What we have here is an update to their Bluetooth enabled motion sensor, but with a few additions aside from the obviously welcome Thread update. So, if you’re in the market for a beefed up motion sensor, with a nice trick up its sleeve, read on.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

As you can see from the packaging, this is a Thread device, which is a welcome change from Bluetooth, although the latter is used for initial pairing and as a backup, should your Thread network go down. It’s also only HomeKit compatible, so Google and Amazon users are out of luck until the company deem to release a Matter version.

In addition to Thread and the standard motion detection, the SMS2 includes both temperature and humidity sensors, as before, but also contains a rudimentary light sensor that can distinguish between light and dark. This isn’t exposed to HomeKit, and can’t give you light measurements – even in the Onvis app – but it can still be used in some circumstances, as I’ll explain later. What makes this product stand out in some ways is the option to schedule detection. The SMS2 can be used in scenes to turn off it’s motion sensing capabilities, based on the status of other devices or as part of a larger automation, which can be a lot easier than setting up ‘conditions’ in third-party HomeKit apps for you other motion sensors.

As with the SMS1, the new model still uses two AAA batteries (which are thankfully provided), that should give you around a year of average usage, depending on how busy the sensor is. The SMS2 is designed for indoor use, with an upcoming outdoor version in development.

The dimensions of the SMS2 remains the same, at 64 x 50 x 37mm (2.52 x 1.97 x 1.46″), so not quite as petite as some motion sensors, but certainly on a par with the Eve Motion sensor.

In the box there’s the SMS2, a manual with an instance of the HomeKit QR code, a SIM pin for resetting the device, and a spare adhesive sticker, as the back comes with a n adhesive patch already in place.

The SMS2 has its main motion sensor window on the front, with most of the rear taken up by the easy-to-access battery compartment.

Users of the original model will notice that the company has taken their advice and significantly reduced the size of the Onvis logo on the front. Fair play! You can see the approximate difference between the two above.

As this is a HomeKit device, there’s a QR code on the side which is also home to the reset hole. The rear battery cover opens easily enough, which you wouldn’t think would be an issue for most devices, but still is for some.

The top and bottom are home to a series of vents for the humidity and temperature sensors, with the top also hiding a small light sensor, as seen above.

As with the original SMS1, due to the nature of the shape of the device it makes placement a little limited. So, if you choose to have it high on a wall, it’s going to struggle to pick up motion that’s quite close, so some form of plastic wedge would have been useful. That said, if it’s on a shelf or similar, it would probably work well enough to pick up pretty much all the motion required, whilst avoiding motion events from pets, so it really depends on a few different factors.

INSTALLATION

Adding the SMS2 is pretty easy, and as it uses Thread you don’t need to worry that you’re connected to a 2.4GHz WiFi band. This was also the case with Bluetooth, of course, but with Thread you’re going to get better range (as long as you have Thread Routers if this is placed far away), better and more consistent response times, and hopefully better battery life, although the batteries for my original Bluetooth model lasted for ages, and a lot longer than the twelve months suggested for this model. As it has additional sensors, you can name these as you like too.

All three sensors are exposed to HomeKit as though they were individual devices, so they can be used in automations, as standard. Each sensor will also display the battery life, which is good. All sensors are also visible via the room the SMS2 is located in.

A quick look at the Thread network in the Eve for HomeKit (and Matter) app shows the SMS2 listed and is confirmed as an ‘endpoint’ device. This means whilst it can connect to either a Thread Border Router or a Thread Router device (essentially a repeater for the Thread network), it can’t extend the Thread network itself.

THE ONVIS APP

The Onvis app is useful for customising various options for the SMS2, even if the design leaves a lot to be desired. This includes an option to have the motion active or inactive (more on that later), show the status of the light sensor and other sensors, and even allow you to set the cooldown period for the sensor, which is the time from when it detects motion to it resetting it’s state for the next motion event. You can set it as low as zero seconds, though I don’t see much benefit in doing so, or as high as just a second under three hours. There’s a log section for quick access to recent motion events in a list format, although you can access more details in a different manner via the hard to see icon labelled ‘Stats’ which is just a bit below the HomeKit icon. Both the temperature and humidity sensors also have their own pages, as well as log data.

Further customisation options are available, which includes turning a small LED on or off that is triggered by motion, an option to link motion event triggers with the state of the light sensor, a schedule option that allows you to set times for when the motion sensor is either active or inactive, and a pretty useful pair of options for calibrating the temperature and humidity sensors, by allowing you to compensate for any discrepencies between these sensors and ones that you know to be accurate. To cap things off, you get details on battery life – an overall rating and battery levels.

ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE THE SMS2

The one feature that does sort of set the SMS2 apart from other sensors – at least as far as I’m aware – is that you can automate whether it detects motion or not. So in this case, the ‘active’ feature is exposed to third party HomeKit apps, like the aforementioned Eve app, the state of which can be used in a scene. I’ve created two scenes here, one to activate the motion sensor, and another to deactivate it.

These scenes are then automatically exposed to the Apple Home app for use in automations. In the instance above, if the ‘Cove Light’ turns off, then the SMS2 is set to be active. The Cove Light in question is situated in the living room, and when it’s on, the corridor (where the SMS2 will eventually reside) is light enough that you don’t really need to turn the corridor lights on. With the Cove Light turned off, it’s too dark in the corridor, hence the need for activating the SMS2, which in turn will then be ready to turn the corridor lights on when motion is detected.

Some might argue that with a workaround, this can be achieved with any motion sensor, which is true; you only need to set conditions in an Eve app automation, but generally speaking, when conditions are used in automations, they tend to slightly slow the automation down – not by much, but enough that something like a motion automation lags slightly, which isn’t great for a motion sensor, where speedy reaction times are crucial, in my opinion. You can also do all of this in the Home app using an automation and ‘Convert to Shortcut’ but once again, this does slightly slow the reaction times down. The option presented here allows the sensor to simply turn on or off dependent on the state of another device. So far, in my testing, it has been incredibly responsive.

SUMMING UP

Even with the original model using Bluetooth (not ideal), i found it to be pretty reliable, and along with the extraordinary battery life, it was hard to knock. Now with the added features of Thread, the light sensor (should that be ‘lite’ sensor’…?), and Active mode, this takes things considerably further. The boxy design isn’t great if I’m honest, which does make placement more of a challenge in some circumstances, but, so far, I haven’t encountered any issues, either with missed motion events, dropping off the Thread network or even any false triggers, so I once again find it hard to knock.

The Onvis app is useful for updating the app and customising the settings for the SMS2, but it’s far from a daily driver, so install it but just try not to look at it! All in all, it’s commendable to see a company like Onvis taking a step above some others, which is hard to do with sensors of most types these days, so good on them. Recommended.

The post Onvis Smart Motion Sensor w/ Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

BOX | CONTENTS

As with most decent manufacturers, the box follows the same minimalist rules; the product on the front, floating against a white background. Only the Qingping logo and ‘Works with Apple Home’ badge go some way to breaking things up. Looking around the packaging, I immediately noticed there was no Thread logo to be seen. As I’d been sent a review model, I was informed this was probably not the final packaging, hence the missing Thread badge. It’s a Thread device though, trust me!

the back states wireless connectivity uses Thread and Bluetooth. The latter is only used for initial setup and as a fallback option, should Thread go AWOL.

The sensor uses not one, but two CR2450 batteries, which are thankfully already provided.

Aside from the sensor, which we’ll look at in more detail, you get the following; a mounting ball joint, a circular double-sided sticker, and a manual in English, German, Chinese, and Japanese. The ball joint is magnetic, allowing the rear of the motion to hold on magnetically, whilst also allowing the sensor to be both easily angled and removable. It comes with an adhesive backing.

