Any Zigbee motion sensor with fast refresh interval?

La-te · August 31, 2021, 9:30pm

If you don’t care about the cost too much you could just add more Hue motion sensors to cover the area completely

jonatanpradasn · August 31, 2021, 9:57pm

It doesn’t matter much to me, but I want to avoid this for several reasons:

Few possible number of sensors in sight.
I am going to feed them with a 3V power supply to avoid changing the battery even though it may last more than two years.
Spend a little less money.

After more tests with the Philips Hue sensor, I am seeing better results by placing it in another area, the range is about 4 meters from directional way and about 2.5 from the sides, but being so directional, it does not work correctly for me in a corridor of about 6 meters.
If the Hue sensor had a greater detection angle, I could place in an intermediate area.

I have bought an Aqara Zigbee sensor that has a greater detection angle and I will make the corresponding hardware modification so that it refresh every 5 seconds.

When I receive it I will share the results here.
In the meantime, I’ve added a few Zigbee sensors to the list in post 1 along with their refresh time according to the sellers.

Payne747 · August 31, 2021, 10:02pm

Anyone tried Samsung motion sensor or multi-purpose sensor? Interested to know what their interval rate is.

jonatanpradasn · August 31, 2021, 10:19pm

Can you share a link or full name/model of Samsung motion sensor?

mwav3 · August 31, 2021, 10:47pm

Smartthings sensors and devices are now branded under Aeotec

I have the multi contact sensors and they work great, but no experience with the motion sensor. They were unavailable to purchase for awhile due to the changeover from Samsung to Aeotec

nickrout · August 31, 2021, 11:01pm

You can always build your own as per this suggestion Any Zigbee motion sensor with fast refresh interval? - #3 by AdmiralStipe but based on a cc2530 so it is zigbee based. PTVO firmware https://ptvo.info/

mwav3 · August 31, 2021, 11:16pm

This looks like a very good option. If you get the sr501 that is pictured on the esp website it looks like you can adjust the retrigger interval anywhere from 0.5 to 200 seconds by turning a dial on the device itself. Do you think this one would work with the firmware you linked?

jonatanpradasn · August 31, 2021, 11:21pm

Unfortunately this sensor is not sold in my country and neither is AliExpress

nickrout · August 31, 2021, 11:23pm

Just a quick word first - you’ll need to power it unless you buy the premium version. Premium version – Zigbee Hobbyist. Rock Pi 4 SBC

Payne747 · September 1, 2021, 8:11am

Thanks, I wasn’t aware of this. I see they kept the Samsung price tag though!

jonatanpradasn · October 25, 2021, 9:05pm

New update here: Any Zigbee motion sensor with fast refresh interval? - #30 by jonatanpradasn

Finally, after several tests, the aqara sensor is the winner

I hack the sensor using this tutorial: Xiaomi Motion Hack - häufiger Events vom Sensor | haus-automatisierung.com [4K] - YouTube
and liquid silver (transmitter glue) This allows you to join circuits without soldering, you can buy this on aliexpress for a fairly cheap price or in an electronics store.
In my case, I use zigbee2mqtt, so for the hack to take effect, I have to add this line under the device in configuration.yaml:

    friendly_name: SensorAqara2
    occupancy_timeout: 15

And in home assistant, I set it up in such a way, that it shuts down when it stops showing busy.
This is my yaml automation:

alias: Sensor Pasillo
description: ''
trigger:
  - type: motion
    platform: device
    device_id: 3bd748X
    entity_id: binary_sensor.sensoraqara3_occupancy
    domain: binary_sensor
  - type: no_motion
    platform: device
    device_id: 3bd748X
    entity_id: binary_sensor.sensoraqara3_occupancy
    domain: binary_sensor
condition: []
action:
  - choose:
      - conditions:
          - type: is_motion
            condition: device
            device_id: 3bd748X
            entity_id: binary_sensor.sensoraqara3_occupancy
            domain: binary_sensor
        sequence:
          - type: turn_on
            device_id: c93b6dX
            entity_id: light.pasillo2gang_l1
            domain: light
            brightness_pct: 100
      - conditions:
          - type: is_no_motion
            condition: device
            device_id: 3bd748X
            entity_id: binary_sensor.sensoraqara3_occupancy
            domain: binary_sensor
        sequence:
          - type: turn_off
            device_id: c93b6dX
            entity_id: light.pasillo2gang_l1
            domain: light
    default: []
mode: restart

The 5-second counter or the time you have set, will start counting from the last time it detected movement.

I have to add that the range and angle is incredible, it reaches about 5/7 meters without problem (except if you walk towards it, but placing it in a high place should work well)

With the Philips sensor you need to pass very close (about 2/3 meters) and it has a very directional angle.

A cons of the sensor aqara, is the temperature sensor (some have up to 10 degrees of error) The hue sensor is somewhat more accurate for temperature.

Hope this can help someone, regards.

berkans · November 9, 2021, 1:40am

Hue sensors can be adjusted with hacs, even down to 1sn. Am I right ?

nickrout · November 9, 2021, 5:31am

Nothing can be adjusted by HACS.

There may be a custom component that is installable via HACS that you are thinking of

nickrout · November 9, 2021, 5:58am

In fact the device lets you vary the dead time between 1 and 1440 seconds.

berkans · November 9, 2021, 1:57pm

Yes that is what I am talking about. There are some rep on hacks which claims they can do.

nickrout · November 10, 2021, 8:15am

I have no idea what you mean. What does rep mean? What does hacks mean in this context?

Perhaps you are looking for this

berkans · November 10, 2021, 9:25am

Sorry for the shortcuts. I was trying to say that there are some repository sources under Hacs in Home Assistant. They claim to shorten the cool down period of hue motrion sensors to 1s.

jonatanpradasn · June 6, 2022, 1:41am

Good news, Aqara seems to have listened to us and has relaunched its sensor improved.

Now can be set to detect motion again from 1 second to 200.
Allows you to adjust the sensitivity (perfect for those who have animals at home)
Larger battery capacity
https://www.aqara.com/eu/product/motion-sensor-p1
It may be a bit difficult to find it in stock and the price is a bit high.
I will continue to use the previous sensors with the hack since for me 5 seconds is more than enough and the rest of the novelties are not very noticeable in my case.

But without a doubt, Aqara has done a great job and now many people will be able to acquire a quality sensor with all the necessary functions without hacking.

k8gg · June 6, 2022, 11:05am

I am happy that they have a better offering, but wouldn’t say they did a great job. Implementation of those Aqara devices rarely follow zigbee standard completely (i.e. claiming zigbee compatible, but in reality only partially…), and as such leaving the zigbee communities to figure those “issues” out.

This one (P1) is no different. A quick search I have found these, and I hope they got addressed soon:

mwav3 · June 6, 2022, 2:46pm

These Aqara sensors might be different - they state they are “zigbee 3.0”. I would be interested in hearing first hand from anyone using them though before buying any, but it seems like a move in the right direction.