Looking for a switch with a dimmer AND occupancy sensor. Is there such and animal?
There are switches that do one or the other. I have been looking for something similar as well. So will be looking on with baited breath,
Been looking for one of these for years. They don’t make 'em from what I can tell. Your best bets are:
- to buy a 3rd party occupancy sensor and tie to a z-wave/zigbee switch
- buy a aeon labs micro in-wall dimmer and use that with a switch that has an occupancy sensor.
If anyone knows otherwise, I’d love to know about it as well.
I’m reviving this because I’m wondering if anyone has found a switch with an integrated occupancy sensor yet.
I’d rather have it all hardlined instead of having to purchase an additional, battery-powered motion sensor when all I need is a one-piece solution.
Anyone?
They aren’t currently made with zwave for the simple reason that zwave antennas are big. Bigger than Zigbee , Lutron clear connect, etc. So there just hasn’t been room in a single gang switch box for both motion detection and Z wave.
Lutron does make some switches like these but they don’t integrate with SmartThings, because they use the Lutron proprietary communication protocol.
Look at the size of Zwave motion detectors versus the size of zigbee motion detectors and you’ll instantly see the problem.
The good news is that the newest generation of Zwave, “Zwave plus,” has much smaller antennas. For this reason, many Z wave devices are coming out in a smaller form factor for their Z wave plus generation. (You can see this in the newest Aeotech devices.)
So it may be possible that in the next six months or so we will see zwave switches that offer more features.
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Thanks for the reply!
Your answer is both disappointing and encouraging. I wonder if there is an AC-powered, z-wave occupancy sensor that could fit next to a switch in a dual gang box. Haven’t really looked for that…
I don’t know of any current zwave devices that would fit.
SmartenIT makes a very nice zigbee Multisensor that does lux, temperature, and motion and is popular in office buildings and hotels for light control. It should be small enough although you might need to do some framing. Can be battery or mains powered. Costs around $90, though.
I don’t know if anyone’s done a device handler for it yet, but it uses the Home Automation profile, it should be worth a try.
Bumping this up again. Any news or findings yet on such a switch that includes a light switch and a motion sensor?
What about any PIR/Motion sensors that are AC Powered vs battery.
Nothing new. Most people just use two separate devices, a motion sensor and a switch. Works great, and actually gives you more freedom about where to place the sensor.
Any recommendation on a motion sensor? Are there any motion sensors that can be plugged in?
There are many good battery operated motion sensors that work with SmartThings. There are several listed on the official “works with” compatibility list.
As far as the battery life goes, in a typical home situation where it gets tripped up to a dozen times a day, normally batteries will last at least a year, and often two.
If it were at a store entryway where it tripped every few seconds, battery life might be more of an issue.
If you watch the current deals thread where people post deals that they see, there are often simple motion sensors and contact sensors that will sell in packs of two or three, bringing the price down to around $20 a sensor.
For more expensive sensors that include additional features, such as light level (which allows you, for example, only have the motion sensor turn on the lights if the room is dark), I think the most popular in the community are probably the Aeon multisensor and the Fibaro. Much discussion in the forums on both.
As far as plug-ins, there are a few. They’re not as popular because one of the big advantages of the battery-operated ones are that they can be positioned exactly where you want them, which allows you, for example, to catch someone as they walk into the kitchen without being triggered by a person who is walking past down the hall.
SmartenIT has a larger one popular with hotels and apartments for lobby areas that can be wired to a power adapter… It’s not a plug-in, though. It’s about the size of a regular light switch. I could see it being useful in a garage or shed where you wanted to cover a larger area and never have to change batteries. But as I said, it would require some wiring. It comes set up for battery operation, it’s just that the wiring option is possible.
If I think of anymore I will add them. Pretty much any zwave motion detector should work for SmartThings for basic detection reporting. For zigbee, look for ones that use the “home automation profile 1.2” (ZHA 1.2), but they might require some custom coding.
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Any recommendation on a motion sensor? Are there any motion sensors that can be plugged in?
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Found a plug-in one for you. This is a plug in zwave motion sensor and some people in the community are using it. Seems to work fine as a motion sensor. It’s intended to be plugged in, so it doesn’t need any modifications the way the smartenIT would.
it’s intended to also be an indicator light where the nightlight lightbulb on the front changes color as a notifier.
I don’t know anything more about it other than that it’s a certified zwave device, you can buy it on Amazon from homeseer, and you should be able to find more information from community members in the following topic:
I believe all the Aeon Labs Multi-Sensors can be powered via usb. There are several threads that mention the Aeons with usb power. Here are two.
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Correct–there is a microusb cable included, if you remove the batteries you can see the plug in the sensor.
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Thanks for the replies, I will have to check out these sensors. If anybody comes across more options that would be awesome. Seems like so far its a either battery or power option. Be nice if the batterys could of been used as a Backup option, in case of power lose and not the main power source.
Are there an Z-wave light switches with just w/ motion ones (I don’t necessarily need a dimmer). If not, are there any Zigbee ones, or anything else that works (can be made to work) with SmartThings?
Would love to know the answer to this to, just want a light switch (doesn’t have to be a dimmer) that can work with Smart Things hub.
Are you in the US or the UK?
There are many light switches that can work with the smartthings hub in the US, both the BNZ wave. But none as yet that also include a motion sensor, so you need to use a separate sensor for that.
If you are in The UK, there are no switch options on the official works with smart things list, but there are some that you can try. See the FAQ in the UK section.
I am in the US =). Too bad there is no combo yet, sounds like a Light switch/Motion Sensor would be pretty popular if anyone decided to manufacture it .
I think it’s more the other way around, that zwave device Companies don’t make one because it turns out that you have a lot more flexibility if the sensor is a separate device. That’s doable once you have Zigbee or zwave because you also have a network.
The non-worked occupancy switches which combined a motion sensor and a light switch in one gang box had to be in one unit because otherwise the motion sensor had no easy way to communicate to the light switch.
I do think there will be some combined units in a year or so since zwave plus devices are smaller, but I expect that separating the two devices will continue to be the more popular choice. It just gives you so many more options. 