The circular sticker is designed to allow the user to mount the sensor directly to a surface without the need for the ball joint, although this means the sensor can’t be angled.

THE SENSOR

I’m not quite sure how to describe the shape of the sensor, other than it’s a bit like one of those bullet cameras you see on the outside of buildings I guess. Either way, it’s still not large overall, measuring just 38mm in diameter and 36.5mm in depth. When compared to the Eve Motion, which is the only other motion sensor utilising Thread right now, I’d say it’s around 3-4 times smaller.

There’s a HomeKit QR code on the side, which answers the question of whether this uses Matter – it does not, at least not right now. It may get an update for Matter, but nothing has been officially announced so far.

The rear of the sensor has an indent to marry up with the ball joint, which is also the battery cover. The inside of the cover has a magnet that ensures it connects to the wall mount magnetically. This cover unscrews with a light touch, so getting inside the battery compartment is easy.

As it uses two coin batteries, the way these are installed is via a separate battery holder, that can then be removed separately. Once again, this is quite easy to remove, with a small turn anticlockwise. To one side is a small blue tab which is actually the reset/pairing button. This is a little harder to get to, especially if you have very short nails, or have the proverbial ‘sausage fingers’, but a small screwdriver is usually enough.

IN HOME | HOMEKIT

I did mention the name of the product at the start but it’s probably a good idea to reiterate that this is a motion and light sensor. In Apple Home, you get access to both sensors, and both can be used in automations of course.

In the Eve app, as long as you have at least one permanently powered Eve Thread device (Eve Energy for example), you can view some details of your Thread network. In my Thread network, you can see I’ve highlighted the two Qingping motion sensors I have set up, as well as the Thread details for one of those devices.

As these are basically HomeKit over Thread devices, they currently only work with HomeKit. If they do get an update to become Matter over Thread, as has been the case with a few Eve devices recently, then they’ll work with any Matter-capable platform, including Google, Amazon, and SmartThings. However, if you’re a strictly Apple Home user, in essence, this is more than good enough.

Also note these are labelled as ‘endpoint'(s), which means these can’t share or extend the Thread network, only receive the signal. This is due to them being battery-powered. If they were in a position to be ‘routers’ (i.e. helping spread the network and pass on info between devices and a Border Router) the batteries would last weeks at best. This is why only mains-powered devices are generally set up as Thread Routers.

THE QINGPING+ APP

I do like the Qingping+ app, probably more than most other proprietary apps, although I’ll be the first to admit I don’t use it that often. My workhorse is the Home app, and that’s that. Still, if you really want to keep track of motion and light data, this is the app for you. You also don’t have to create an account and still access pretty much everything. It’s so well laid out, I find it a joy to use, with quick look cards for both sensors, as well as 24-hour and 30-day readings for light.

Motion detection history is also very detailed, although possibly not as nice to look at, as it’s just a list. I should note that as Thread and Bluetooth are about the same when it comes to how much data can be transmitted, it can take a while to download the historical data to the app. You can also export the data as a .csv file that’s sent via email. there aren’t too many options for you to change, but one option is to change the countdown period, which offers as little as five seconds before resetting, to five minutes, with the first 60 seconds offered in five-second increments, and thereafter,  increments of one minute.

Whilst all motion sensors have a countdown or cooldown period, many sensors in this countdown will be ‘blind’ and won’t detect motion or the lack of it during that period. The Qingping (along with the Eve, Hue motion and a couple of others) allow the motion sensor to continuously detect motion or no motion during that time, which can be quite handy in many circumstances.

So, if for example, you have your Qingping set to 45 seconds between the moment it detects motion, and resetting to no motion, if you move in front of the motion sensor, that 45-second countdown will restart. Sensors that don’t have this ability will just begin the countdown until it’s complete, and then become active again.

SENSOR PERFORMANCE (MOTION AND LIGHT)

In my tests (which you can see in the video review) the motion sensor was pretty much on par with the Eve Motion. I did notice that the detection range was a little shorter than I’m used to, but then I always found that the original Aqara motion sensor always reached a little too far for my use cases, so this is no bad thing in my opinion. I have one situated in the corridor, and another near the doorway to the main bedroom and so far I’ve encountered no issues as such, which includes any instances of automations failing to trigger, or indeed a lost connection.

The light sensor did stump me a little, however. In the tests I performed, I compared it to the light sensor built into the Hue motion, Eve Motion, and a dedicated Mijia motion sensor that uses Zigbee. At low levels, all three were comparable in their readings, but in medium and bright light, the Qingping displayed much higher readings – pretty much double the readings from the other three, which for the most part were all within the same ballpark for all levels of light. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Qingping is giving false readings as such – it could actually be more accurate perhaps, but if three of the four sensors match up, then it’s probably more likely they’re providing accurate readings. This shouldn’t matter in one sense, as assuming you’d solely use this particular light sensor in a room without another light sensor, you simply adjust your automation to work at the levels the Qingping provides, so it’s a case of adjusting in essence.

COMPARISONS TO THE EVE MOTION

It seems fair to compare this to the only other device with much the same features, namely a device with Thread, and separate motion and light sensors. That would be the Eve Motion of course.

• The Eve is currently priced at US$49.95, which is double the price of the Qingping T, so that can have a lot of bearing on some peoples’ choices.
• They both use Thread, but only Eve can offer a Matter update, which makes it more enticing for users of platforms aside from Apple Home, and those that might run more than one platform.
• Size is a consideration, so if you’re looking for small and discreet, Qingping has that on its side.
• Both can be mounted, but Eve only offers hanging it from a screw or nail in a wall, whilst the Qingping can be stuck anywhere, whilst also offering adjustable angles.
• Eve offers an IPX3 rating, which isn’t totally outdoor/weatherproof, but does offer a measure of water resistance that Qingping doesn’t.
• Finally, Eve has options to adjust the sensitivity of the motion detection, which isn’t offered by Qingping.

As you can see, both have their positives and negatives.

IN DAY-TO-DAY USE

I’ve had two Qingping motion sensors running in my home for a while now, and initially, I did have two instances where one went offline. I never got to the bottom of the reason why. I did move the motion sensor around the apartment a fair bit, so losing connection to the Thread Border Router it may have initially been connected to could be the reason, but now they’re both in a regular location and thankfully this has not been an issue since, for either of them.

Personally, I prefer the design over the Eve motion, partly due to the size, and ease of mounting it at different angles. Having it Matter compatible is low on my list of priorities, even though I think this is ultimately the way things should be going, so in HomeKit it has performed well enough, with no hint of lag normally associated with Bluetooth-based sensors. I didn’t have the previous Bluetooth version of this sensor, as it wasn’t HomeKit compatible, so it’s hard to measure the change, but let’s be honest; Bluetooth has never been up to the job when it came to speedy response times, so I have no doubt it’s an improvement.

I like their app, even if I don’t use it too often, although it does come in handy with my Qingping Air Monitor Lite (video HERE, review HERE), as I like to keep tabs on both PM2.5 and CO², which using this app can be an eye opener, especially with the latter. Having not had these long enough to see how well battery life is, I can’t tell you if it’s good or bad, but I am a little surprised to see it use two of the larger CR2450 batteries, although I’m equally happy they didn’t go for the CR2430 which seems to be harder to buy in shops than the CR2450.

All in all, it has been fine for my use cases, and even though the Aqara FP2 has highlighted the shortcomings of PIR sensors like this one, they do still function well for basic tasks.

The post Qingping Motion and Light Sensor w/ Thread (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING | CONTENTS

The FP2 has launched with a new packaging design and colour scheme, with the sensor pictured on the front. This is also where the ‘Works with Apple Home’ badge is placed, but the FP2 does also work with Amazon, Google, and IFTTT. No word on SmartThings at present, although once the FP2 gets an alleged update for Matter, it should work with SmartThings hubs capable of being Matter controllers, like the SmartThings Station.

