Looking for recommendation and example config for Z-Wave motion sensor

Configuration
1

Hi all. I’ve been playing around with HA running on a Raspberry Pi for the past 9 months, attempting to automate lighting in my home using Z-Wave. I have the Aeotec Z-Stick Series 5 controller and it’s working well with a variety of Z-Wave smart switches from multiple manufacturers. I can successfully control the lights from the HA web UI, HA app, and also from Siri and the Apple Home app via the HomeKit integration. Simple automations to turn lights on/off based on time or sunset events also work. Happy so far…

Trying to get Z-wave sensors working has been a frustrating experience. I’ve tried various door/window, and motion sensors from Aeotec and other manufactures, but I can’t get any of the sensors to reliably report events. Even in a simple testing environment, where the sensors are in the same room an arm length away from the controller with nothing between the sensor and the controllers.

Does anyone have a recommendation on a Z-Wave motion sensor that works well with Aeotec Z-Stick 5 and HA?

If so, I’d love some details on what motion sensors are known to work well and see some example configuration for these devices.

Looking at the docs here on Z-Wave configuration, especially for sensors, are not easy to follow because of all the config options and choices. After much trying and pulling my hair out for months, I still can’t get a light to turn out when motion is detected. :frowning:

I’m hoping starting with motion sensors that are known to work with the Aeotec Z-Stick and some example config, will lead to something more productive.

Thank you…

2

It’s funny, I had the same problem. I got a Conbee II and run zigbee motion sensors (a mix of SmartThings and Iris). Mixed in some repeaters for zigbee and now all works well.

3

Are you using the Aeotec Multisensor 6? I have some of these and they work fine. What are you using OZW Beta or the native Z-Wave integration? I can confirm they work with both.

4

Thanks for the replies. I’m running the native Z-Wave integration. I haven’t tried playing with the OZW Beta which also appears to require MQTT which I also haven’t tried yet.

I have not tried the Aeotec Multisensor 6, but have tried the Aeotec TriSensor. The issues I’m having is the device appears to physically detect motion, since I can observe the following happening when waving my hand in front of the sensor:

  1. LED flickers upon motion (Aeotec TriSensor flashes Green LED)
  2. I see the following in OZW_Log.txt file:
2020-11-29 12:24:56.878 Detail, Node012,   Received: 0x01, 0x10, 0x00, 0x04, 0x00, 0x0c, 0x0a, 0x32, 0x02, 0x21, 0x74, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x88
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail,
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail, Node012, Refreshed Value: old value=false, new value=false, type=bool
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail, Node012, Changes to this value are not verified
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Info, Node012, Received Meter report from node 12: Power=0.000W
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail, Node012, Refreshed Value: old value=0.000, new value=0.000, type=decimal
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail, Node012, Changes to this value are not verified
2020-11-29 12:24:56.879 Detail, Node012, Notification: ValueChanged
2020-11-29 12:24:56.894 Warning, Exception: Manager.cpp:2499 - 102 - ValueID passed to GetValueFloatPrecision is not a Decimal Value
2020-11-29 12:24:56.894 Warning, Exception: Manager.cpp:2499 - 102 - ValueID passed to GetValueFloatPrecision is not a Decimal Value
2020-11-29 12:24:56.899 Detail, Node012, Notification: ValueChanged

When I’ve tried other motion sensors and door/window sensors I see similar log entries in OZW_Log.txt. The old and new values reported are always the same (0.000). Other than the node number (Node012) and the string of bytes following the “Detail, Node012, Received” line, all my sensors result in the same log entries.)

I do not see any entities change state within HA. I’ve added the following entities to a card in the Lovelace UI:

  • binary_sensor.aeotec_limited_zwa005_trisensor_sensor
  • sensor.aeotec_limited_zwa005_trisensor_burglar

But these never change and the binary_sensory entities always report “off” no matter what – for all the Z-Wave sensors I’ve ever tried. I’m assuming I would see the binary_sensor change to “on” when motion is reported. Is my assumption correct?

I’m sure I must be doing something wrong, but have no clue.

I’m also unsure about whether I need to manually edit the YAML config file for adding new Z-Wave devices. Up until now, I’ve been relying on the Z-Wave integration UI within HA for this and not touching the YAML files when adding new Z-Wave devices. This has worked fine for all of the Z-Wave smart switches and dimmers I’m using.

Reading through the docs and posts from others it appears that most people are manualy editing the YAML files. What has worked for you?

Thanks.

