I have a Philips Hue motion sensor and Hue lights configured with automations in Home Assistant. Those integrations are using the standard Philips Hue integration in HA. My automation is configured to trigger when motion is detected and a condition of that automation is the light level being below a certain light level threshold, i.e. only turn on when I consider it dark. Lights will remain on for up to 30 seconds after motion is lost.
One observation I have noticed when monitoring this is that the light level state only seems to update on the following conditions: -
Motion is detected or considered lost
On a schedule approximately every 5 minutes
What I observe is that the lights come on when motion is detected (and light level below x). The light sensor then reports a light level way above x because the light came on of course. The light level then remains at this level way after the light then turns off after the 30 seconds that motion was lost. If motion is detected again within the approximate 5 min polling, the lights will not turn on because the light level is reported above x, even though it is way below in reality.
Anybody else seen this before? I was wondering if I should add automation to trigger when motion is lost, wait 30 seconds, then trigger an action to tell it to re-poll the light level. Not sure if there is a service available for that though?
I expected this to be a problem with my light automations so I take readings from all my light sensors around the house where they are in rooms without blinds and select the lowest value from them, and then use that as the value across all rooms in the house.
Less fidelity obviously but light sensors sensing their own room’s light brightness can only ever go dark → light on → bright → light off.
To address room’s where there might be individual darkness, e.g. bedrooms where curtains are opened/closed, my blinds are automated so I can read the state and use that as a separate condition.
Thanks for the suggestion. I think this could be a possible improvement than what I manage with today, but with some caveats you already mentioned of course. There’re some areas in the house that are naturally darker than others and my blinds / curtains are not currently automated (may be in the future), so I cannot make those assertations without additional sensors or other by making other assumptions. Some areas (like hallways) don’t have windows either to make those judgements and may naturally read darker than other rooms, assuming all curtains / blinds are up. I think success with this method may be house layout / setup dependent.