One side lays out the feature set of the FP2; multi-person detection, Built-in light sensor, fall detection, zone positioning, interference compensation, and local automations.

The other side of the box is largely just legal text, but you’ll also notice a Bluetooth logo. I suspect that a Bluetooth chip has been put in place for future Matter support, as Matter (and Thread) devices usually utilise Bluetooth for initial setup (commissioning).

I’ll quickly run through the features mentioned on the box;

• Multi-Person Tracking: The FP2 is designed to be able to detect and track up to five people simultaneously, although it’s also stated that three people is the optimum number for smooth operation. Unlike the FP1, which was only able to track one ‘signal’ the FP2 can individually track people as they move around inside the detection area. More on why that’s useful in a bit.
• Built-in Light Sensor: Light sensors are already found in most of Aqara’s motion sensors, but this is the first sensor with an included light sensor (that isn’t already a light sensor) that’s exposed to HomeKit. Like multi-person detection, the light sensor can be used in a multitude of ways, that involve detection in a specific zone, but only trigger an automation if the light levels are above a certain number, for example.
• Fall Detection: this speaks for itself, and could be of use for monitoring the elderly or infirm without having to watch them on a smart camera, for example. It should be noted that this feature only really works if the FP2 is ceiling mounted. This option actually limits the range of detection, and you lose the ability to use zones and track multiple people, so it’s really a case of which feature is most important to you.
• Zone Positioning: The Aqara app breaks the FP2’s detection range into a grid of 320 separate squares. You can select and group these squares to create zones. These zones can in turn be used to trigger automations. Each zone is also exposed to HomeKit as a separate presence sensor.
• Interference Compensation: This feature allows you to designate certain areas of the detection range as ‘interference sources’, so if you have a standing fan in one part of the room, that when active, triggers the FP2, you can create one of these interference zones where the fan is, so the FP2 can ignore it.
• Local Automations: On this last point, I have to mention that in my tests, automations involving the FP2 and some devices in the Aqara app are cloud-based, not local, although after bringing this up with Aqara, they assured me this was a bug they’re working on fixing, so it could already be a non-issue by the time you read this. Automations in the Home app/HomeKit are local anyway of course.

Aside from the FP2, you get two circular magnetic plates and corresponding double-sided stickers, a single screw and rawl plug for more long-term mounting, a 2-metre long USB-A to USB-C cable, and a manual in a whopping fourteen different languages.

The FP2 is a circular, puck-shaped sensor with a cutout at the top that’s home to a large status LED, which I understand also houses the ambient light sensor, at least it appears that way in the manual. The base is magnetic, and is smaller in diameter than the main section out of necessity, as the USB cable that powers it needs to pass in between regardless of whether the stand – which is part of the base – is extended or not.

Although the stand looks similar to the ones you might have seen on the Aqara G2, G2H, and G2H Pro, as well as the FP1, this stand is slightly different as it doesn’t allow the main body of the FP2 to rotate. The base is home to the HomeKit QR code, so it can be added directly to HomeKit, although you really are better off adding it via the Aqara app, so you can add it to HomeKit, and then bind it to the Aqara app and server in one pass. Even though it can be added just to HomeKit, you’re not going to get much use from it without the Aqara app, as most of the features already mentioned need to be set up in Aqara Home.

FP2 IN THE AQARA APP

As already stated, the Aqara app is pretty essential, at least for initial setup, so starting with the FP2 there, I’ve set up two tiles – one for the FP2 showing its status, with a separate tile for the light sensor, showing the current Lux value. Tapping on the FP2 tile opens up the main UI for the sensor;

• At the top is a floor plan broken down into a grid of 16 x 20 tiles. In my case, you can see I’ve already set up my detection area, with furniture icons, zones, doors/exits etc. along with the edge of the detection range, as defined by the user (that’ll be me then…).
• Below there are half-width buttons labelled ‘Installation Mode’ and ‘Zone Management’, and two full-width buttons, one for detection status, and the other for illuminance, or brightness levels as reported by the light sensor.

As you can see from the last two screenshots, one shows absence, whilst the other shows presence, with a small icon on the floor plan to indicate a person.

The Installation Mode button will simply show you the current type of installation option you selected when originally setting it up, along with what you can expect in terms of coverage. As previously mentioned, you can have this positioned so it’s facing forward, either stuck to a wall or on a shelf, or ceiling mounted. You could also have it placed in a corner, although that would essentially just be a variation of the wall-mounted option. That said, having it in a corner does mean that any blind spots caught behind the 120º detection area won’t matter, as they’ll be just walls (assuming the corners of your room are at 90º to each other).

The presence/absence status button opens up a log of detection periods covering a day or a week, along with any potential offline times. Similarly, the Illuminance button shows a log of ambient light readings in Lux, covering days, weeks, months, and years.

Tapping on Zone Management is where it starts to get fun, although it’s really important to set up the ‘edge’ of the detection zone, or you may well have an issue later on with detection and more. The ‘edge’ tells the sensor to ignore any presence beyond its boundary. This could be useful for areas that you don’t want detected, but can still pick up presence, like through a ground floor window, for example, as the FP2 can detect presence through things like glass. With the edges set up, you can proceed.

Here you can adjust various aspects of the floor plan, so with the Template icon on the bottom, Aqara give you preset layouts that you can use as starting points, complete with icons for the relevant furniture (beds, desks, stoves, sofas etc). the Sticker icon allows you to add up to 20 graphics to your floor plan, including the aforementioned items in addition to plants, TVs, lamps, toilets, and even doors etc. I feel there could have been a few more icons, but these probably cover the basics.

When it comes to creating zones, these are managed by selecting the relevant squares on the grid, and choosing a colour so you can differentiate between zones. You can attach an attribute to the zones – Detection Zone, Interference Source, Exits and Entrances, and Edge, as previously mentioned.

Interference source is useful if you have a standing fan, or anything that might fool the sensor into thinking there’s presence when there isn’t. Simply create the zone and assign it as an interference source so it can be disregarded.

Exits and Entrances are also useful, as these help the sensor realise why a person being detected/tracked might suddenly disappear, which should help the FP2’s algorithm.

The Types option gives you the option to assign preset descriptions to zones already created, although you can name them yourself. As you can see in my example, I’ve kept things uncluttered by using simple two-letter codes (KT = kitchen, LR = living room, etc).

If the fact that the FP2 can track your location within the detection range, whilst also allowing you to create individual zones (for the purposes of advanced automations) wasn’t enough, each zone can be set to one of three levels of monitoring sensitivity – High, Medium, Low. Amazing really.

Going back briefly to ‘stickers’, and in the example above, you can see I’ve added a sofa. When you add a sticker, you have four options – you can rotate the position of the graphic, which allows it to turn at 45º with each tap. You can also increase or decrease the size of the graphic with the plus and minus buttons. Finally, if the graphic is no longer needed, you can tap the trash can to delete it.

When you’ve got your room set up to your liking, you can save it for later recall, if for any reason you either messed up somehow or inadvertently delete it. You can also take a photo of the sensor’s location for future reference.

If you’ve used any Aqara products before, you’ll be familiar with the structure of devices in the app, and so in ‘More Settings’ you get access to pretty much all the options you’ll need for the FP2. You can turn off the LED light between hours set by yourself, which would be useful in a bedroom at night. There are options for overall sensitivity and fall detection monitoring.

