Suggestions for Outdoor Rated Z-Wave Motion Sensor

The latest generation of Insteon Motion Sensors (Mdl 2844-222) are not rated for outdoor use. I have had the first gen Insteon motion sensors installed around the perimeter of my house for over 6 years. There are now failing–the 110º + Arizona heat may have accelerated their demise!

Anyway, I want to try a Z-wave motion sensor rated for outdoor use. I mean REAL outdoor use not under an eave or other structural cover. Any suggestions from the experts out there? Found the GE 34193 but it is indoor rated. Amazon has an off-brand outdoor rated sensor–ZOOZ ZSE29. Anyone used that on an Indigo Z-Wave system?

Thanks for your help!

I have deployed a couple of those Zooz units. No major issues. They are a little large, and I seem to recall that initial inclusion was a bit finicky, but they work. Keep them out of the direct sunlight, of course. Unlike a lot of Z-Wave device manufacturers, support staff for Zooz actually exists, and they will answer emails in a timely fashion.

Note also that they ask you to keep them out of the rain. There's a gasket around the innards, but I'm not sure they would survive massive water exposure. It doesn't rain here, so one of mine is in an alcove, and the other is exposed.

See details here on their site:
https://www.thesmartesthouse.com/collections/motion-sensors/products/zooz-z-wave-plus-s2-outdoor-motion-sensor-zse29-battery-or-usb-power

Although I do not have the Zooz motion sensors you mentioned, I do have many other Zooz devices and I am pleased with them.


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Thanks to both Dual and rhanson. I ordered a ZOOZ motion sensor. Not really what I need as my installation is out in full contact with sun and rain (mostly sun in AZ!). May have to relocate to a shaded overhang nearby the area I want covered by motion sensor. I will test it in my system but I'm a newbie on Z-wave protocol. Standby for more questions! Thanks again.

I use a HomeSeer FLS-100+ motion sensor that is outdoor rated. You can hook it up to a floodlight if you'd like or use it alone as a motion sensor. It's 120V and it has a standard connection to any electrical box.

https://shop.homeseer.com/products/homeseer-hs-fls100-z-wave-plus-floodlight-sensor

Ralph

Thanks Ralph. That looks like a good device for OP. And for me too. I was not familiar with it.


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Maybe you don't have too much vegetation or animal life there, but if you've got security cameras you might want to consider video person/vehicle detection. There are now some really reliable options (eg the recent SecuritySpy releases) that - for me - produce way fewer false alarms than PIRs outdoor....and no extra hardware outdoors.

Thanks for the inputs, alder and agame.

aldera: My situation will not allow a 120V power sensor as the area I'm covering has no 120V power nearby.

agame: I already have security cameras installed around my house. I'm using SecuritySpy (V 5.2.4) but haven't tried using the motion sensing to control outdoor lighting. Any configuration tips/hints will be greatly appreciated!

The ZOOZ ZSE29 has done fine so far. Inclusion wasn't too difficult and the responses of the sensor are pretty decent. Had a storm come through at night 2 days ago and soaked the ZSE29. So far no problems with it after the drenching. However, I'm trying to determine how to set up a notification in Indigo so when the battery power drops to 20% remaining, Indigo would generate an email to let me know.

Thanks again for the info!

agame: I already have security cameras installed around my house. I'm using SecuritySpy (V 5.2.4) but haven't tried using the motion sensing to control outdoor lighting. Any configuration tips/hints will be greatly appreciated!

You have the right version. Assuming you've got the Security Spy plugin working, all you need to do is enable motion detection for the respective cameras in SS, and configure an Indigo trigger as 'Camera Motion' and subcategory 'Human detected in camera picture' - or use vehicle if you have a camera on your driveway. You can configure detection masks in SS (the detection algorithm will operate on the whole image - but is triggered by motion within the unmasked area), as well as fiddle with probability thresholds depending on your appetite for more false positives versus negatives. As I said, I find it WAY more accurate than outdoor PIRs, and it doesn't seem to add materially to server load (though I guess that would depend on your trigger rate).

However, I'm trying to determine how to set up a notification in Indigo so when the battery power drops to 20% remaining, Indigo would generate an email to let me know.

Here is a very simple example. It will only send the email if at least one device meets the target level criteria. It also presumes you have enabled Indigo's email function. I'd suggest adding it to a schedule that runs once per day.

Code: Select all

target_level = 10
email_address = "email_address@apple.com"

low_battery_list = [dev.name for dev in indigo.devices.itervalues() if dev.batteryLevel and dev.batteryLevel <= target_level]

if low_battery_list:
    indigo.server.log(u"Sending low battery email.")
    email_body = u"The following devices have low batteries:\n{0}".format(low_battery_list)
    indigo.server.sendEmailTo(email_address, subject="Indigo Low Battery Alert", body=email_body)

agame: I already have security cameras installed around my house. I'm using SecuritySpy (V 5.2.4) but haven't tried using the motion sensing to control outdoor lighting. Any configuration tips/hints will be greatly appreciated!

You have the right version. Assuming you've got the Security Spy plugin working, all you need to do is enable motion detection for the respective cameras in SS, and configure an Indigo trigger as 'Camera Motion' and subcategory 'Human detected in camera picture' - or use vehicle if you have a camera on your driveway. You can configure detection masks in SS (the detection algorithm will operate on the whole image - but is triggered by motion within the unmasked area), as well as fiddle with probability thresholds depending on your appetite for more false positives versus negatives. As I said, I find it WAY more accurate than outdoor PIRs, and it doesn't seem to add materially to server load (though I guess that would depend on your trigger rate).

Thanks for the tip! I've used the vehicle motion detection to give an audible warning when someone drives up to the house. I never thought to use SS cams to trigger an Insteon event to turn on lights! What an oversight on my part! I'll make that change today and give an update after a few days of testing. Cheers!

However, I'm trying to determine how to set up a notification in Indigo so when the battery power drops to 20% remaining, Indigo would generate an email to let me know.

Here is a very simple example. It will only send the email if at least one device meets the target level criteria. It also presumes you have enabled Indigo's email function. I'd suggest adding it to a schedule that runs once per day.

Code: Select all

target_level = 10
email_address = "email_address@apple.com"

low_battery_list = [dev.name for dev in indigo.devices.itervalues() if dev.batteryLevel and dev.batteryLevel <= target_level]

if low_battery_list:
    indigo.server.log(u"Sending low battery email.")
    email_body = u"The following devices have low batteries:\n{0}".format(low_battery_list)
    indigo.server.sendEmailTo(email_address, subject="Indigo Low Battery Alert", body=email_body)

DaveL17: Thanks for the battery level script. Very good idea to only have it run once per day. I'm not a code guy by any stretch so I assume I add this script to the "Conditions" box in Indigo after creating a trigger and schedule. Thanks again for the help!

DaveL17: Thanks for the battery level script. Very good idea to only have it run once per day. I'm not a code guy by any stretch so I assume I add this script to the "Conditions" box in Indigo after creating a trigger and schedule. Thanks again for the help!

I would encourage a once-per-day schedule (I run mine around midnight) and have the action be an embedded script that runs the above code. You can find it under Server Actions --> Script and File Actions..