My collection of Shelly products has been growing pretty dramatically. They all have been VERY rock solid. That might not be the typical situation except for those folks with very strong enterprise class WiFi networks (as that is what I have) but that may not be the case and I shouldn’t sell them (Shelly) short. I have gotten an occasional lemon (maybe 1/20 is a lemon), but I would expect that with most manufacturers. For the devices that I do have from them, once set up, they are always available, always connected and always JUST WORK.
I started looking for some better motion sensors (better than the Yolink ones I have) that are local and battery powered… So I was torn between the Shelly Motion 2 and the Shelly BLU Motion.
I put out queries across several forums asking which is faster and more reliable of the two but nobody seemed to have an answer other than the fact that the Shelley blue motion reacts very fast. As more expensive things are typically better quality I opted for getting several Shelly Motion 2 sensors. Due to a chip shortage they’re going to be out of stock for almost a year at Shelly but I found a supplier that has plenty on hand. They do work very well. However like a lot of other enthusiasts over here who are always looking for the best possible thing for the best possible price I got several Shelly BLU Motion sensors as well, and I’d like to tell you how BLOWN AWAY I am.
Since I have many Gen 2 Shelly relays throughout the house, I have turned them on as BT Gateways. Then whenever I add a Shelly BLU Motion to Home Assistant, I simply pick some or all of these available gateways - they are always powered on and always listening for the BLU motion sensor, so any motion detected gets right through to home assistant very fast. The Shelley blue motion is tiny, has a battery that lasts 5 years, and motion detection does get through to home assistant (only sometimes) faster than the Shelly Motion 2 due to the Shelly Motion 2 needing to wake up and quickly reconnect the Wi-Fi network while the Shelley BLU is already paired with many Gen 2 Shelly relays that are already fully powered 24/7 to get the signal through to HA.
What actually blows me away now is if I ever order a Shelly blue motion and it’s delivered - I get a notification that pops up in Home Assistant saying it has detected another BTHome compatible sensor - as soon as the box lands on the stoop by the front door!
You certainly can’t ask for more than that as far as connectivity. It’s so good - it’s ridiculously good!
This is awesome! What do you need to configure in HA for the Blu motion? Is the device/entity just made available automatically through the Shelly integration?
and I assume the Blu door/window works in much the same way… I have one of each on order atm.
It is in the BTHome integration. Also for your Shelly Gen 2 devices you would turn this on in the Shelly configuration under the menu (I just turn it on for all of them). Actually I think you do not need to actually turn is on as it gets switched on automatically when you are adding the BLU to your Shelly App - it turns on the setting in the other relays you select as gateways. I just go in there to make sure it is switched on for all of them:
My motion sensors are all just PIR and as you know those are not perfect for detecting presence, so I only have my motion detectors (re)start timers - that is all they do. When a timer is (re)started, then specific lights go on if not already on, and when the timer ends it turns those same lights off. Then I got fancier and only started the timer if the light had not been turned OFF manually within the last 5 minutes (this stops a situation from happening where someone would turn off a wall switch and then walk out of the room - without such logic the lights would go back on while they are walking out). I also added a dashboard slider for the timer duration, drop downs with “Enabled” “Disabled” to possibly not fire off automations (essentially not (re)start the timer), etc. The lights do not go off immediately when people are suddenly not in the room (but eventually do go off in empty rooms when the timers expire - but because of the timers they never go off while people are sitting in a room motionless either ) I don’t necessarily needs lights going off in a room the instant someone walks out. WAF factor is high… but it was low while I was building things out as the occassional hiccup causes a husband browbeating…
I have learned the WAF is higher if things just work, and also work manually, and I have hidden redundant sensors many places so if one fails things still work, etc. (for example in the above scenario several different motion detectors may call the same automation…)
Hi,
I have some xiaomi motion sensors for my hallways but occasionally, they fail. Anyway since I have many Shellys already, looks like those are great for my needs.
Question: what is the cool off time? I mean my xiaomi is 5 seconds (hacked) because in a hallway sometimes many family members walk within a 10/20/30 seconds interval and it is nice to have always the timer for 30 seconds.
Not sure I am clear…
Another question: do the sensor needs to be close enough to my raspberry (HA in it), in bluetooth range or I just need say a shelly gen2 (with bluetooth) close enough and then the sensors connect to HA through this shelly or any other closer?
thanks
When you add it into the Shelly APP, it shows you all the Gen 2 Devices you have and lets you select which ones would be the gateways for it, I always just pick all of them. Also the app is where you adjust the settings, and when you are setting it up or changing anything on the BLU Motion, you are often asked to press the button inside of it, so keep it within reach until you are done with the config of course.
It would be in the BTHome integration (not Shelly)
I just got an email with this text @fernmac (and others):
"SHELLY IS TURNING 6!
It’s a big week for us at Shelly and we want to celebrate with you! Shop our BUY-2-GET-1-FREE BLU Devices Offer. Buy any two BLU devices from the same model, and you will get the third one for free!"
Hi, I just installed the Shelly Blu Motion with home assistant via a bluetooth gateway of another Shelly and seems to be working correctly detecting all the motion. However I don’t know how to change its settings. In particular I was looking to disable the LED and to change the blind time. I know it’s possible to do that with the Shelly cloud however I have disabled the cloud for all my shelly devices and I usually configure them by accessing their web interface. Is there something similar for the Shelly Blu Motion?
Good question, I would love to hear anyone else on this forum about it. If you are on the same local network as all of your chelly devices with the Shelly App, you should still be able to see it, no?
For me the only way to configure Shelly Blu Motion sensors was using Shelly app, and much better Shelly BLE Debug app.
One device became unusable after a few update, and only with latter app was able to recover an easily configure them.
Thank you! I solved my issues with the Shelly BLE Debug app, and for those wondering, no it’s not necessary to have a cloud account to use it.
Now I am trying to understand the best height, position and orientation of this sensor for the best detection. Is the correct orientation the one depicted in the picture printed in the box?
I can’t seem to get my Blu Motion to behave correctly. Regardless of the sensitivity settings, it always claims to be detecting motion. 3 mins blind time, and using this script on the Shelly Plus 1pm which is its observer, the light constantly turns off and on every 3 minutes:
I tried configuring the BTHome device for it in HA, which doesn’t seem to fare any better. The entity always claims to be detecting motion, even in a room with the door closed and absolutely no motion.
Up-to-date firmware, so I’m at a bit of a loss. What am I doing wrong?
) I don’t necessarily needs lights going off in a room the instant someone walks out. WAF factor is high… but it was low while I was building things out as the occassional hiccup causes a husband browbeating…