The working mode can be changed here, with zone detection being the recommended default. You can also set the FP2 to detect direction, which is something the FP1 was also capable of. There’s also a ‘Reset Absence State’ button, which can be used if for some reason the sensor is detecting presence when there is none, which in my case has been rare, although less rare for some it seems. When it comes to the zones and what you’ve named them, there’s an option to have the names synced between Aqara Home and HomeKit, with options to sync in either direction.

AUTOMATION OPTIONS IN AQARA HOME

One thing I’ve always liked about the Aqara app is the expansive amount of choices offered, and given what you can achieve with the FP2, you may well be overwhelmed by the choices combined with zones and the sensor. So not only do you have options for basics like Presence and Absence detection, as well as zone-based detection, but even more specific things like Enter, Leave, Someone is Approaching, Someone is Going Away, Someone Falls Down, as well as options involving the light sensor. On top of that, when it comes to zone detection, you can get granular by selecting specific zones for your automation.

Within these specific zone automations, you then get the granular options found in the previous menu. It’s quite mind-boggling what you can do, although you do need to bear in mind this is all for the benefit of other devices in the Aqara app – which are only going to be Aqara devices in the main, so you can forget about using these with non-Aqara devices outside of this ecosystem.

When it comes to the options for detecting ‘presence (or absence) for some time’, you can set the amount for that ‘time’, with the ability to go as low as one second, or as high as just under four hours (3h 59m 59s).

All of these options are available as triggers in an Aqara automation (the IF section), but you also get one option to use the FP2 in the ‘THEN’ section. In this case, you can choose to have the FP2’s absence status to be reset. There can’t be too many reasons why this would be necessary, but I guess if you’re leaving home, and for some reason, there’s an errant presence detected that you know is wrong, you could just have it reset when you turn off some lights or lock a door on your way to work perhaps.

THE FP2 IN APPLE HOME/HOMEKIT

As you might expect, when it comes to HomeKit, automation options are a lot more stripped back. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with the FP2, as each zone created with the FP2 in the Aqara app is exposed to HomeKit as a separate presence sensor. So you don’t have to scroll back through this article, I’ll tell you I created a total of nine zones;

• Living room (LR and LR2)
• Kitchen (KT)
• Dining Area (DA)
• Corridor (CF)
• Entrance
• Prayer Area (PA)
• Windows (W)
• Sofa

Each of those, as you can see, is showing up as sensors in the Home app. You’ll also notice that I’ve got additional sensors listed on this screen. Abode OS is simply an Abode motion sensor, but for some reason, it’s exposed as an occupancy sensor. I also have the FP1 listed (FP1 L). Additionally, the FP2 shows up as a separate sensor, that I assume covers the whole area, not just zones.

You can also see that the light sensor shows up in HomeKit, with the Lux readings listed in the details section.

The light sensor can be used in automations, with options for when the Lux readings rise above or drop below specific levels. These levels are fixed in the Home app, but I’m not sure having them to be so specific is necessary. When it comes to the presence sensors, you simply get the same kind of options as you would with a motion sensor – detects or stops detecting occupancy.

Even though the options for HomeKit-only automations are more limited, you can still make use of the option to ‘convert to Shortcut’ within the Home app, which does give you a lot more choices.

THE FP2 IN USE

When I first started to use the FP2, like many other people it took a while to get it how I wanted it, with a lot of moving around so as to make sure everything on the floor plan matched real life. What was told to me before I even set it up was how important it is to get the edges set up. Without doing this, you can leave yourself wide open to all sorts of false detections, ghosts occupancy events and more. That’s not to say the FP2 has been perfect even with this, and there have been occasions where the sensor – or rather the app, it seems – gets stuck, only to catch up with all motion events, and display ‘figures’ on the floor plan darting at high speed from one end of the room to the other. Using the ‘Reset Absence State’ button may not seem ideal, but it would seem that over time, the algorithm learns from this, and begins to report less and less false information. This is something I feel has happened in my case, and as a result, things have improved to the point where I largely don’t have any issues with the FP2. It would seem a recent app update has made things a lot more reliable.

One issue I’ve seen reported by some users was the initial setup not going well, with some people simply not being able to add the device to either HomeKit or Aqara. It’s hard to know what might have gone wrong in most cases, as there are so many variables at play, not least among them human error. I, fortunately, had no issues with this. I do have another one to set up though, so maybe it’ll be my turn to suffer, but I tend to have relatively few issues with this kind of thing for whatever reason.

I think the one thing that could be a possible bone of contention is the price, but of course, any company is free to set the price they see fit, and we as consumers are not obliged to buy them if we don’t like the price, so I can’t really see an argument in this instance. Before anyone says “Well, you got yours free!” I’d like to remind you that a “free” product comes with a lot of testing, video editing, and writing, so I’m not sure it could truly be considered free – all that aside, I still paid for my Chinese model with my own money. There are other options for occupancy sensors, like the FP1, or the LifeSmart Presence sensor (video HERE, review HERE), although both of these options require a hub, as they utilise Zigbee.

All in all, this sensor fixes a few issues that simply aren’t as easily achievable with standard PIR sensors, and the fact that you can split this into up to 30 zones, thereby giving you the equivalent number of presence sensors in HomeKit, really shows you that you’re getting a lot for your money.

I’m not so sure it would be of much use in a small bathroom, for example, and I’d probably recommend the FP1 for simpler tasks, but for large rooms, especially open-plan areas like the one we have here, it’s a bit of a godsend.

The post Aqara Presence Sensor FP2 (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

• Control lights, devices and entire scenes with movement, or even depending on brightness or time of day.
• Receive notifications when motion is detected; review motion time and duration in the Eve app
• Eve Motion has a 120° field of view, up to 9 m / 30 ft detection range and can be flexibly placed indoors, outdoors and wall-mounted thanks to wireless battery operation and IPX3 water resistance. Set the sensitivity of the motion detector individually by location.
• HomeKit technology: Joins your Thread network automatically (supports Bluetooth and Thread); HomeKit-enabled for unparalleled ease of use and advanced security; get up and running in a flash with a quick & easy set up and no need for a bridge or gateway.
• 100% Privacy: No Eve cloud, no registration, no tracking. Local intelligence and direct communication without bridge or cloud dependency.

The post Eve Motion with Thread appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGE/CONTENTS

Having received the package – which also included the company’s HomeKit compatible Zigbee hub we’ll see later – it did come across that this product is/was originally intended for installers only, as it’s not retail packaging as such. No matter, but also of interest is that despite LifeSmart selling this only in China at present, the specs are also listed in English on the side of the box which gives rise to the hope that this will start to filter to Western outlets at some point;

• Model: MIR-HE200
• Size: $80 × 47mm (ceiling cutting size $65mm)
• Operating voltage: AC100-240V
• Wireless protocol: ZigBee 3.0
• Detection type: Millimetre-wave doppler radar
• Operating temperature: -10~55°C
• Operating humidity: 5~95%
• Mounting type: Ceiling recessed

As you can already gather from the specs above, this is a Zigbee 3.0 device, which is why I was also sent the LifeSmart Smart Station, and whilst it uses Zigbee for communication, the method used for detection is something called mmWave (Millimetre Wave) technology, which is a form of radar I’m told, the source technology of which is actually a lot older than you might realise (EHF – Wikipedia). As it can use 100~240V AC, it’s also suitable for anywhere where there’s electricity!

CONTENTS

There are only two things in the box; the Human Presence Sensor itself (referred to forthwith as the HPS), and the manual, in English and Simplified Chinese.

The manual, although small (with correspondingly tiny print…) goes into great detail on the product and what it’s capable of, which is somewhat of a rarity I’ve found.

