Smart Motion Lights: AVOID these mistakes!
Motion automated lights make life SO easy, but they can be a headache to set up perfectly. I’ll show you common mistakes so you know what to avoid!
Dumb motion sensor switch: https://amzn.to/41oUESR
Philips Hue motion sensor: https://amzn.to/3b9nzBN
Aqara motion sensor: https://amzn.to/3Zlegp3
HomeSeer HSM200 motion sensor: https://amzn.to/2QZv4Vc
Everything Presence One sensor: https://shop.everythingsmart.io/en-us/collections/everything-presence-one
Amazon Echo Dot 5: https://amzn.to/3IDmHpg
Lutron Caseta: https://amzn.to/3c2Ec5F
Kasa dimmer switch: https://amzn.to/3ZngSmi
Withings sleep sensor: https://amzn.to/3Zge2j0
(affiliate links)
DISCOVER MORE
Second channel video: https://youtu.be/1yEja8CL-5w
Motion Activated Light Strips: https://youtu.be/toNVmPoyAfk
This Sensor Blew My Mind! mmWave: https://youtu.be/jVjrgQSWlLI
Ultimate Guide to Smart Home Sensors: https://youtu.be/m_7lUFt6YOI
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0:00 Intro
0:26 Dumb motion light in bedroom
1:30 Left in the dark
3:11 Fading the lights is ideal
3:44 Multiple sensors
4:16 Sensor position
4:51 Time of day
5:42 Keep the lights off
6:37 Physical button
6:57 Worth the effort?
7:35 Stare down
———
MUSIC
Digifunk by DivKid
The End by EVA
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6UIs5b0zSXztIW5GHkCTkK
I got one quick question, and I would be happy to pay you to discuss this solution :
Thank you so much for all your amazing videos !
I’m renovating my home from A to Z.
I will put all wall switch concealed in the wall with philips 4 gang round switch to controle all light bulbs over home assistant.
Where I do not have a solution is for the concealed stairs (in the wall every 3 steps) lights.
How could I get them to be smart.
Cabled switched that would work on motion sensor ? If yes, which one ? Or do you know any wall concealed light that could do ?
Thank you so much !
Would you invest in Aquara or Eufy?
I’ve tried adding the Phillips Hue light and sensor in the garage, it’s becoming a nightmare, YouTube video after YouTube video.
Your standard sensor seem way more easily, than a Phillips Hue Sensor to install and operate.
And I can’t imagine trying to do the rest of the house, and the expense
$$$- huh.
the weight sensor under your bed to trigger alternate conditions is truly galaxy brain stuff
Great video on mistakes… for me, overall moral of the story… don’t fill your house with sensors to turn lights on/off…. don’t be lazy, get up and turn on/off or adjust brightness manually. Way too many gadgets and too much time & $$$ spent for minor conveniences that can’t always account for every unique scenario, without needing to buy another device to compensate. Oof.. thanks for providing enough insight to make a more better informed decision here to stay away from most of those things. Closets would probably be the only place I’d put on in, working similar to opening a refrigerator.
My considered opinion is that this house is too smart.
I’m old, but I’m perfectly happy with compromises of dump motion sensors. Life is too short to be this picky.
Also, I don’t have an extra $10,000 to automate my home. 😂
And you should have lost the ending argument. 👨🏼🏫💍
I have 2 rabbits running around the house as they don’t use a cage. Would that trigger the Philips motion sensors?
Ohsoooooootheatrical
All sounds good but seems like you have a very complex setup (pressure pad under the mattress ???) that if you are away from home no-one else will know how to fix stuff if there’s a power outage – when power resumes often the automation items needs to be reset.
What ceiling lights do you use? I switched to LED can lights and the dimming is horrible with caseta switches
What I find is that the women in my Family like automated lighting when it works but have a very very low tolerance for it when its not perfect. This has made automated lighting in some rooms like the Kitchen, Hall and Landing, easy and 100% successful. The Living Room, well lets just say that is still a work in progress.
I have one in my bedroom, just angled up a little, so it only turns on the lights if I am standing up. The dog does not trip it. So, when I get up and it’s late, it goes on dim to help me get across the room without tripping over the dog. And if it’s daytime, it goes on bright to help me see what I am doing.
What about if you have pets? I have two cats that are very active in the middle of the night. Plus we have a dog that starts to sleep in our room then gets up and moves to the living room in the middle of the night. How does a system like this work to ignore pet movement?
One thing I see you’ve done horrifically wrong is the brightness at night time. Great tips. But another is maybe have the lights at 30% at night
Here’s the other video, where I show how I set up some of the motion light automations: https://youtu.be/1yEja8CL-5w
I use night lights. Cheaper and works well.
How do those mmwave sensors work with dogs in the house? I have 4 staffies, and my pet immune PIR sensors detect the dogs better than it detects people (it apparently has something to do with their body temp) so I am at a loss for what kind of motion stuff to look at.
