Reliable Z-wave/Zigbee motion sensor for house porch

All PIR motion sensors have problems outdoors. It doesn’t matter whether they are zigbee or Z wave or what the brand is.

This is because the sensors are actually heat detection sensors and they measure a very small amount of change in heat moving across the field.

When you put them outdoors, Just a breeze moving across them or a random shaft of sunlight can set them off. So none of them are designed for outdoor use.

You basically have three options.

One) rely instead on the motion sensors that come built into cameras, these usually use a different kind of technology and are much more accurate outdoors. So for a front porch many people just install a video doorbell and use the motion detection from that.

Two) use multiple motion sensors in a zone and only trigger your alert if they all detect Something at the same time.

Three) put a piece of PVC tubing over the detection lens on the sensor to significantly narrow the detection field, but also protect it from breezes. This works well for some use cases.

All of these are discussed in detail in the outdoor motion sensor FAQ, so I suggest you look at that next. (This is a clickable link)

3 Likes