THE PRESENCE SENSOR

The HPS takes on a similar form to a downlight in that the body fits through a hole in a ceiling, with only the front-facing portion being visible, and almost flush with the ceiling. This is going to be an issue with some users of course, but if you do have recessed lighting of similar dimensions, and can afford to remove one of them in place of the HPS, you should be ok, especially given that the wires can just be hooked up to existing ones with very minor adjustments.

Whilst the FPS has two wires for permanent power (no batteries), there is a small compartment secured by one screw that contains receptacles labelled A and B, I assume, for two wires. There’s no mention of this part in the manual, but I’ve seen something similar with an Aqara Gas Leak Sensor. If anyone has an idea what these are for, let me know in the comments!

Other than the two spring-loaded handles, there’s only the front-facing portion that has anything of note; for the most part, the sensor is quite minimalist looking, with a flat face punctuated only by a couple of circular devices – a pairing/reset button, and an ambient light sensor. Yes, the HPS also includes a light sensor, and better still, it’s also exposed to HomeKit. Just below the pairing button, there’s a hidden red LED that you’ll see when pairing, and when the device is set up and detections motion.

A QUICK LOOK AT THE ZIGBEE GATEWAY

The LifeSmart Smart Station comes in more standard retail packaging (I forgot to photograph it…) and contains almost everything you’ll need to get set up.

The gateway itself is a fairly plain box with just the LifeSmart logo on the top, a small reset button on the back that accompanies an RJ45 port, and a coaxial port for power.

To power the gateway, there’s a USB-A to coaxial power cable, although they don’t provide a USB plug, which has become ‘de rigueur’ across the tech industry. You do get an ethernet cable, however, as the gateway can only connect to your network via a modem, router or internet switch, as there’s no WiFi capability. Finally a manual in English is provided.

As with practically all hub-based setups for HomeKit, you add the gateway to the LifeSmart app, which also includes scanning the HomeKit QR code (found on the inside lid of the box and the base of the gateway) to get it exposed to HomeKit. Once that’s in the bag, any compatible devices added to the gateway are then exposed to HomeKit. This is exactly the case with the HPS.

THE HPS IN HOMEKIT

As the HPS is ‘all sensor’, In HomeKit/The Home app you’re no going to get a tile to represent it, so it’ll appear at the top along with other sensors. As it also has an ambient light sensor, this also means these two sensors are located in different places. The light sensor appears in the bathroom alongside the light sensor within the Hue Motion Sensor. Just a side note: the reason for the different readings is that the Hue Motion sensor is pointed more towards a window, whereas the LifeSmart one is pointed towards the ground.

You may also notice that whilst HomeKit has separate categories for motion and presence/occupancy, for whatever reason, the LifrSmart offering has been assigned to the standard motion category. This could be an error on the company’s part, although as the device is able to detect motion as well as presence, it sort of makes sense to include it. It doesn’t affect the usefulness or functionality of the device at all, as automation options for occupancy/presence and motion appear to be the same in HomeKit.

THE HPS IN THE LIFESMART APP

I actually started using LifeSmart products back in 2017, as was a contributor to this site – Kevin Patenaude. In that time, I’ve seen the LifeSmart app change quite a few times, and I’ll be honest and say that whilst the UI has improved, when it comes to automations, it’s far too complicated. That said, as I’ve only currently got a set of LifeSmart ColoLight Plus tiles running in HomeKit, there’s not a lot of need for automations in the LifeSmart app. The HPS has its own tile, and once pressed, reveals a small section with tabs for Motion and Luminance. These take you to the relevant sections that record data for each sensor. Pressing the three dots in the corner takes you to the Setting page.

As mentioned, the separate tabs take you to the relevant pages that reveal data for both motion/presence and luminance. For both of these there’s a wealth of information available, with the overall layout of them appealingly designed (in my opinion). Whether this kind of data is of importance to you is another thing, but it’s good to have it if needed.

If you click on the ‘Settings’ option within the ‘Settings’ page (…!) you get access to two further options – Sensitivity, and Scene Pattern. The former is fairly straightforward and allows the sensitivity of the ‘motion detection’ functionality of the HPS to be adjusted. The Scene Pattern option is where things get a bit more interesting, as it allows the presence sensor to be adjusted for various preset types of scenarios;

• Default
• Area detect
• Toilet
• Bedroom
• Living Room
• Office
• Hotel

If you look at the third screenshot above, after each preset there are three variables – W, N, and O – each followed by a number that differs depending on the preset. According to the manual, the HPS has three detection angles, a Wide angle (W), a Narrow angle (N), and an Oblique angle (O). The numbers themselves refer to the diameter of the detection range.

If you imagine the detection area of the HPS to be an oval, the Wide and Narrow Angles refer to the widest and narrowest areas of detection. In the image above, the arrows refer to these detection angles, so the placement of the sensor is actually just as important as the location. What purpose do these detection angles serve, you may wonder. Well, as far I’ve been able to make out from the manual, different areas might have specific requirements as to how far the sensor can detect. For example, the bathroom I’ve got it temporarily set up in, it’s quite small, but the bathroom itself has a sliding door that’s usually open. This means that it’s possible for the HPS sensor to detect initial motion beyond the confines of the bathroom. However, by placing the HPS so that the ‘Narrow’ detection angle is positioned so that it’s aimed toward the bathroom doorway, I can eliminate this problem. So going back to the presets and the numbers that follow them, you can see the different presets offer different detection ranges, depending on your needs. It would seem that these detection ranges cover the motion detection range only, with the presence (or Static Detection Range, as it’s called in the manual) being the same for all presets, which is W 4m | N 3m | O 3m. The manual also states that there’s a distance tolerance of ±0.5m.

So, it would seem that for the best results, generally speaking, you would need to place the sensor according to the relevant dimensions of the room it’s placed in, with the Narrow angle covering the narrowest part of the room – unless it’s perfectly square of course! One other use case for these different detection angles is that due to the nature of how mmWave works, it’s entirely possible that the HPS can detect presence through low density materials. If for example you have this set up in a small room that has been annexed from another room with plasterboard, it may well detect presence on the other side of that wall. It just depends on the wall’s materials. If it were a brick wall, it wouldn’t be able to penetrate past the bricks. the HPS can also detect presence through glass, so unlike a motion sensor that might not detect motion through the glass partition of a shower, the HPS is more than capable.

WHY A ‘HUMAN’ PRESENCE SENSOR?

According to the manual, the detection algorithm detects presence and determine whether that object is a human or not. This may be based on the shape, size and height of the object, as adult humans generally don’t walk on ‘all fours’ like a dog or cat would. As an example, a dog would create a different detection shape and area, along with its height compared to a human in most cases. In my tests, which you can see in the video, when my dog walked into the bathroom, the Hue motion sensor was triggered, but not the HPS. As soon as I walked in, the HPS was triggered.

Assuming this works well and is accurate for most of the time, this could really make the difference when detecting between an intruder and a pet, if you’re away from home. That said, some non-human devices like standing fans or otherwise moving objects like AC units can create false triggers, so once again, placement is really important.

HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO THE AQARA FP1

This is in some ways a bit tricky to answer. As presence sensors, they both work really well, and will know whether you’re really in a room or not, even if you fall asleep. They both have different plus points however; For example, the FP1 has an option to map out the room it’s monitoring, with the ability to create sections that it can ignore for the purposes of detection. So if you have a fan that’s on for most of the time, sat in one corner, you can select the region of the room layout in the Aqara app and set it as a non-detection area. This is quite handy, although actually mapping out your room is a bit of a thankless task, when you try to work out the edges of the detection range. The FP1 also has other functions that are supposed to detect the direction in which an object is moving. Unfortunately, in practice this simply doesn’t work most of the time, at least in my experience. It does have to be permanently powered, but as it comes with a USB-A plug on the end of a fixed cord, it’s probably more convenient to place this than the HPS.

