Best indoor Motion Sensor

john_doe.

Was wondering what people opinion were on best indoor Motion sensor.

Was looking for something that is small & discrete.

Want to connect this to fire lights on and maybe other things placing a number of them around the house.
Was looking at the hue sensor or the aeotec sensor.

bk

Well to start it is important to know what you want to hook them up to, what hub you are using and what you will want to do with them?

Also the best sensors and the smallest sensors usually aren't the same thing. For instance, the Xiaomi motion sensor is probably the smallest and most discrete, but it is also probably the shortest detection range.

On the other hand the large wired dualtech motion sensors that come with traditional alarm sensors are by far the most accurate and reliable ones.

So really it is a bit of a trade off between the two. Really it depends on what you mean by "best". Some people might think Xiaomi are the "best" as they are by far the cheapest and smallest. While others might hate them because of their limited range.

BTW I've Xiaomi, Smart Things, Hue and traditional alarm system motion sensors. So I can answer questions on those if you need.

john_doe.

bk wrote: »

Well to start it is important to know what you want to hook them up to, what hub you are using and what you will want to do with them?

Also the best sensors and the smallest sensors usually aren't the same thing. For instance, the Xiaomi motion sensor is probably the smallest and most discrete, but it is also probably the shortest detection range.

On the other hand the large wired dualtech motion sensors that come with traditional alarm sensors are by far the most accurate and reliable ones.

So really it is a bit of a trade off between the two. Really it depends on what you mean by "best". Some people might think Xiaomi are the "best" as they are by far the cheapest and smallest. While others might hate them because of their limited range.

BTW I've Xiaomi, Smart Things, Hue and traditional alarm system motion sensors. So I can answer questions on those if you need.

Thanks just starting out regarding system.
I was looking at the hue sensors as a way to start off for light control.

Have a few projects in mind including gate Automation, heating , security .

Wanted to build something that works together , have started off with the 6 nest smoke alarms.

Trying to decide on heating system in parallel but find it tricky.

Motion sensor to me is important as I'd like to

A./ Turn in lights in Hall kitchen when detected.
B./ Be interested to see can have motion/humidity sensor in bathroom that can turn on extractor fans when shower is running .

Right now my main feature is something that is neat modern and can tie in with further home automation. Really something that doesn't looks obtrusive in house like old PIR sensors.

Don't want to install something maybe like hue sensor and then rip it out in another couple of years as a more integrated solution exists.

bk

Right, got you.

So the Hue sensor works very well with the Hue hub and lights. It can also measures temperature, but not humidity and the temperature is not available to anything else to use anyway.

It sounds like you will also end up getting a SmartThings hub too, that will give you lots of options with sensors.

The SmartThings sensor also doesn't support humidity, temperature only.

So you will probably be looking for an Aeotec sensor for the bathroom.

Perhaps the best bet is to mix and match. Hue Hub + SmartThings hub, use the Aoetec in the bathroom and the Hue motion sensor in the kitchen. That is similar to what I'm doing.

I'll post later a picture of all my different sensors.

Stoner

john_doe. wrote:

Want to connect this to fire lights on and maybe other things placing a number of them around the house. Was looking at the hue sensor or the aeotec sensor.

Well the iot ones are limited

Look at the CT electronics but they lack iot functions

bk

Here are all my motion sensors. They aren't normally together like this, I've put them together for the pic.

Form Top:
- Smart Things Sensor
- Traditional wired alarm sensor
- Xiaomi Sensor
- Philips Hue Sensor

To be honest this picture doesn't really do them justice. The traditional sensor is MUCH larger, both higher and wider, which the picture doesn't really show.

The Smart Things and Hue sensors are about the same size. Quiet nice and reasonable small. The Xiaomi is smaller again, but less capable.

paulbok

What range are you getting on the Xiaomi sensor BK?
They claim 7m

bk

paulbok wrote: »

What range are you getting on the Xiaomi sensor BK?
They claim 7m

It is hard to test, but I'd say more like 3 to 4m. I've a large living room. The SmartThings sensor completely covers it, The Xiaomi sensor only covers roughly half it.

Though that can be fine, depends on your usage, it can even be an advantage. And remember because they are so cheap, you can always buy two to cover one room if you need.

BTW I'm not really recommending these in terms of security sensors, at least not as primary ones, more for HA tasks.

bk

Some better pictures of the sensors, along with a €2 coin and ATM sized card.

john_doe.

bk wrote: »

Some better pictures of the sensors, along with a €2 coin and ATM sized card.

Thanks BK that's more than helpful.
I am looking at the hue as you suggested for downstairs as it's light activation and the aeotec for bathrooms for fans.

Wondering for people that have motion sensors with temp measurement are they feeding the temp measurement back into a heating system?

bk

I'm not, but you could, depending on what Smart Thermostat you have. For instance trigger the thermostat on if the babies room falls below a certain temp.

bk

BTW john, do you also have or plan on getting a Smart Things hub?

If you do, you could also consider the SmartThings sensor for downstairs. Same cost as the Hue sensor, but wold allow you to do other things with it then just trigger lights. There are pros and cons to them both.