Motion Sensors in the UK

Can anyone recommend motion sensors available in the UK? My older SmartThings-badged sensors in various iterations are failing at a dramatic rate, not that they were ever very stable. In fact in their failed state they are probably about as stable as they’ve ever been!

I’m looking to buy a number of new sensors so am keen to find a reasonably priced option but would pay more for reliable performance. I’ve a few Fibaro sensors which seem stable but are a bit expensive

Thanks for any guidance.

Paul

Welcome! :sunglasses:

I assume you have a SmartThings/Aeotec hub since you previously had Zigbee sensors, but can you just confirm that and which model?

Option 1: Wait for Matter

First, I personally am putting off most device purchases right now, until matter is more widely deployed. That’s likely to give us a much larger selection of candidate devices by spring of 2023.

Just as one example, the Aqara sensors are a popular candidate choice because they are inexpensive with nice engineering, but they can be tricky to get to work well with smartthings. Once both companies have fully deployed their matter support, it is likely that you will be able to buy an inexpensive aqara hub (of a model that specifically supports matter), connect your sensors to that, then add the hub to your SmartThings account (similar to the process for adding a hue bridge now) and it will bring along many of its devices. No custom code required. In addition, it’s probable that the integration will be stable, reliable, local, and you’ll be able to get firmware updates. In other words, a better integration than we have today and one that’s easier to use.

Ikea and Tuya will probably have similar options if everybody’s plans go as expected.

So while there are sensors that you could buy today, I think if you can wait a few months, you’ll have more choices for less money and with better functionality. But that’s up to you.

Option 2: Don’t wait, and get Aeotec zigbee sensors now (the replacement for the SmartThings brand

Samsung announced about a year ago that they were no longer going to manufacture the home automation hardware. Their partner in the UK, EU, and North America is now Aeotec. Aeotec was already a major Z wave manufacturer, but this agreement gave them immediate licenses for a line of Zigbee devices. These are essentially the same ones that had the previous smartthings brand name on them, just in a new box with a new logo. These should all work the same way as your previous ones.

https://aeotec.com/smart-sensors/

It’s possible that previously you didn’t have enough Zigbee repeaters on your Network, but we can talk about that separately. It’s just that that’s a frequent reason for unreliability.

Option 3: don’t wait, and get third-party brand sensors

You didn’t specify whether you want to continue with Zigbee, or whether z wave or even Wi-Fi would be an option.

For Zigbee, The budget brands like tuya (sold under many different brand names) and Aqara can usually be made to work, but can be a little flaky as I mentioned previously. You’ll find lots of threads in the forum about those.

Hue zigbee motion sensors are well-made and reliable, and can be used either with a hue bridge or paired directly to a SmartThing/Aeotec hub. But they are more expensive than the budget brands. The outdoor models are very good choice for outdoors, though.

Thanks for the fast response! I’m using a SmartThings 2 badged hub. I did have the third generation but couldn’t face resetting everything and staring again.

Paul

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Sorry, I should have said that I’m using Aqara for my smart blinds and they seem to work well, but via Alexa rather than SmartThings. I find Hue hardware to be robust and already use an outdoor sensor but they are costly as you say. I suspect a delay might be best for me at the moment.

I appreciate the help!

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Purely for motion I find the Aeotec (Zigbee) Smartthings sensors very reliable and quickest to respond.

For additional sensors (& z-wave) then the Aeotec Tri & Multisensor range are good but slightly slower to report.

The above are all fine on edge too.

I have used Fibaro in the past but found them unreliable, can be battery heavy and slow to respond despite all the configuration available.

Ikea I would avoid as there are huge battery issues with thier devices (in some circumstances) that once hit seem to be unresolvable.

(UK based v2 hub)

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On the budget end of the cost spectrum, I have two Ikea Tradfri motion sensors which work well for me in the UK (V2 Hub also).
Execution was cloud based, until I migrated them to the Edge: Zigbee Motion Sensor, now execution is hub based.

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