Trusting sensors

[Chuck]

Over the decades I have been pretty wary of sensors. Some work well and then quit. Some were never reliable. Some work very well and have never given me a problem at all.

My goal with sensors have been:
- reliability
- getting away from changing batteries

I liked the Hawkeye but when changing the batteries the address had to be reset. It was a big hassle when I had 20 sensors. The battery swap would take at least 30 minutes per sensor. I was always looking for something better.

The X10 security sensors where nice when it came to remembering the address and battery life. But there were times when they never turned off and I had have the computer turn them off after a few minutes. Even today one of my X10 security sensors went off at my vacation home and never went off. Irritating.

I tried the Z-wave sensors but they were going for really small and used expensive batteries that were good for two years but in reality they lasted less than 6 months. They did remember their address most of the time but in some situations they had too be reset. And again I spend a lot of time replacing batteries and the cost was pretty high.

Then the ZW3008 came out and I was very interested. A sensor that never needed batteries and was also a dimmer switch. I got a bunch of them and after instillation was really happy with them. Then Vera updated their firmware and all of them went deaf. Now my system was dead in the water and I had to reinstall my X10 security sensors and the Hawkeyes. For the longest time I had Hawkeyes attached to the X10 security sensors cause the Hawkeye would shut down after a set time with no motion. It was also a double check for the security sensors the didn’t shut down.

For the outside I have installed the HomeSeer HS-FLS100 Z-Wave Plus Floodlight Sensor but that involved a lot of work running household wire to supply the electricity. And they have a neat feature of measuring LUX, BUT they only measure to 250 LUX. Who ever came up with that limitation needs to find another job as they no vision for the future. I use LUX to determine light levels and function. 250 LUX is worthless. But no batteries and very reliable when it comes to motion.

For the last few years I have had 5 different types of sensors running my system and it has been a lot of work but reliability was my prime goal and having a redundant sensor system gave me that reliability.

Now that I have resolved the ZW3008 problem with the Vera units I have, it has been problem free for over a year. I have let the batteries die on the X10 units and Z-wave units. I am thinking about removing them completely but I have been burned before and just don’t want to have to go through the hassle of putting them back up should the ZW3008’s fail for whatever reason. The HS-FLS100 Z-Wave sensor has been problem free and the new generation has a 900 LUX limit and temperature sensor which is ridiculous, like having a temperature sensor next to the heater cause the sensor is next to lights that give off heat, so that is worthless feature. Even when it stand alone it will generate enough heat to negatively change the temperature.

What I would like to see.

- Above all it has to be dependable.
- A sensor that has large and cheap rechargeable battery storage and a solar panel for maintaining the battery level. I hacked a Hawkeye decades ago with a solar panel and it lasted for over 10 years till it finally failed so it is possible.POE and data transmission would be pretty good also.
- The sensor needs to have a changeable limit for motion so it will send an off signal when motions stops like the Hawkeye.
- It has to be weather proof so it can be indoor/outdoor.
- Adjustable sensitivity and adjustable angle with each one independent for angle and sensitivity.
- LUX reading would be nice up to 120,000 LUX or so.

My dream sensor would be to access my security cameras as they have zones I can set and setting a zone for motion detection that would interface with my computer would be the absolute best option. Different lights would come on for different areas all from one camera. I have talked to security camera folks and they don’t get it. I guess they have no vision for the future.

Chuck