I am considering some movement sensors so I can trigger some LED strips around my home, and I wondered what people tend to recommend. I also have some related questions that I would appreciate some guidance on.
What are the most popular movement sensors that people tend to use?
Is Zigbee better than WiFi for these sensors, and if so why?
How long do the batteries tend to last on them, and how do you know when it’s low?
Are there any fairly low profile models, that wouldn’t stick out from the wall much if I were using them alongside a staircase?
Depends on the used technology, like Z-Wave, Zigbee, Wifi or something else. I use Philips Hue (Zigbee) and Homematic for outdoors and Philips Hue or IKEA Trådfri indoors.
Zigbee has the benefit of being a meshed network and a protocol family, whereas Wifi is just a network technology. It would be more appropriate to compare Zigbee to Z-Wave and WiFi to LAN.
2 Years for my Zigbee and Homematic devices and both do report battery level or send low-battery alarms. I am not even sure, if Wifi battery powered sensors do exist.
The Philips Hue indoor motion sensor is quite thin, but still notable. Sample applies for Trådfri.
As well as which movement sensors to consider, my next step (if I am going down the Zigbee route) is to decide whether to go for something like a ConBee II / RasBee II or an IKEA Tradfri Gateway.
I have a Raspbee II and it has the benefit of compactness but the drawback of less range. I would not recommend a branded gateway, as it may limit device support.
I guess I am inclined to go with the most popular ZigBee solution, as it just tends to be better supported in the community that way - safety in numbers!