Yeah currently struggling with garage light. It has motion sensor at the switch but my garage big and when I am on far side it turns off. I want to install a dual motion sensor but not sure or do go about it. Also have several series of lights. It’s pretty frustrating.
@SmartHomeSolver what system do you use to handle the slow fade of the lights? I’m just in the very beginning phase of setting up some Lutron Caseta Diva switches, but I’ve learned that you can’t change the ramp down speed unless you have the way more expensive RA2 or RA3 systems instead… Is there a non-native way to make them dim more slowly? Or something I’m overlooking perhaps?
Nice info, great final 😂
Very informative! Thank You. How might you suggest me setting up a little led light of some sort (your recommendeation please) over a framed piece of art that comes on when someone passes by? Appreciate your expert guidance!
This guy have money…. Living in a huuuuge house. Normal people don’t.
Know-ledgable.
Do you need a hub for the pir sensors
I have a motion sensor light in my bedroom, you can turn the sensor off by using the light switch.
Hey, I noticed that you have a fan control, I have one similar and have not been able to make it smart the RF controls does not pick up the frequency, any idea on how to make it smart and also if you have the link to that fan to make sure its the same as mine?
That is found in 1:06 secs
@SmartHomeSolver
Awesome tips, will try some of these in my home. I definitely fit into some of the nuisance list in the beginning of the video.
I really like your home automation videos, thank you so much. So, would you say then you prefer the smart light switches on the wall over smart bulbs for automating lights coming on and off for a room like a kitchen?? I live in an older remodeled home where the neutral wire is not available for me. So I have had to use smart light switches that I can control via Zigbee, which work great. I haven’t used the Lutron you mentioned, it seems like those might be better?
I’ll add my own to the list.
I put a motion sensor next to the light on the bathroom ceiling.
Its too close to the light so when the light is on the sensor is blind.
Why can’t one replace all motion sensors to presence sensors?
What about fixing the motion sensors on the celling?
I bought a can light LED light with motion sensor installed to it. But when I walk under it, it doesn’t turn on
Lots of great tips, you should make an automation cheatsheet from this (if you haven’t already)
I use Philiphs hue motion sensor in the kitchen. This turns on the central light (innr smart colour E27 bulb ) and the work desktop lighting (2 led smart colour strip). The motion sensor has 2 rechargeable AAA batteries. I don’t understand why sometimes it only turns on the light with the reduced brightness. It can be very annoying when it turns on with 10-30% brightness. What could be the reason for this?
Sometimes it also happens that it turns on and then immediately reduces the brightness.🤨
in the normal case, it would turn on, reduce the brightness at a programmed half-time, and then turn off. That is how it worked before.😌😌Thanks for your advance, idea.
In case someone already asked, sorry I don’t have time to sift through hundreds of comments. How do you speed up the reaction time a pir sensor sends motion? I feel like I have very fast internet 700ish down 100 up speeds, but reaction times from sensors are sluggish. I’m typically waiting about 10 seconds until a light turns on. tia 🙏
thank you. How to prevent light going off by automation while light was on before motion detected?
mostly the light was on with a reason.
nice shirt
When somebody asks you what time it is and you try to build a clock…
When you called yourself an IDIOT, I unsubscribed on your channel.
My favourite motion sensor is underneath my bed towards the room, but just angled right so it doesn’t detect anything in the hallway if the door is open.
This lights up my lights underneath the bed which then light the floor of the room just enough to see enough but not very bright. But someone passing the bedroom door or me moving on the bed won’t activate the motion sensor.
Great video. My Dad installed a Motion censor at the top of the star case going up. It just controls two small wall sconces at the top of the steps going to the left and right room. the lights comes on and off before you get to the top. Not sure what he was thinking or why he did not put in two way switch in the staircase. Gonna try a some smart witches beceuse I can get a light in to hallway using wires there and I can get access to light switches at the bottom and one up top in the bed room. For now I just gonna put in a batter LED MC light.
there should be an option to turn off light if there is no motion for at least 5 minutes
The son-in-law joke was a good one 👍
My biggest question would be… is there motion sensor that can deal with cat ? mmwave is still pricy versus regular motion.
One day, we have to admit to our wives: ‘you were always right, my love, regular light switches do indeed work way much better. I am sorry for all these years of terrorising you and the kids with this home automation thingy. I will throw away everything and donate an equal amount of money to charity.’ This will be a good day. You should only solve problems that are indeed problems.
How do you dim the lights? Do you use smart bulbs?
i love the mexican standoff at the end
if they just bulled those devises accurately will avoid all the troubles and spending more money and we will have peace of mined.
How is it possible for me to incorporate two separate PIR sensors for lights off into an alexa routine that has a condition for no activity for both sensors for x duration until the routine is triggered?
Thanks. What if you have 2 cats?