Hi, is there a way I can adjust the duration of Smartthings Motion Sensor is on? Seems my Motion Sensor is on for about 30 seconds and won’t detect any new motion until that 30 seconds is expired.
Thank you!
Hi, is there a way I can adjust the duration of Smartthings Motion Sensor is on? Seems my Motion Sensor is on for about 30 seconds and won’t detect any new motion until that 30 seconds is expired.
Thank you!
Potentially yes, by editing the configuration parameters of the device in the DTH. It’s not something thats really documented so it wont be easy but potentially yes you can.
There are some zwave/zigbee motion detectors w/ community DTH posted on this site that will make what you want to do easier for those zwave/zigbee devices, but this will also come at the cost of battery life.
Some other brands do allow you to configure the duration settings, but I believe the smartthings brand motion sensor in all generations is permanently set in the firmware and cannot be changed.
@JDRoberts Thank you for the response.
What other brands allow that? Are they compatible with ST hub?
@sidjohn1 sorry total newbie here. What is DTH? Would it be easier to get something else that does allow the duration to be changed? Is there one compatible with ST hub or Alexa that you know of? Thank you very much.
The most configurable is probably the Fibaro. It’s a Z wave motion sensor which is very popular for those looking for advanced features and willing to pay a higher price than the budget brands. As @sidjohn1 mentioned, when you increase the frequency of reports, you do decrease the battery life, though, so that’s just something to keep in mind.
The following article is from 2017, but still applies even though some of the brands have newer models. They all still have the same basic feature sets. It’s only looking at zwave models, so that’s why the smartthings brand is not included since it is a Zigbee device.
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As an added benefit, burglars will totally believe that your home is being watched by the “Eye of Sauron” if they happen upon the Fibaro motion sensor.
Not sure if this will work when you have a hub, but you could also subscribe to sensor events in a smartapp and then do something like runIn(15, turnOffMotionSensor).
Use a sendEvent to turn off the sensor.
Could be a little complicated if you are just adding devices to a hub I imagine, but it should work?
Bear in mind I am very new to ST so maybe everything I am stating is rubbish.
However I have custom motion sensors that activate for 15 seconds each working well using this method. Cloud devices, no hub.
That will work for a virtual motion sensor, but not for a real physical motion sensor, because the physical motion sensor has its own firmware that controls when the sensor is active or inactive.
There are some models which have configurable parameters that allow you to change how long the “blind“ period Is. But there are other models which don’t allow you to change The settings, mostly just because it’s more expensive to have a model which can be controlled in this way.
@JDRoberts do you have a model# or specific name that will work with ST hub and/or Alexa that have configurable parameters specifically active period when motion detected?
See the article I linked to in post 6 above.
As @saosinx88 indicated, and as we have already discussed in this thread, the most configurable is probably the Fibaro. Just make sure you get the Z wave model if you want it to work with smartthings. They have an identical looking HomeKit model which is not compatible with smartthings.
May I ask what is your ‘use-case’ for wanting to detect additional motion within 30 seconds of the motion ending?
The way these sensors work is to report motion as ‘active’ immediately upon sensing motion. The ST Sensors, like the Iris sensors and many others, then hold the motion as ‘active’ for a full 30 seconds from the time they last detect motion. So, the sensor must ‘see’ not motion for at least 30 seconds before it will send a motion ‘inactive’ status update. This has always worked extremely well for our family’s needs for motion triggered lighting, as well as for detecting motion when the house should be empty.
I am genuinely curious about your particular requirements for more frequent motion detection status updates. I am not saying your need is not valid. I am simply curious about when this would be useful.
Thanks!
@saosinx88 Thank you very much! Is there another one that is not so creepy looking with the eye design?
@oglewon I’m using it to turn on a light at night (10p-4a). And I want to turn off the light after 15 seconds and the sensor to be ready to detect another motion… say returning back from the bathroom. Since there’s a 30 second active period with the Samsung sensor it won’t detect any motion until after 30 seconds have expired.
@JDRoberts Thank you very much for your help! Fibaro is so creepy in their eye design. I’m sure my kids will freak out if I get this one.
My advice…let it go the full 30 seconds. In fact, we have most timeouts set to ~3-5 minutes of no motion before turning off the lights. The $ saved is literally pennies per year from being too aggressive. You’ll spend those savings in batteries.
@JDRoberts @saosinx88 I found this Aeotec sensor by Aeon Labs.
Let me know any thoughts? Thank you very much.
Got the same issue. Some people posted about a “no more motion after x minutes” setting before turning off but I am not finding that. My workshop lights leave me in the dark for the 30 seconds it takes for the system to rearm!