5

Most newer ZWave plus sensors do not report binary state anymore by default, even if the entity is still exposed by OZW/HA (it will always be off). The status is reported using a different entity, often *_burglar or *_access_control, but it depends on the sensor. Your best option is to just look at all the entities exported by the device and see which one changes. Some devices can be configured to report binary values as a legacy fallback, but you may lose other functionality if you do this (for example tamper detection).

FWIW, I use Fibaro FGMS001 as motion sensors. Very happy with them. They’re a bit expensive though.

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6

I use the Aeotec Multisensor 6, from what I remember the binary sensor does not change when motion is detected (as you would expect). Rather, there is a sensor called “burglar” that changes from 0 (no motion) to 8 (motion), so I use this as my trigger in automations.

I have it battery powered so it doesn’t act as a z-wave repeater, and some of the values like temperature do not update rapidly but motion does. I believe it came with a USB if you can power it.

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7

I have the following which work well for me:

All of them expose binary sensors to HA

8

Great suggestion. Thanks! I’ve added all the entities to a card in the UI and I can see that the entities that are reporting/changing are Burglar, Luninance, and Temperature.

Thanks @Marauder2! Yes, I can confirm from looking at the history of the sensor the burglar entity on the Aeotec TriSensor is changing from 0 (no motion) to 8 (motion). As my grandma would say, “now we’re cooking with gas!” :smile:

This is wonderul insight. Does anyone have pointers to where these details might be documented?

9

At some point, when the sensor goes into deep sleep after a while without motion, you may see the value 254 appearing here. Just make sure that this doesn’t confuse your logic, in the context of motion sensors that value can be treated equal to the 0 value (no motion).

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10

I have the same sensors,and you need to change the config parameter for reporting to binary_sensor report (or whatever it’s called). Then you’ll get a binary sensor.

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11

That’s not true. The Aeotec Multisensor has a config parameter to report as binary sensor report. If this is enabled you get a binary sensor for motion and one for tamper, you don’t lose any functionality. This is also not some kind of legacy fallback, that’s a parameter that can be set on device level, nothing to do wheter you use OZW or the old Z-Wave integration or anything else.

12

Emphasis added:

As a matter of fact, neither the FGMS001 nor the Aeotec door sensor 7 support binary output. For the latter, this was actually confirmed by Aeotec tech support as being ‘more or less’ intentional, whatever that might mean. If it works on the multisensor, then all the better. But it really depends on the device and FW.

13

Interesting, did they state any reason on why they changed that? Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. And sorry if my post sounded a bit rude, ypur post sounded a bit wrong, but now with your emphasis it’s totally clear.
I’m anyway trying to move away from Z-Wave completely, I personally had way better experience with ZigBee.

14

Not really. Some people on various forums think that there may be a bug in the official ZWave SDK, so manufacturers just copy and pasting the boiler plate reference code will run into this. Another reason could also be a just don’t care attitude, since the sensor operates fine using non-binary entities on non-DIY platforms and with direct association. Aeotec also seem to hint towards some bugs in OZW, but I don’t know if / how they’re related.

What I know is mostly based on anecdotal reference and personal experience with my own rather large zwave network. I never really jumped into the low level details of the protocol (although it looks interesting), mostly because I never had any major issues with it.

Yeah Zigbee is certainly a good alternative, if it works better for you. Too bad it’s on the 2.4GHz band. As far as I see it, one of the big advantages of zwave is the lower frequency band (no conflict with wifi and BT, better range and wall penetration, etc).

15

I bet my money on this one :rofl:

Changing ZigBee to a different channel solves this most of the time, I don’t have any issues with bluetooth or WiFi interference. But is for sure a problem if you live in an area with lots of other WiFi signals from neighbours etc.

16

Yes, I now see the details for this in the Aeotec docs. Thanks. Given that I have it working now using the burglar entity, I’ll continue using that.

Are there any advantages to using burglar vs binary_sensor entity for reporting motion events and using them in automations?

17

@nanobra1n, what do you think of the Zooz sensor?

I was thinking about getting some of these: Zooz ZSE29 S2 Outdoor Motion Sensor

18

You have to configure it to use binary sensor instead of basic set. OZW Admin allows for this for example. It’s best to keep it usb lowered while configuring it to make sure it is awake and Stores the Setting.

19

I am pretty happy with it. I don’t use the option where it can be powered by USB and it then serves as a Zwave repeater. Battery is still reported to be 95% 4 months after I replaced it.

20

Does anyone have an example of how to create a motion automation with a Z-Wave Plus motion sensor using the new Z-Wave JS integration?

I had everything working for nearly a year using the now deprecated Z-Wave integration. After recently updating to the newer Z-Wave JS integration, it looks like motion events are completely different now.