The HPS has the presets, which seem to work well, but what really pushes it forward compared to the FP1 is that it is consistently able to detect motion as fast as a standard Zigbee PIR motion sensor (fast!). The FP1 generally takes around 5-6 seconds to detect motion, although to be fair, you can set motion detect to be much faster, depending on the type of detection option you select in an automation. This is only an option in the Aqara app, and therefore can only be used to trigger other Aqara devices, so in HomeKit, motion detection is stuck at 5-6 seconds, which is far too slow, so you’d have to use the FP1 in conjunction with an Aqara motion sensor perhaps if you want to trigger other non-Aqara HomeKit devices in a HomeKit automation. Not so with the HPS.

The downside to the HPS when compared to the FP1 is that the time the HPS takes before it resets to ‘no presence detected’ is anything between 75-100 seconds. The FP1 on the other hand, can detect the lack of presence within a few seconds.

WRAPPING UP

As previously stated, I began using LifeSmart products back in 2017. At that time the original LifeSmart Smart station wasn’t officially compatible with HomeKit, but the app had this sneaky little ‘beta’ feature that allowed the app to generate a HomeKit code, which would then allow the gateway to be added to HomeKit (non-certified of course). This allowed a lot of its other child devices to also be exposed to HomeKit, which back in 2017 was great, as there wasn’t the abundance of devices for HomeKit like there is today. As the amount of compatible devices grew, and once Aqara came on the scene, my LifeSmart devices got less and less use, so it’s a bit strange to be revisiting the company again. What’s great is that in doing so with something fairly unique right now, and something that does what it needs to without any problems to date.

All in all, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how well it works, especially since the FP1 failed on many of the extras it offers, so it’s hard to fault it. As previously stated, the fact that it’s ultimately better to have this ceiling mounted (you can work around it, but it looks odd) is going to put some people off, and as it can’t just be magnetically mounted anywhere like the FP1 can, does present a challenge. That said, if you are ceiling mounting this, you’re unlikely to be moving it around, so mobility isn’t such an issue.

With the addition of the light sensor being exposed to HomeKit to make even better and more intricate motion/presence based automations, it’s actually a really decent device to have. LifeSmart aren’t as easy to find in the West, as say Aqara, but the company are working on that, and if their Cololight Strip and tiles are anything to go by, they’ll achieve this without many issues. Recommended.

Full disclosure: LifeSmart provided HomeKit News with LifeSmart Human Presence Sensor for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was made, requested or has not in any way influenced our opinion of this product.

The post LifeSmart mmWave Human Presence Sensor (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Using abode’s customizable notifications, you can set alerts to notify you when a room gets above or below certain temperatures to keep it at an optimal level. If you have a connected thermostat, you can set an automation for the A/C to turn on when the temperature rises above a certain point or the heat to turn on if it gets too cold.

Never walk into a dark room again. Set an automation for your connected lights to turn on when the light in a room dips below a certain level of lumens. Great for keeping your home well-lit at night or while you aren’t home to give the illusion that someone is home.

Sensors:

• temperature
• humidity *
• light
• motion/occupancy

* Humidity sensor not exposed to HomeKit at present.

The post Abode Multi Sensor appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

PACKAGING

As this is actually quite a small device, the packaging for it is equally diminutive. So much so, that it even comes with a holder at the top so that it can be ‘hung’ on display racks when needed. There’s nothing that stands out from previous Mi or Aqara products when it comes to the aesthetics, so you simply get the device pictured ‘front-on’ on the front of the box, with the Mijia logo, an ambient light icon with text (in Simplified Chinese) that says ‘perceived ambient light intensity’. There’s also more text at the bottom that translates to ‘Xiaomi Mijia Light Sensor’ along with three features – Adaptive Range, Intelligent Linkage, and IPX3. We’ll come back to ‘IPX3′ in a bit, but take it to mean there’s some level of protection from water.

The rear of the box, has, as standard, some basic specs, along with legal jargon. It also carries both the ‘works with Mijia’ logo and for the first time for a Mi or Aqara smart ‘child device’, the Zigbee Certified Product badge. The packaging for Mi smart Gateway also came with this, which as we mentioned in the review for the gateway, seems to indicate that this device is officially able to work with other Zigbee 3.0 devices, besides the gateway it accompanies. This is, in fact, a Zigbee 3.0 device, which discerns itself from the current batch of sensors currently available by Aqara or Mijia. There is also some small print at the bottom, that translates to “This product needs to be used with Zigbee 3.0 gateway-capable devices”, which is interesting in that it doesn’t specify the Mi smart Gateway in particular.

In terms of the specifications, they’re fairly standard for a Mijia or Aqara child device;

• Model: GZCGQ01LM
• Battery: CR2450
• working temperature: -10 ~ 50ºC / 14 ~122ºF
• Wireless connection: Zigbee 3.0
• Dimensions: 40 x 40 x 12mm / 1.57 x 1.57 x 0.47in

Out of the box, the sensor has a reasonable amount of protection, being held in place by a cardboard holder. Aside from the senor, you get a small manual (in Chinese), and a circular, double-sided adhesive sticker.

THE SENSOR

The front of the device is all translucent plastic, which hides the ambient light sensor. It also covers up a small blue LED that you only really see when initially pairing the device. If you’re familiar with either the Mijia or Aqara versions of the motion sensor, you’ll have noticed the translucent plastic protecting the sensor is rather pliant. The front of the light sensor is rather rigid and is therefore a lot more durable. The rear of the device features a turnable back cover that holds the CR2450 battery in place. With the cover removed, you get access to the battery compartment, which also reveals two small magnets. As this has magnets, you can mount it to any suitably magnetic surface, like the door of your refrigerator, for example. If you don’t have a magnetic surface where you want to place it, you can still use the provided double-sided circular sticker. The magnets aren’t that strong, to be honest, and if you’ve experienced the strong magnets of either the Hue Dimmer Switch or better still the incredibly powerful magnet used for the Hue Motion Sensor, this is going to be somewhat of a surprise. Still, it has enough to keep it from falling, although I feel it could easily be knocked to the floor inadvertently, which is why it’s just as well that the front of the device is all the more durable. Alternatively, as it has a flat base, you can simply leave it sitting on any horizontal surface. The only other functional part of the device is the reset/pairing button at the top.

In the specifications listed earlier, it mentions an IPX3 rating. If you’re not at all familiar with IP ratings, they relate to how well a device is resistant to both water and dust, amongst other things, with IP being an acronym for Ingress Protection. An IP code usually has IP, followed by two digits, of which the first digit refers to a level of ingress protection against solid particles, which can include dust. The second digit refers to the ingress protection against liquids. As this sensor has a rating of IPX3, the X, in this case, means there’s no specific data relating to protection against solid particles. the ‘3’ protects against ‘spraying water’, defined as;

“Water falling as a spray at any angle up to 60° from the vertical shall have no harmful effect, utilizing either: a) an oscillating fixture, or b) A spray nozzle with a counterbalanced shield. Test a) is conducted for 5 minutes, then repeated with the specimen rotated horizontally by 90° for the second 5-minute test. Test b) is conducted (with shield in place) for 5 minutes minimum.”

From this, you can take it that this isn’t fully waterproof but can withstand some level of ‘spray’ for at least five minutes. Whilst the battery cover may be tight enough to resist water for a certain amount of time, the weak spot would most likely be the button at the top of the device. This being the case, if you do choose to place this somewhere where at least some water can get to the device, it might be best to place it with the pairing button on the base.

ADDING TO MI HOME | AQARA HOME | HOMEKIT

* Whilst this is compatible with HomeKit via the Mi Smart Gateway, many readers here will be using the Aqara hub, so the focus will be on adding this to the Aqara hub only.

