openHAB friendly Motion Sensor Suggestions

Its not junk, it works, but in my experience it’s just not as good or reliable as the Fibaro. IF the price is the same, id take Fibaro every time. Infact regardless of price, id take Fibaro every time and will in future.

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My two cents.

I have had Aeotec zwave DSB 5 multisensor (for several years) and multiple EcoLink pure motion sensors (also for years).

The DSB is generally reliable for motion detection in a moderate size room (in my case a kitchen roughly 10 x 14 feet). I use the motion detection moderated by the luminance value to determine whether to turn on the light when someone is in the kitchen. (Kitchen has some outside light, so you don’t always need the lights to come on…). Once you titrate the value of luminance you actually care about in your space, pretty much fire-and-forget device/rules. My only complaint is that it does tend to burn through batteries – a set of 4 AAA’s lasts 2-3 months. I’ve tried Amazon rechargeables also – they last a shorter period of time, but might be just the ticket if you are the “it is the first of the month, change the batteries” sort.

The Ecolinks (a couple of sub-models) are relatively cheap (circa 30 USD), respond quickly and reliably once you have “turned” the pet motion sensitivity (with a jumper) and gotten the positioning correct. They use one digital-camera style battery (shorter and squatter than AA). I replace these every couple of years on US Labor Day as routine maintenance. Never had one die mid-cycle and some of those Ecolinks get fired a lot – 20-30 times a day at least.

Another two cents.

I have been using an Aeotec Multisensor 6 for a few months. I have not had any issues with it. It’s advantage over Fibaro FGMS-001 is that it also has a humidity sensor built in. I like having a few of those around the house but otherwise I would probably go with the Fibaro for most motion/temperature sensors.

I own a Fibaro, but I am not 100% convinced of it. It works well, but not perfectly when it comes to motion detection. I expect more for the price.
For a test I ordered a Neo Coolcam in China: https://www.szneo.com/en/products/show.php?id=197
Let’s see what he can do. At least the price is very attractive (~25€ incl. shipping). Will let you now.

Best,
Olli

Personally, the fibaro motion sensor is the best zwave product of fibaro.
nice design, accurate temp and motion detection, long battery life
If it had a humidity sensor it would have been complete in my eyes.

I have three of them, I am very happy

Update: Oct 6 2019
Iris went under and these sensors are no longer available, details at bottom of this post

Just purchased Iris iL07_1 which is 3rd generation Iris motion sensor
update: returned for refund

pull out rip cord, hit discovery button
OpenHAB - zigbee binding channels reported
motion Intrusion - Switch
Temperature - Number
Tamper - Switch
Alarm - String
Presence - Switch
Humidity - Number
Low battery - Switch
Voltage - Number

so far I’ve got temp humidity voltage and alarm which is reading “No battery alarm”
never got motion to report, these sensors got returned for a full refund at Lowes

ran zigbee log in debug mode and could see temp and hum being report in log but no motion. Considered this motion sensor NOT openHAB friendly
iris is imploding and maybe going open source… read more here

@Andrew_Rowe I use several of the Monoprice versions and they have been very reliable for me with only one issue: the battery channel seems to have stopped reporting at some point and so it always reads 0 and i’ve never figured out why or if it’s the hardware or a zwave binding issue - since it’s all 7 of them, i’m more inclined to think it’s a binding or other sofware issue, but despite that I have had my sensors since mid June of last year on the original batteries and they still report all other data and trigger my motion rules reliably.

Dome motion detector

in habmin report as DMMS1
TLDR: good so far

protocol: zwave

channels reported:
binary sensor
luminance
burglar alarm
battery level

discovery in openHAB:
easy to discover but push the button over and again until it is recognized
(**see more details below)

motion detection on binary channel, fast, quick reset, good for lighting

battery type CR123A, delivered new reporting 100% level

cheap 34$us
so far super happy

link to exact amazon item ordered

bonus… habmin + zwave = :sparkling_heart:

configuration parameters adjustable in habmin:
motion sensitivity
trigger ON duration
trigger action
motion detection
light Trigger level
motion trigger interval
light polling interval
light trigger
light report
LED notifications

I just set the last, LED notifications to 0 to save battery
sensor came default with LED flashing red on motion
will report if LED stops flashing
edit: LED stopped flashing = habmin config working great!

now mounted with sticky tape to ceiling in living room working good for lighting

more details:
** discovery took many many tries pushing the button on the inside. Once the device is discovered, and shows as unknown device in habmin or PaperUI, do NOT restart discovey, Click the button once, wait 30 seconds or so and click the button once again, wait, click, wait 30 seconds, repeat until device is recognized. For me it took probably 5 or 10 minutes (I was clicking button 3 times and restarting discovey)

