I am just getting started with HE, and I am struggling with some very basic things. I am sure it must be something I am doing wrong. Right now, I am trying to wrestle a BeSense motion sensor into submission. It is correctly registered on the network, but it is constantly in tamper mode it seems. I am not exactly sure how to clear the taper flag (based on what I was able to find so far, it is either pressing the tamper button once, or three times, but neither seems to be working). So the thing never seems to trigger right. The battery sensor is always at 1% (I measured the batteries manually... they are fine). I think it is all because it detected tampering. But how do I clear that flag? Can I somehow send it a command to clear it?
Yes, 3 was for the inclusion. It's included fine now. But when you open the thing up (which you need to when you install it), it has this tamper detection mode that triggers. And then it doesn't work normally. So the question is how to reset the tamper flag.
Just tried it again. It doesn't seem to do anything. But won't the very act of opening it up and clicking the button trigger another tamper alarm? (I really wish there was some better documentation on this... especially since it seems that whole tamper mechanism isn't very secure/useful anyway).
Update: I excluded and re-included the sensor, and now at least it seems to clear the tamper flag properly. So we are making progress!
However, it does not at all seem to work well in terms of sensing motion. It's a pretty basic setup (I am using it in a walk-in closed that is currently completely empty, so it should be as basic a setup as you get), but most of the time, it just doesn't seem to sense anything. The first time I walk in, it usually works, and my associated light comes on (and turns off) in a reasonable amount of time (not great, but OK). But then if I walk into the room again, it does absolutely nothing. So I am not sure what is going on. It certainly isn't reliable enough to be useful. So I must be doing something wrong.
Also, I am confused about the jumpers the thing has. I can switch a rest from 5 seconds to minutes and nothing in between, which seems odd. But to be honest, I am not even sure what I am setting here. What is this refresh rate exactly? It can't be how often it would sense in the first place, because what sense would it make to detect motion only once every few minutes? I am assuming this is when it senses again after it detected something the first time? Or am I completely off here.
I see a 5 second test mode, a 3 minute normal mode, and something called code mode which from reading other sources appears to do nothing under zwave operation.
So in normal mode the sensor will send a motion event and then wait 3 minutes before checking for another motion event.
So if I understand this correctly, then if I want to use this to turn my walk-in-closet light on when someone enters, I need to set it to 5 seconds to make it turn on again relatively quickly after it turns off the first time? I am still confused by this.
You could, but your battery life will suffer. Another way to look at it would be a rule that would turn on the closet light and then turn it off 3 minutes after motion stopped - since any motion would restart the 3 min timer this would cover the motion pause delay and still give you that instant on.
Boy, that sensor is driving me crazy! It fundamentally works at this point, but it's not at all the experience I had hoped for. In the best of cases, it takes 3 seconds from me entering the area to the switch turning on (I have a simple z-wave switch connected by a basic rule). But it often also takes longer. Especially when it is completely dark, I seem to have to wave my arms around for it to register anything. And I already messed with the sensitivity options. This can't be normal, can it?
Should be reacting faster, but a couple of factors come to mind, starting with type of switch (manufacturer and model #) and then mesh density (a stronger mesh tends to have less latency). Both devices are Zwave so if you can post a screen shot of your zwave details we can look at that.