Some, if not all, of the resellers for this device state that it will only work with the Mi Smart Gateway (and HomeKit) via the Mi Home app. Whilst it’s true that it does work with both the gateway and the app, it can, in fact, work with the current Aqara hub. Additionally, because the Mi Smart Gateway can only be added to the Mi Home app when set to the Chinese Mainland server, if you don’t use this particular server in your app, you’re going to be a bit stuck. Even with your Aqara hub set to the Chinese server, this device isn’t listed in the Mi Home app as being compatible with the Aqara hub. Thankfully there is a simple way to add it to the Aqara hub, even if you have it in the Mi Home or Aqara apps, with a couple of provisos.

Mi Home

• If you have the Mi Smart Gateway you can add the sensor and it will appear in both the Mi Home app and also be exposed to HomeKit, appearing in the Apple Home app. The process is as with adding any other device to the Mi Home app.
• If you have the Aqara hub in Mi Home, you can’t officially add it, as it’s not included in the list of devices that are compatible, and if you add it from the main menu, it will show that neither the Aqara hub or the Aqara G2 Hub Camera are compatible (see images above)
• You can unofficially add the device to your Aqara hub in Mi Home, by clicking on the hub’s button three times, where it will state “ready to connect to Child Devices”.
• This will add the Sensor to the Aqara hub, and it will be exposed to HomeKit and the Home app. However, it will not appear in the list of child devices connected to your hub in the Mi Home app, nor will it appear as a device in your list of devices. It will also not be available when creating automations, which used to be the case with supposedly incompatible devices in Mi Home. This all means that you won’t be able to update the firmware if and when it’s issued, so this is not a solution I’d advise, even if you only intend to use it with HomeKit.

Aqara Home

• If, like me, you use the Aqara Home app (instead of, or as well as, the Mi Home app), then using the Aqara app is a much better proposition, even though this device isn’t a listed device in the Aqara Home app.
• Adding it to the Aqara Hub simply requires the same manual way of adding the sensor;
  • Press the button on the hub three times
  • Wait for the voice prompt from the hub – “ready to connect to Child Devices”.
  • Press and hold the pairing button on the sensor until the blue LED blinks three times, then let go
  • Aqara hub will confirm successful connection

Regardless of whether you’re signed into the Aqara app or not (HomeKit Mode), you can still add this device, and it will also appear as a device in the Aqara Home app once added. It will also be exposed to HomeKit and the Home app as normal. To access light reading data, or to create automations in the Aqara app, you will need to be signed into the app though. Once signed in, you can simply tap on the icon for the sensor, and a window will drop down halfway showing a chart for light readings in daily or weekly format. this window can be fully dragged down to make it fill the screen.

In terms of automations within the Aqara app, you have four basic options;

• Illuminance reaches up to…
• Illuminance drops to…
• Illuminance above…
• Illuminance below…

You can set the level in lux at which the relevant automation should be triggered. As an example;

• IF Illuminance below 50Lx, THEN turn Aqara hub night light ON

Apple Home

As already stated, this device is HomeKit compatible, so whichever way you decide to add this, it will show up in the Home app, as well as third-party apps, like Eve for HomeKit, for example. In the Home app, the device is represented with just the one tile and one service, as expected. The tile will show the current Lux reading, and this reading is also shown in the first splash screen after you long press on the tile to access the settings. In terms of settings themselves, you’ll notice there’s no option to add it to a scene as such, and you can’t use it in any automations in Home, as light readings are still not supported in this app. They are supported in third-party apps, however, and as you can see above, I’m able to use the light readings from the sensor as a trigger for an automation in the Eve app.

AUTOMATIONS
It should be noted, that as this only works from light readings, when it comes to automations, it can be seen as a bit limiting. Indeed, the sensor readings only update every few seconds, which whilst great, aren’t ideal if you’re looking for the type of quick reactions associated with a motion sensor for example. It’s also a fact that the Aqara motion sensor also has a light sensor built-in, so you might think there’s little point in this light sensor. Whilst the light sensor inside the Aqara motion sensor can be used in automations, you’re severely limited to just one option in the Mi Home app – ‘motion detected and indoor brightness is weak’ so not exactly very customisable. If you’re using the Aqara motion sensor in the Aqara app, you do have more options, including, ‘Motion is detected and brightness is above…’, or ‘Motion is detected and brightness is below…’, where you can set the Lux level reading to trigger an automation. Of course, the light sensor inside the Aqara motion sensor is not exposed to HomeKit. In my brief tests, I found that the light sensor in the Aqara Motion sensor was less accurate when compared to the Mi Light Sensor and the Hue Motion’s light sensor. Combining the light sensor with a motion sensor is a much better proposition, as not only is there more scope for automation involving light readings, but the Mi Light sensor is far more accurate, being able to seemingly report on different readings just 2Lx apart. The light sensor can also examine light from 0-83000 lux. Impressive.

OTHER LIGHT SENSORS
This isn’t the first device to use a light sensor by any means, and there are plenty of quite capable devices that include a light sensor, but none of these is dedicated to the sole task of measuring light. In terms of the competition, I’ve put this up against a mainstay device in my home – the Philips Hue Motion Sensor. The Hue is around three times the cost of the Mi Sensor, but then it has three times the services – light, motion, temperature – each of which are exposed to HomeKit. It’s also part of the Hue family and so uses Zigbee just like the Mi light Sensor, which means it’s fast. That said, the light readings only change every five minutes, unless motion is detected, so if you’re looking for regularly updated light readings that don’t rely on motion, then the Mi light sensor is a better option. Indeed, if you really have no need for motion and temperature sensors, then it really does fit the bill quite well. I did find light readings from both sensors to be impressively close, within 1 or 2 lux of each other when they did differ. With either device, you’re reliant on the relevant hub, so it does depend on which you have (if you’ve got both, so much the better).

SUMMING UP
It’s difficult to grasp whether this would be of use to many people, as we all have such varied needs, but if you really dig deep and work on automations that do need to utilise the brightness of the ambient light around them or in a given room, then I think this is ideal for that purpose. If I wanted the extra functionality of a temperature and motion sensor thrown into the bargain, then I may well suggest the Hue Motion sensor (assuming you’ve already got the Hue Bridge), although a combination of the Aqara temperature and humidity sensor, Aqara Motion sensor and the Mi Light sensor would still probably be only a tad more expensive than the Hue, but with the addition of the humidity sensor thrown into the mix (as well as air pressure – which is unfortunately not exposed to HomeKit). On balance, I think I’d probably go with the Hue, as it does combine three sensors into one package, thus reducing both the number of devices you need to maintain, as well as having the option to make the light and motion sensors work in tandem in the Hue app if you so wish. It is a good device though, and being so small, with different mounting options, hasn’t gone unnoticed. Bottom line – if you simply need a light sensor, go for it. It’s so cheap that it really doesn’t matter a lot if you can’t immediately find a use case for it, as I know you will eventually…

The post Mi Light Sensor (review) appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

The sensor can measure as much as 83,000 lux or as little as 2 lux. The sensor is ZigBee 3.0 and uses a CR2450 coin battery for power. It can be used outdoor and is waterproof (no details on IP rating yet).

Currently compatible with the new Mi Smart Gateway and the Aqara hub.

The post Mijia Light Sensor appeared first on Homekit News and Reviews.

Motion Detection
This sensor can pick up on motion just as effectively as our motion sensor and with a much smaller profile. You can use this motion detection to trigger your alarm or for smart home purposes like turning on lights when you enter a room and off when you leave it.

Temperature & Humidity Reading
Using abode’s customizable notifications, you can set alerts to notify you when a room gets above or below certain temperatures to keep it at an optimal level. If you have a connected thermostat, you can set an automation for the A/C to turn on when the temperature rises above a certain point or the heat to turn on if it gets too cold.