Also want to add, this sensor worked with the zwave binding in stable 2.4
I subsequently had to load snapshot 2.5 binding to get Fibaro to be recognized so all other are tested on zwave binding 2.5.xxxx

sensor is round like a golf ball, it even has dimples like a golf ball but bigger. It splits in two by turning the rear cover. Inside is battery and little button for inclusion wake up. It has a magnetic mount.which has swivel type mount to back of golf ball shaped sensor (can’t really be placed somewhere, like on a shelf) which can be sticky tape or screwed (both included)

great, thanks for reporting, I have one on the way and should be here in another day or two and will report
UPDATE: Monoprice motion sensor has arrived… so far discovery found it and showing as Unknown Device

Philips Hue motion sensor
Update June 15 2019:
I put a second pair of batteries (from the same package of batteries) and instead of 67%, these two are reporting 100% battery level and motion and luminance are now working again.

earlier comment
Hue motion sensor has stopped reporting motion and luminance. Sensor died completely at about 4 months. I replaced the batteries (2 AAA) and it came back but motion no longer reported. Couple weeks after replacing the batteries, luminance stops working. Light level channel however continues to function(??) battery level is reporting 67% with few week old batteries

in Paper UI & habmin this device shows up as 3 separate ‘things’
in shows up as a ambient light sensor thing, a motion sensor thing and a temperature sensor thing all with individual channels (some overlapping such as battery level and low battery)

TLDR: good so far with caveat *

Protocol: zigbee

Channels reported:
illuminance
light level
dark
daylight
motion
temperature
last updated (for all 3 things?)
battery level
low battery

Discovery in openhab:
child’s play… popped right up but used Hue app as well

motion detection on motion channel, fast, quick response but time out built in. not good for real time lighting

Battery type 2 X AAA (last a little less then 6 months)

cheap 32$us

more details
sensors is big and obvious, 2.17" x 2.17" x .79" (55mm x 55mm x 20mm) square shape

interesting note from extended use, this sensor reports luminance in almost real time. I have thus ended up using the luminance channel to control my day time lighting. When the sun is bright, it lowers the light, when the sun goes behind a cloud, the lights come up

*caveat
I run Hue binding in openHAB but also run Hue app on tablet and use Hue bridge. Happy to report Hue lights continue to work when internet connection is lost. Running Hue app on tablet (occasionally) allows bulbs, bridge and sensor to be update which happens fairly regularly.

Wake it up, upgrade to the latest 2.5 snapshot.

Thanks sihui
but as stated in other thread

bundle:list | grep ZW*

returns

191 │ Active │ 80 │ 2.5.0.201901280820 │ ZWave Binding

we be rocking the SNAPSHOT 2.5

oh and pokey pokey with paper clip but still no joy but will continue, I’m sure it will pop up eventually
Update… got it!
comes up as a Zooz4

Good stuff, then wake it up :innocent:

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Fibaro FGMS-001

in habmin reported as FGMS001
TLDR: sensor is reporting motion

Protocol: zwave

Channel reported:
binary sensor (don’t use for motion)
temperature
seismic intensity
luminance
motion alarm (use for motion)
tamper alarm
battery level
general alarm

Discovery in openHAB:
I could not get this sensor to be recognized, it showed as unknown device and ultimately required a new snapshot version of the binding to be recognized. At least one post in link indicates it should have worked in 2.4 version binding
here is link:

Battery type CR123A

not cheap

More details:
This motion sensor is now reporting motion in openHAB. It was tricky to get recognized and took waking it up a couple times to finally start reporting but it is working. Will add more as I learn

Golf ball shaped sensor with cat eye LED
no magnetic mount, just a little clip it snaps in to that can be screwed to something

Monoprice 15902

Update June 15, 2019:
Monoprice has stopped at 5 month mark. I am going to replace the batteries and see if it comes back. Reporting intervals were adjusted in the beginning to save battery life. Grafana has battery level and all other channels until June 5 (11 days ago) In HabMin it reports node is not communicating with controller Putting batteries in it has brought it back from the dead. The sensors status immediately changed in HabMin and shows online. Motion so far does not seem to be reported. Illuminance, temperature and humidity have reported values so far
update Motion has begun to report! Batteries seem to have restored this sensor to full fuctionality

in habmin reported as ZSE40 Zooz 4 in one sensor
TLDR: works with openHAB but not first choice functionally

Protocol: zwave

Channels reported:
motion
luminance
humidity
temperature
motion alarm
battery level

