wired it up someone differently, so that the sensor is not controlling the flood but is always powered on and reporting. The switch controls the flood. So if/when I want the sensor to control the flood, it will have to be through a rule on hubitat.
Only issue was typical of zwave. I had to put my hub on a long ethernet cable and pretty much introduce my hub personally to the switch before it would pair. Hub was put back into place and now I'm letting the zwave network reconfigure the routing. It seems to be reporting back to the hub okay.
