Review of Smarthome INSTEON Wireless Motion Sensor

Customer Ratings:

That these units, when they work, function fairly well. Some examples:

1. Master Bedroom Closet

We have 1 mounted above the door, on the bottom of a shelf, facing down about 2-3 feet into the closet entry. Once we walk into the closet, it registers and activates the light switch to turn on then off upon a few moments after our departure. This particular location has worked about 90% +/of the time, requiring resyncing with the light switch 2 or 3 times in the one year since installation.

2. Laundry Room

We have another, mounted about 5ft off the floor, on the wall, looking horizontal across the rooms door entrance. Upon entering the laundry room, it suppose to activate and turn on the light. While inside, doing laundry, moving around, etc...expectations are that it remains on/active, until it detects that we've exited. In the same year, just a few feet away from the switch, this unit (and we've tried one other), dont seem to work correctly, every single time...possibly about 70-80% of the time, it functions as expected.

3. Maintenance Room

4. Garage Door

And several other locations throughout our residence...we have about 12 of these installed.

2 have needed to be returned, failing right out of the box upon arrival. 2-3 others have needed to be returned, after failing to sync/connect up with other devices, for whatever reason.

For our deployments, the short distances, and its purpose for development, sale and installation we'd expect better.

We're discouraged from buying more....

Had they worked better, we'd own another 15-20 units, especially for our space reserved for guests/in-laws, as the technology is ideal for such a space affording lighting control as necessary to save money (they forget to turn lights off, specially daytime).

other things worth mentioning...

1. the alkaline batteries last about 8-12 months, for as little use as they get (few times a week, if that), they draw quite a lot of power killing batteries too fast in our opinion.

2. upon power outages, we've found that most units require "resynching" with their respective light switches, possibly due to the light switches since they are hard wired, and the sensor is not...nonetheless, going around every few months re-establishing connectivity with these motion sensor units post power failures is becoming problematic. So much so, that thoughts of reverting to old school ways in these areas is cropping up more and more which is unfortunate!

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Having used X10 motion sensors which have to be programmed by pushing little buttons and counting presses to set all attributes (each time batteries are replaced) this model is a real joy. It has jumpers which can set all attributes (time out delay, night only or 24 hours, etc.) or one jumper which allows software to set everything. I linked these to my ISY controller and programmed all of the attributes form my keyboard. That was it! It was done! Everything worked! These have the ability to send three different attributes which can be used for control purposes. They send motion detection, dusk/dawn detection and low battery warning. I wrote some code in my ISY (Universal Devices) which emails me any time that any of my three motion sensors sends a low battery warning to tell me to check all of them. Pretty neat.

Range is excellent and battery life has been far better than the X10 Hawkeye sensors. Also. when changing a battery, I never need to reprogram. I just change the battery and I'm done. These cost more but have a larger lens area and "see" a lot more. The swivel mount is a big help in pointing the sensor in the right direction. I'm very pleased with the performance.

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The motion detector does work, however, it could be better. The effective distance is only 30' not 40' as advertised. It is difficult to get the day night threshold set. It requires the use of a tiny standard screwdriver to adjust the potentiometer. The results of day/ night threshold adjustments are inconsistent and unpredictable. The potentiometer used to adjust the count down timer has the same issues. There is no way to adjust the ramp rate of the light controlled by this motion sensor. The sensor is fairly sturdy. I drop kicked it across a room (I got a little frustrated while setting the count down timer) and it didn't break! If you simply require a motion sensor to turn on or turn off a light this motion sensor will work.

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I've used several of these over the years, and currently have a few working in my house. They work quite well, but reliability depends completely on the soundness of your Insteon infrastructure and how much noise is on your Insteon network. While they say they are rated for outdoor use, I'd also be wary of that statement as they tend to act up when they get wet. I generally put white electrical tape around all seams of the device, especially the battery compartment to prevent any moisture from entering.

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I have a few of these throughout my house and they work exactly as I had expected. I have one at the bottom of the basement stairs so that when I open the basement door it senses me and throws on the first string of basement lights. I have a few of these in our large garage to catch all of the different angles.