Discovery in openHAB:
easy, install batteries, click discovery in openHAB, pops up as unknown, paper clip in little hole, pokey pokey, light blinks, device gets recognized

Battery type:
2 x AAA, delivered new reporting 100%
last a little less then 6 months

cheap: $30us

kind of big and clunky looking, square 2.25" x 2.25" x 1.5" (57mm x 57mm x38mm)
comes with two AAA batteries and a little piece of double sided tape

motion reports on motion channel and on motion alarm channel

More details:
This motion sensor seems to have a short detection range, you must be fairly close to trigger it. How close? Like 5’ away (1.5m) This is at odds with some of my other motion sensors that trigger thru an open door from the next room 30’ away (9m) It also seems sluggish the first time detecting motion although it does seem to get quicker after a few triggers.
The Monoprice motion sensor also seems to have a ‘cool down period’. In other words, once motion is triggered it requires a period of no motion before it will detect motion again. This is sort of like the way you would expect an outside motion triggered light to work. This behavior does not work to well with a automated lighting system where you wish the lights to stay on as long as there is activity in the room.
I have tried adjusting the Configuration Parameters (from in Habmin) and the Monoprice is much less configurable then some of my other sensors. Specifically, the Monoprice motion sensor has the following Configuration Parameters:
1: Temperature scale (Celsius or Fahrenheit)
2: Temperature offset
3: Humidity
4: Light sensor
5: Trigger interval
6: Motion Sensor Sensitivity
7: LED

Some of my other zwave sensors have many parameters including reset in milliseconds but the scale for trigger interval on the Monoprice is a number. From the factory this was set to 3. I changed it to 1 (it does not allow zero) to see if it would reset quicker. No difference has been noticed. I turned the LED off and that worked. I also set it to sensitivity to ‘highest’ which also seemed to make little difference.

In spite of all of the above, I’ve continued to attempt to use this sensor. I decided to try it in the bathroom for a couple reasons. The first reason is in the bathroom a shorter range of detection will matter less. (the bathroom is a small room) Also the matter of the long reset matters less because usually you don’t spend hours in the bathroom. The Monoprice also has a humidity sensor and I have visions of the sensor being able to detect a rise in humidity and therefore trigger openHAB to signal I am in the shower and adjust the automation accordingly.
I’m happy to report the sensor does seem to report humidity but after getting influx and grafana working in order to see if the output is something usable for detecting a shower running, I’m not sure it will work quick enough to be of use.
The Monoprice is apparently the same exact product as the Zooz. I actually tried to buy the Zooz on amazon and it was unavailable. When I tried to order the Zooz motion sensor on amazon a little pop up box said amazon was not currently selling the product because to many members had reported problems. I ordered the Monoprice instead.

Over all I’m not thrilled with the Monoprice but I haven’t thrown it out or tried to return it yet either

habmin rocks for zwave!

Do your monoprice sensors report battery level ok? I’ve never been able to get mine to report anything but 0 for some reason

Sorry, I meant to add that to my post about the Monoprice, yes it does report battery level (which is currently listed as 100%)

Oliver, I followed the link in your post and checked out the Neo online. They actually show two different versions of PIR sensors. What is funny to me is both sensors look very much like the fibaro and dome sensors which themselves also look very similar to one another.
I had noticed the Fibaro and the Dome look very similar. The biggest difference is the Dome has a magnet mount in the back which attaches to a swivel and the Fibaro instead offers a small plastic clip. The LED is different and the case is slightly different but I had wondered if they perhaps were made by the same manufacturer. Rebranding these devices seems common. What is odd is the two models sold by Neo, one closely resembles the Fibaro with a clip mount and the other resembles the Dome with the magnetic mount
How does your Neo motion sensor work?

Does this device require I have the “Hue Hub” to make it work… or if I install the Hue Binding into my openHAB2… it will work without the HUB?
Thanks! Dave

Well…another big issue I realize… the Hue system is ZigBee-based… and this will directly interfere with normal 2.4Ghz WiFi. Yikes. I have Ubiquiti Unifi WiFi Access Points throughout my house… and if I add any ZibBee stuff… they will directly interfere with my WiFi.

WiFi’s three non-overlapping channels (1, 6, and 11) use the exact same frequencies as ZigBee channels 11-22. I’ve now read that ZigBee channel 26 is usually relatively unaffected by WiFi, but many ZigBee devices do not support it.

Can you specifically select the frequency (ie Channel 26) to be used by these ZigBee Hue sensors?

I’m not sure I want to get into the issues of my WiFi not working or the Hue stuff not working reliably… Hmm.

What is the experience out in openHAB land of mixing ZigBee and WiFi???

thanks
Dave