Zooz ZSE29 "Outdoor" Motion sensor Mini Review - OUTDATED -

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This review is outdated. Since this review was posted Zooz came out with an improved unit. I've not tested the new one.

This is a mini "review" of the above mentioned sensor or perhaps better stated as my short lived experience with this device.

I purchased the ZSE29 sensor to detect deer in the area of our Arborvitae. Apparently deer find them quite tasty.

I figured an "outdoor sensor" could be mounted er.. outdoors. Not so, read on....

The sensor looks like they took an outdoor motion sensor "head" normally found mounted to an outdoor light fixture, and mounted it on a base similar to many web cams. The instructions say:

"Mounting: Find a sheltered area within Z-Wave range to install the sensor. It should be a clean flat surface without direct sunshine or rain exposure (a little drizzle is fine)"

The sensor body has screwdriver operated "lux" and "on time" adjustments. These are nearly identical to several motion sensor exterior lights (no Z-Wave) I have on the back of my home.

The base bottom plate (to access the batteries) is not sealed in any way. Plastic on plastic, with a small groove.

UPDATE: On closer look, there is an elastomer gasket on the bottom plate where it contacts the housing. You can "feel" the resilience when screwing the bottom plate on.

Paring with HE: Easy, no issues at all.

Operation:
Responds to motion quickly, with fractions of a second between moving my hand in front of the sensor and the HE device page reporting "Active". For this test the sensor was 3 meters from the hub.

On activation, a red LED behind the lens illuminates the upper left corner of the lens for a few seconds.

I wanted to turn off the LED, I assumed this would be a Z-Wave accessible parameter... again not so. To find the correct parameter I wrote an email to Zooz. Their response was:

This is a very basic motion sensor, and there are no advanced parameters to adjust from the Hubitat interface itself. Only the motion timer and lux sensor can be adjusted physically from the device itself. Are you experiencing any issues with the device in particular?

In summary:
Largest drawback is the lack of true "outdoor' capability. Note, the Zooz website shows this item mounted to the side of a house with no visible protection from sun or rain. Although not stated in the advertising, I had the expectation of more control through Z-Wave accessible parameters.

I feel "mislead" by the lack of advertised outdoor capability. Perhaps if the LED could be disabled I might use.

UPDATE2: I heard back from Zooz tech support and they explained the LED can / will be shutoff by moving the retrigger time and Lux level off the minimum.

With this new information I will be keeping this sensor.

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Thanks for the detailed review! Looks like I might go with the Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor if I want one out in the elements. I haven't seen any super detailed reviews, but what little I've read makes it sound like it would be better. Right now I have some "regular"/indoor sensors that are technically outdoors but pretty well protected and haven't had any problems so far.

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I reviewed it in our podcast a week ago.
Hit the hubitat channel on youtube.

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Sorry Mike, I didn't know you had reviewed it. I just went to youtube and searched Hubitat ZSE29 and couldn't find it.

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Thanks for the feedback @JohnRob! We're working on a new version of the sensor which will give you access to advanced parameters for motion and light settings.

It should be out in late June and we'll make sure to send you a sample!

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@agnes.zooz Has the new version been released yet?

I just bought my Hubitat, and I am about to start buying sensors and switches to build my whole home system and Zooz is on my shortlist for the bulk of these products!

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It looks like another week, we had a manufacturing delay but they should be shipping any day now so we hope to have TSH and Amazon restocked within 10 days. I'll post here as soon as they're available.

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The Outdoor Motion Sensor is available here, it features 2 advanced settings that will overwrite the manual knob settings. But please note that this version still has the advanced settings trigger basic_set alerts directly to lights in association group 2 only so it won't give you the option to disable motion reporting based on the advanced settings. That's coming in VER. 2.0 which will also feature an option to adjust motion sensitivity. It's scheduled to be released in early October. Changes applied to the upcoming VER. 2.0 required some hardware upgrades so there wasn't enough time to squeeze them into this production run.

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Since this model is not listed in the device type list what did you choose as you configured it?
I have it set as a ZSE18 and it appears to work okay.

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According to the official device compatibility list, Generic Z-Wave Motion Sensor is the correct driver to use.

As I can tell from the current ZSE29 manual, it doesn't support customization via anything besides knobs on the device itself, i.e., no changing of settings via Z-Wave parameters. Therefore, unless there are some that aren't documented but behave differently, the ZSE18 driver is unlikely to hurt anything, especially if you don't actually try to change anything with it, but you don't gain anything from it, either.

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Read the note from agnes 2 notes prior to yours.

There is new firmware that opens up the 2 parameters to be controlled via Z-Wave configuration...

She also informed us of the updated code here: New ZSE29 Zooz Outdoor Motion Sensor Readings

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I don't recall exactly what I used but there is a ZSE18 driver in Hubitat. I probably used that.

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I just bought a ZSE29 from the above link but it seems I cannot access any advanced parameters afterall.
Does this mean I got the "old" version instead?

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It's possible that Hubitat doesn't display the advanced settings for the sensor but you can change them using the basic Z-Wave Parameter Tool by manually adjusting parameters.

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OK, thanks.
I am new to Hubitat and never tried that one before but will give it a go.

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Hi Agnes,

I have a newer unit and notice it's not until I'm about 12 feet from the unit took it senses. Is the October release with the sensitivity setting going to allow for further range?

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The sensor is already set to the highest sensitivity but depending on how the sensor is mounted or the outside temperature, detection range may be affected. Most Z-Wave and security sensors use partial infrared technology which relies on the difference between ambient and body temperature to detect activity. If it's hot enough for these two to be close, then detection range may be impacted.

We recommend getting in touch with our support team to troubleshoot the issue based on additional details you can provide us with.

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Curious about your experience with being within 12' to sense your presence.

Question: Were you outside? What time of day and what was the temperature?

I ask because all PIR sensors will become less sensitive when the outside temperature is in the mid 90's. In theory if the ambient was exactly the same temperature as your body, the PIR would have no change to sense.

Not sure it helps.

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I am in a "hot" locale so that is probably part of it. However, anecdotally I can say that compared to an ecolink "indoor" motion i have outdoors the Zooz does not detect motion as far.