Hi everyone,
A bit of research last year had me finding this page: Best motion sensors for Samsung SmartThings 2023 | Android Central
What caught my eye was the first “recommended” motion sensor - the “Ecolink Z-Wave PIR Motion Detector”
Yet I can’t find this sensor anywhere at all. I’m looking for a motion sensor that won’t triggers
Looks like it’s for the americas so not for the UK.
About Z-Wave
Yep, that’s a US site. As you’ll often see me say, device selection does vary by region.
Having a PIR motion sensor which won’t be set off by a small dog or cat it’s just a matter of adjusting the sensitivity. Most will be set off by a larger dog in part because as heat sensors, the fact that the dog has a higher body temperature than a person makes it trickier to ignore.
Some sensors have a physical button setting on the device itself, which lets you choose low, medium or high sensitivity. Others have a parameter that can be set by the system.
By far the most configurable motion sensor available that works with smartthings (that is, that offers you the most choice in settings) is the Fibaro multisensor. This thing has a crazy high number of choices you can make, including for sensitivity.
They make several different models that look identical. To use it with smartthings you want the zwave one, not the HomeKit one. And as with all zwave devices, you have to get the one that exactly matches the frequency of your hub. For the UK or Europe, that will be the EU frequency, which starts with an 8. For North America, you want the frequency which starts with a 9.
You can see the exact frequencies by region by looking at the official Z wave alliance products site:
https://products.z-wavealliance.org/
The aeotec trisensor doesn’t have as many choices as the Fibaro, but it does let you set the sensitivity from 1 to 11, which will probably work unless the animal is right on the border of the sensitivity ranges.
Thank you so much - I had no idea Z-Wave uses different frequencies depending on the region. If I ended up stumbling across the Ecolink from the US I would almost certainly have purchased it and ended up being very annoyed and frustrated as well as being out of pocket - so thank you!
Just on a side note, I’ve been using the Aeotec Multisensor 6 (AEOEZW100) and Samsung SmartThing’s (before it was rebranded to Aeotec) motion sensors across my house which have been great.
I’ve found the Samsung SmartThings branded ones to be much better build quality and a far superior mount, but it’s slightly more expensive than the Aeotec Multisensor and literally does IR based movement and temperature only, whereas the Aeotec multisenor does all that as well as UV, luminance and humidity plus it can be powered by USB as well as battery (unlike the Samsung one).
Thanks again for your help. Will look at the Fibaro sensor for hallways and other areas to stop the cat from triggering the lights all the time!
Cheers - Steve