Recently bought a 5 pack motion sensor directly from SmartThings. They all work fine but every few days 1 or the other sensor gets stuck. Either in MOTION or NO MOTION mode. I checked batteries - they are okay. As its random, it can’t be range which BTW is barely 20 to 30 feet from hub. I am having to remove them and re-insert them into the network. Its getting really frustrating especially when I am having to re-insert the smart apps. Furthermore, I was really banking on using them for home security however now thinking - is it wise?
Any help - much appreciated.
I dont have to rejoin or reconfigure the apps when one of my zigbee things goes wonky. I just hold the button down while I insert the battery and then add a thing. A few moments later its working again.
Must admit I get problems with my ST motion sensors. I have to remove batteries to get them working. False motion reports in the middle of the night turning Lights on.
Now trying Fibaro and Philips Motion sensors and finding them more reliable.
I’ve given up with ST ones.
Assuming you have checked your wifi and zigbee channels for interference?
If there’s 5 of them then doing it every so often becomes a real pain. More painful is knowing or running around like a chicken without a head checking these sensors every once in a while. A load of crap - these sensors.
1 Like
I have 2 other motion sensors and none of them have an issue. If it’s Wifi or Zigbee interference then its bad that it only affects in an arbitary manner ONLY the SmartThings motion sensors. Even if true then also its a shoddy implementation at best.
Z-wave motion sensors work better in my house also. My new purchases have all been Z-wave ZooZ 4-in-1 or Aeon MultiSensor 6. They do a lot more than the ST/Iris motion sensors which use ZigBee.
For my existing investment of 10 ST/Iris motion sensors, adding Iris Outlets helped me fortify my ZigBee mesh. Essentially, any “always-on” ZigBee device act as as a repeater. I highly recommend getting a few to increase communications to the Hub.
With that said, stay away from the ZigBee smart bulbs. They act as repeaters, but can be flaky dropping messages.
It just boils down to the frequency. The lower frequencies travel farther. Z-wave uses 900Mhz, and ZigBee uses 2.4Ghz which is also the spectrum for Bluetooth, WiFi… and all RF is affected by CFC lights and microwave ovens.
Are the other 2 zigbee or zwave?
You, my friend - have a point. Z-wave plus.
I downloaded a wifi analyzer and discovered my neig or was eating up the entire 2.4 band. I spent some time moving a few items around and changing some channels and getting a few smart outlets (iris) and I only have an issue once in a blue moon.
My hue, wireless subwoofer (huge offender) , harmony hub and five wireless cameras all impacted me
Moved everything to 5ghz that was possible and pulled Ethernet to everything I could and so much better.
You might have interference issues. I have both iris and SmartThings sensors and since fixing my wireless it’s much better.
2.4 overlaps so much and that subwoofer was a horrible offender. I don’t know what channel it used but turning it on originally killed my hue lights until I changed their channel.
Doesn’t help when people get these netheae hubs and eat up the whole spectrum in 2.4 instead of using n or ac
Why is no one saying anything bad about SmartThings motion sensors here? Blame 2.4 network, Netgear routers, etc., etc. but not the motion sensors. Irrespective of what the root cause is - here’s how I see it. I intend to put into market something, assume its motion sensors using Zigbee network. It’s my JOB to do proper requirement study, design, implementation and finally validation/quality testing, All of which could have caught this and I believe has caught this. The fact the Zigbee has very limited range and being motion sensors they are spread across a home in strategic locations, etc., etc. Then as part of mitigation either include a capability to check with hub and auto reset or have the hub check status, etc No, they decided to cut costs, still market a useless product and leave it to the consumers to do all the network switching, etc. To top it off - they aren’t even cheap. They are higher priced and much more stable competitor products.
Having said that, I don’t think I can take a risk in purchasing anything else by Smart Things. They can’t even build a decent compatibility with their own products. Moving forward I will stick to competitor products and have it enabled in SmartThings either thru custom DTH or native.
My recommendation would be that all should avoid these smart things built switches, etc., etc. I have 2 door open/close multi purpose and they also give me occasional problems like locked in OPEN or CLOSE mode! Go figure!
Post 3?
10 char.
Let me clarify - I have NO problems with SmartThings hub. No problem with a fantastic community, etc. My issue is with the SmartThings engineers, product development, etc. I have realized they are EXTREMELY slow in coming up with enhancements, regularly miss published deadlines and finally I am seeing NONE of their accessories are worth the price point they sell at.
Same here. I have 4 Zooz, one outside under the porch ceiling. Can’t tell if the motion lag is the sensor or ST. . . .
The 2.4 band is swamped here. I now have 3 different routers (2 as access points) on different channels. Depending on the room, I need to switch over. Signal strength is not much of an indicator of quality here. There’s just too much interference.
I’m now experimenting with Wireless Sensor Tags. The integration works well. They are tiny. They seem very reliable. The battery life should be triple most other sensors. And the historical data they provide is fantastic. I have a much better sense of how fast certain rooms are losing heat, etc. I don’t think I’ll be buying any more z-wave or zigbee sensors.
Ok, the Iris motion sensors and the SmartThing motion sensors are made by the same company and just in a different package for the most part. Subtle differences. Centralite makes them.
I have had one iris sensor short out on day one and melt almost causing a thermal runaway on that battery. I have one other iris sensor that is 23 degrees off but works fine. All of my smart thing sensors including the motion are working fine. I had issues with items going wonky and dont doubt you are having issues just trying to help you understand this isn’t as simple as the device in the issue. Yeah it could be a piece of crap, but it could be your environment is causing issues.
Just offering you alternative things to try before you go out and get another sensor and have issues too.
1 Like
Thank you, that helps. I have a Centralite keypad, Iris.