I have a hanging light in front of my front door that I want to control based on motion at the door. There is a window beside the door. So I put the motion sensor on the wall beside the window facing towards the door. However it is not capturing any motion. I am using the Ecolink motion sensor. the wall above and beside the door is all sheet, so I cannot screw the sensor in there, which is why I put it on the wall inside.
PIR sensors will not detect through glass. They’re not really “motion sensors,”. They are actually detecting infrared. Infrared doesn’t pass through most glass, so it can’t be detected.
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I figured it would be something like that. I will try to use the sticker pad to stick it above the door or something.
Placed it above the door. Now problem is it is too sensitive in test mode catches the movement of bugs I think. Changing to Pet 1/2 makes it almost unresponsive. What can I do here?
To be honest, if all you want to do is have a light came on when there’s motion near the door, just use a nonnetworked device like Mr. Beams. These work great. 
They have several different sizes and shapes and degrees of brightness. We use these as path lights around the exterior of the house.
They won’t tie into SmartThings, but you may not need them to.
If you do require that the light tie in with SmartThings, then you have several different options.
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use multiple motion sensors to reduce the number of false positives, using @Mike_Maxwell 's zone detection smartapp.
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consider placement. Most motion sensors are most effective when the movement crosses in front of them rather than straight on towards them. It’s just physics. This might let you try some different settings more affectively.
Three) try a different brand of motion sensor. There’s a lot of variation in sensitivity.
Four) use a different type of device. For example, I have a contact center on a gate which triggers a notification when the gate is open. It could certainly be used to trigger a light. Some people use a pressure mat. If this is only for the family, you can trigger it with an IBeacon or other Geo presence indicator.
Those are just a few ideas, I’m sure there are others.
@Arun_Nayar There is a jumper in the EcoLink Motion Sensor if you open it up where you insert the battery, and you can set it to test, small pet and large pet mode. I use one for my front door and have it set to Large pet model and it is very accurate, I would say 95% or higher how accurate it is.
I am already invested in the ecolink sensor so I want to get it to work. Is the Large PET setting good even if there are no pets?
I will put it on the post in front of my door, so it triggers it when someone crosses it, instead of having it face the person walking towards the door.
@Arun_Nayar yes, the Large Pet settings is just to ignore smaller animals. If you have a small kid show up, it may not trigger it. I would start w/ small pet setting and if you get too many false alerts move it up.
That sounds worth trying. Good luck!
Has anyone used a Samsung branded motion sensor outside? How long will it last in wet/snowy/hot/humid weather? I was thinking of doing something similar to turn light on if motion detected. My door has a large overhang and the motion sensor would probably not get wet, but would be exposed to very cold and very hot temps.