Pressence sensors

[Eric1970]

I’m new to smartthings but I use the hub along with door and window sensors for home security. I also use my phone as a pressence sensors to arm and disarm security system. My phone works great s8 active. I also set my wife’s phone up as a pressence sensors (note 8) and I constantly have to reprogram the hub because it won’t have my wife’s phone correct. It’s like it gets stuck after a few days. It’s either always home or always away. I thought that it might be the phone so I got a smartthings pressence sensor. Same thing happens. I also have a difficult time with the hub finding the smartthings pressence sensors. My other light switches which are wemo work great along with my Google home. It’s just the additional pressence sensors that I have issues with. Any suggestions?

[JDRoberts]

Presence can be challenging. See the FAQ (this is a clickable link)

FAQ: The Many Ways of Detecting Presence

Presence, regardless of the device you use, is one of those features that works great for some people, not at all for other people, and is randomly flaky for still others. It’s very much affected by local conditions. So some people will find that phone presence works much better than the SmartThings-branded presence sensor. Other people will find the reverse. Still other people, myself included, find that they have to use a combination of two devices in order to get reliable presence indication. So if this feature tends to work differently for different people, where do you start? Using a Smart Phone as a Presence Indicator [image] Well, since most people who have SmartThings have a smart phone, it’s worth starting there. The following FAQ runs through the the usual troubleshooting…

As far as the hub not finding the presence sensor, that’s a zigbee device, so you may need a zigbee device which is capable of repeating. (The Wemo switches use a different protocol and can’t help with this.)

See post 11 in the following FAQ, then go back up to the top of the thread and read the whole thing.

A Guide to Wireless Range & Repeaters

One more thought. While I understand the marketing reasons for the decision, the fact that SmartThings gives customers zero guidance on how to set up a network backbone does lead to a lot of frustration that shouldn’t have to exist. if people knew that .1) The hub should be located centrally in the home, both vertically and horizontally. Don’t put it in a garage or basement as those have concrete and pipes and metal objects which will reduce signal. If your Internet router is off in some inaccessible corner, you can use a Wi-Fi access point that has a ethernet port on the side and plug into that. Also, the hub should not be put in a cabinet. You just want to make it as easy as possible for signal to spread around your house. .2) they need one device that can repeat about every 40 fee…

[Eric1970]

Thank you for all your advice. I think that some of my issues is that my router and modem are the same unit. At least that’s what I was told by smartthings when my cameras that I have ( Samsung smart cams)
Wont connect to my hub. I was told that it’s a known issue. I do have other window and door sensors that work perfect and my phone works good as a pressence sensor so I don’t think it’s the hub placement or reception.