Motion sensor speed

#1

1) Give a description of the problem
My motion sensors seem slower than they should be.

2) What is the expected behavior?
I’m not expecting it to be instantaneous but it’s often very slow.

3) What is happening/not happening?
I’m new to webCoRE and it’s great but since transitioning my motion sensors over to it, the delay can be up to 15 seconds before turning my lights on, which doesn’t seem right.

4) Post a Green Snapshot of the pistonimage

Is there anything I can do to optimize this?

Thank you!

#2

What type of motion sensor are you using?

#4

These sensors definitely do not have the fastest response time, but a delay of 15 seconds would lead me to believe that you may have an issue with:

  1. placement (I have found that due to the way smartthings designed that sensor you need to have it placed so that you cross in front of it for fastest response. They did this to prevent false alarms from what I understand.

  2. You wait time (15 seconds) might be causing the piston to get “caught” in the the reset or blind time of the sensor try increasing the wait to 30 seconds to see if that helps.

  3. Is it possible that you are having “range” issues that are causing the hub to not detect the state change of the sensor reliably? Do you see the sensor showing motion in smartthings app during that 15 second delay before the light comes on?

#5

Hey, thank you for the reply.

I think the placement is okay as I haven’t moved the sensor since using it through the Hue app. I’m having the issue mainly with a Phillips Hue Motion Sensor, but I’ve also had some delays with the SmartThings Motion Sensor.

Getting caught in the reset/blind time actually seems feasible so I’m going to try increasing the time like you said and do some testing. I’ll also keep an eye on the app and see if the sensor shows motion before the lights turn on.

Thanks again!

#6

Trying to use the hue motion sensor with webCoRE? If so, that would likely be a big part of your issue. If I understand correctly, the DTH to expose the hue motion sensor to smartthings uses polling which is only going to allow it to get state updates every so often. If it’s set to poll too frequently this can cause smartthings to rate limit which could cause all kinds of problems.

#7

Well that would explain it. May have to look into replacing it with a SmartThings sensor in that case. Are any other (cheaper) sensors recommended?

#8

Personally I’ve had great success with the GE Portable Motion Sensor, it’s z-wave plus. If you check your local Walmart you can probably pick them up for $19 each if available (clearance item). I’ve also had good luck with Fibaro and Dome but their not cheap. Best Buy has smartthings sensor on sale for $19.99 this week so it may be hard to beat if your happy with it’s performance.

#9

Thanks for that. We don’t seem to have the same selection here in the UK, and the SmartThings sensors are about £30 usually ($40). I’ll have to keep an eye out for deals!

#10

sorry, didn’t realize you were on the other side of the pond!
Not sure if monoprice will ship internationally, but I’ve also heard good things about their 4 in 1 sensors

#11

Those look great but shipping is a little costly at $44.