Hello,
So I have 5 hue bulbs (3 colour, 2 white), Amazon echo and now looking to get some GU10 bulbs for the kitchen that come on with a motion sensor. I’m running HA via RPi2 and not sure which is best way to go for motion sensors.
Do I get the philips motion sensor? or Z-Stick Gen5 with some motion sensor? Any ideas please?
EDIT: will need to be battery powered.
Cheers
Mark
hue motiuon sensor is aprund 40
zwave are more expensive.
Other route is get cheap chinese 6$ 433MHz sensor and connect it to HASS via a RF receiver.
In other words, if you need 1 sensor, probably go with the Hue. If you need like 10, you talk of a difference between 400 USD (10x40) versus 60 USD (10x6), and maybe is worth it to go the 433 route.
Philips motion sensor is cheap, but it only does motion. If you spend a bit more money and go the ZStick route, you can get a multisensor which will track not only motion, but temp, humidity, light, etc. Also, having ZWave will open you to the option of adding other sensors like door/window sensors, garage door tilt and many others.
Most ZWave sensors allow for battery or AC operation.
the Hue is also light and temp
thanks both… so I could get a phillips as a test and take it from there? Because I could always mix and match with HA? This is the reason I thought of HA and not something like smarthings, could have zwave/philips and 433?
Yes in HA you can mix up pretty everything
does the philips one work well with HA? Just been reading it can be a bit hit and miss? or am I just missing the point as usual 
I don’t have any
I bought a Hue motion sensor when it came out.
Regarding price and build quality it was quite nice, but - at least at that time - the support through the Hue (iOS) app sucked and limited the use of the sensor a lot.
I sold the sensor again and went for a ZWave multisensor (Fibaro FGMS), but I already had a ZWave USB stick (Aeotec) at that time.
I’m not sure how far HA supports the hue sensor now, but you need to keep in mind that the whole Hue-integration into HA works by polling the hue bridge every 10s or so.
This means you couldn’t really use the Hue motion sensor to instantly trigger an action from HA.
It’s no use walking 10s into a dark room until the light turns on 
So for these kinds of automations you’re limited to using the Hue app - or you could go deep and talk directly to the hue bridge via the API.
There might also be third-party apps available now that get more out of the Hue sensor than the Philips app.
Regarding ZWave sensors, the most common ones I think are the Aeotec Multisensor and the Fibaro FGMS.
The Aeotec can detect humitity too which the Fibaro doesn’t.
According to various sources, the Aeotec drains its batteries pretty fast, so its best used with USB power.
I’ve had the Fibaro for three months now on battery power and it still is at 100%.
If you don’t want to go the ZWave road and you could live with a usb powered device, you can build your own motion sensor from a ESP8266 nodeMCU board and a motion sensor.
This thing would talk to an MQTT server and costs about $10 (plus the USB power adapter).
Sebastian
thanks… I cannot go usb powered the places i need motion sensors, so i am stuck with battery.
sounds like Philips is out if used with HA - pity
so zwave usb stick and either aeotec (maybe) or odd looking fibaro?
any other options please?
cheers
Mark
If you are unable to go AC, then I think you’ll be disappointed either way. Zwave can poll every three on battery, but that’s not really suitable for motion detection in my opinion. Any more than that and you’ll start to go through batteries quickly.
I just saw this article, and it may present another option but you’ll need to read it through to see if it will work for your use case. You could integrate them into HA using IFTTT.
I am running ZWave for all of my switches and sensors.
My motion sensors are “Ecolink Z-Wave PIR Motion Detector, Pet Immune (PIRZWAVE2-ECO)”. Battery powered, reliable, work well. I have been running them for a year without issue.
You could also go for a Kerui P829:
You’ll need a 433mhz rf receiver (either a usb stick, a receiver connected to the pi or a esp8266 mqtt bridge https://1technophile.blogspot.fr/2016/04/433tomqttto433-bidirectional-gateway.html )
Hi,
Do you have a link for a USB 433MHz receiver?
I ordered some receiver but I am lazy in soldering and prefer a “clean” product not cables running around my pi3
p.s. if DIY costs 5 USD, a ready made should not cost 70USD+
I am using the Philips motion sensors for some weeks now. They perform very well. I programmed them with an iOS app, iConnectHue, where time windows and actions can be defined, but I guess all can be done in HA as well.
The batteries claim to last for several years, let’s see how far they get, so far I have great experience regarding battery life with the dimmer switches, after > 6 months all are at 100%. Battery status of the motion sensors is also exposed to HA.
In HA I use the motion sensors to help setting my presence when I get home, detect intruders or tell me if my cleaning help is present when I am not at home (push notification), and monitor temp and lux in several rooms. The sensors are always monitoring, even when they should be silent according to the iOS app. I noticed that temp and lux monitoring are smart. When there are no changes in temp or lux, they do not write changes in HA history.
Next steps are to have my hue lights switch on based on room light levels close to the outside window, and to increase and decrease brightness based on light levels on dark cloudy days.
Ruud
I think you expect to have too much, yes 70USD is the price to pay when someone less lazy soldered it for you ^^ (and created an app to configure the bridge, organized a production line and ensured customer support).
You can use a Wemos D1 Mini, you’ll only have to solder 3 cable to receive 433Mhz signal, and another 3 if you also wish to emit 433Mhz signal.
Here is an example of 433Mhz receiver/emitter. Here is another receiver, if find this one to be the best I could find.
To avoid at all cost is this kind of module (it’s hard to have a signal 1 meter from the receiver!):
Here you can order the Wemos d1 mini.
If you are really allergic to solder, you might use a CC1101 serial receiver. They are only 10€ but as far as I know, you’ll have to write some code to make it work.
See here for (a little) more info.
As I wrote earlier - I’m using the Fibaro motion sensor on battery power since three months non-stop.
It’s placed at the entrance to my living room to turn on lights if needed when someone enters.
I also use it to monitor light and temperature levels.
It’s not polled by HA - it regularly sends reports (intervals and thresholds configurable).
Motion detection happens instantly, i.e. the lights turn on with a delay well under 1s after motion is detected.
And I’m still at 100% battery level…
It’s not using AA or AAA batteries though; it has a single CR123 cell, so a replacement might be slightly more expensive than a AA(A) battery.
Sebastian
To the OP: If you plan to add more sensors (door/window sensors, locks etc.) in the future, I’d go with ZWave.
If the motion sensor is your “final piece”, get the Hue motion sensor and iConnectHue to configure it.
I kind of disagree. Why the Sonoff cost 5 US
yes I bought the Superheterodyne type, its coming.
I think I will go the route for 433MHz sensors: dorr/window and PIR mainly, hoping to find a light sensor too. And fill each room of the house with it.
Hope our head will not fry from all these signals ahah 