Light Detection
Never walk into a dark room again. Set an automation for your connected lights to turn on when the light in a room dips below a certain level of lumens. Great for keeping your home well-lit at night or while you aren’t home to give the illusion that someone is home.

• • Operating Temp: 14°F to 113°F
  • Protocol: abodeRF/433Mhz
  • Battery Life: 4 Years
  • Sensitivity: 5 Adjustable Levels

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So whilst there are plenty of things you could do help mitigate the effects – air purifiers are one example – it’s always good to know when levels get higher than they should, and this is where devices like the Koogeek A1W Environment Monitor can help. It has sensors to pick up both PM10 and PM2.5, as well as sensors for temperature and humidity – high or low humidity left unchecked can cause health problems too in fact. It also has other sensors, which I’ll touch on later, but for now, the unboxing…

UNBOXING
A short while ago I reviewed the Koogeek FL1 Fingerprint lock and I mentioned that a copy of the homeKit code was stuck to the outside of the box, which was a bit strange, to say the least. Well, with the A1W they did it again! I can’t see the logic of doing this when they could just as easily stick it to the inner of the lid, as Vocolinc do. Aside from this anomaly, the packaging for the A1W is much the like the FL1, with the same overall design; product on the front in a minimal way, along with the HomeKit badge, and specs on one side, and bulleted features on the other side, with icons for each function;

• Light (ambient light sensor)
• Sound (sound sensor)
• PM2.5 (sensor)
• PM10 (sensor)
• LED night light
• Temperature (sensor)
• Humidity (sensor)
• Smart Wake (function)
• Real-time monitoring (selling point)
• At-a-glance display (selling point)

I’ll come back to them shortly, but there’s certainly a lot there to sell itself to a casual shopper.

Upon opening the box, as with the Smart lock, Koogeek has wisely chosen very dense, impact resistant foam rubber to totally enclose the device. This is great, considering it’s protecting something a lot more sensitive than a padlock, with a lot of sensors inside. After lifting the small circle of foam rubber, you get the device itself, complete with a plastic film protecting the screen. All good so far!

Underneath the first main level of foam, you’ll find the manual, complete with HomeKit code (the second of three). The manual comes translated into six languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Simplified Chinese. Beneath that is a USB-to-micro-USB cable and a rather bland and cheap looking USB power supply. The A1W has a built-in battery, so you don’t always need it constantly plugged in, but given the number of sensors it contains, the battery isn’t going to last too long, so it’s better to keep it permanently powered if at all possible. Basic specs for the power are as follows;

• Input: 5V 1A
• Battery type: 18650 Lithium-ion
• Battery capacity: 2200mAh
• Frequency range: 2412-2472MHz
• Max. wireless output power: 17.52dBm

THE DEVICE
On first impressions, the device is fairly similar in many ways to my current PM2.5 monitor, the Kaiterra Laser Egg 2, although the Laser Egg 2 has a larger rear section, almost like the old, colour iMacs, whilst this is flat at the back, which is the reason for the kickstand. With the box and the manual each having a HomeKit code on them, the third instance of the code is to be found on the back of the unit, where you’ll also see the micro-USB port for charging/powering the device. The front of the device has the screen, which measures roughly 65mm/2.8in diagonally across. It’s nowhere near retina quality, but it has colour and does the job of displaying the data well enough. The device has a built-in fan that samples the surrounding air through the front around the circumference of the screen, and ejects the sampled air via the vents at the back.

The front of the device is also home to the touch button, below the screen, which when briefly tapped, turns the screen on and changes the main number to switch between the PM2.5 level and the current temperature. The other levels will change around accordingly when you press the button. Above the screen are three sensors, with the sound sensor, a large motion sensor, and an ambient light sensor.

The screen itself shows all the data in one place, so at the top of the screen you have the lux levels for ambient light, the sound levels in dBs, a motion sensor icon that will turn red when detecting motion, the time in 24hr mode, a wifi icon and a battery percentage level along with a colour battery icon. the main number in the middle, as already mentioned, is the PM2.5 level, or the temperature level. At the bottom of the screen (if you have the main number set to PM2.5) you’ll see the PM10 levels, the temperature (in Centigrade or Fahrenheit), and the humidity levels.

If you long press the button, you get access to the settings section, along with settings for a couple of additional features;

• Smart Wake If this is turned on, when motion is detected between 2300 – 0700, the screen will turn on.
• Night Light If this is turned on, and if the light intensity is less than 5lux, when motion is detected or when the Home button is pressed, the night light will turn on.

The other settings are for language, reset to factory settings and the motion threshold, which is the amount of time before the motion sensor resets to ‘no motion. The options for this are 5, 15, 30 and 60 seconds, or  5, 10 and 30 minutes.

INSTALLATION
This was installed directly via the Home app, and afterwards opened in Koogeek’s own HomeKit app to check for any available firmware updates, for which there were none. Once installed, the A1W will produce six separate tiles in the Home app, representing PM2.5/PM10, Humidity, Ambient light, Motion and Temperature, with the sixth tile being the Night Light. That’s comes to only 5 sensors of course, with the sixth sensor being sound, but because HomeKit doesn’t support sounds sensors in iOS12, there’s no tile for it. In the Koogeek app, the sound sensor does produce a separate tile, however, if you press any of the seven tiles that represent all of the referenced sensors, including the night light, you get to the same settings page, which then lists each sensor along with the relevant settings for each one. The sound sensor has no settings that you can change, however, so at this point it seems pretty useless, and even with the arrival of iOS13, there still seems to be no support for sound sensors in the betas that have been released so far, so all that you can gather from the sound sensor tile in the Koogeek app is the decibel levels.

IN USE
I’ve had this on test for about a 10 days now, so I feel I’ve gotten use to the device fairly well. I have made a few observations about the device; First of all, generally the temperature and humidity sensors seem to work fine, and are within an acceptable margin of error when compared to other sensors that measure these two metrics. With the light sensor, it’s hard to know whether it’s measuring the light accurately, although it does react instantly when I turn the lights off or cover the sensor, for example, so I know it’s working. To me, ambient light measurements don’t need to be spot on, down to the individual lux points, so that’s not an issue.

The front of the unit also includes an LED ring of light around its circumference and will turn on (in white) when you press the night light tile in the Home app. This will also turn the screen on, which only stays on for approximately 60 seconds at a time. Pressing the tile turns the light on and off, although turning the night light off, doesn’t turn the screen off. If you want to have the screen permanently on, you simply need to turn the night light on via the individual tile, which will stop the display from turning off after 60-seconds.

This ring of LED lights also serves as a visual indicator of PM2.5 levels; According to the manual, if the levels of PM2.5 are between 0 – 35 the ring should be green, but it never is, and so far I’ve not seen the ring as green once. Between 36-75, it will go to orange, between 76-115 the light will turn red, and for concentrations from 116 upwards it will be purple. Having tested the sensor out, I can say it works, although the reading were different to the Laser Egg 2 in tests. The ring will also turn orange if you have the main display in the centre set to temperature whenever the temperature is 29ºC or above.

As already touched upon, when it comes to the sound sensor, it’s not going to be of much use right now, although you can access the sound sensor in some 3rd party apps, and possibly set up an automation, although I’ve already tried one app and it just didn’t work.

When it came to the motion sensor, I did find it very sensitive, and there seems to be no way to adjust the sensitivity in the Koogeek app unfortunately. You can of course use the motion sensor to work at only certain times of the day, if you’re in need of something that can pick up motion, but I did also find that whilst it can be sensitive, it can also miss motion at times, so I’m not entirely sure it’s of much use other than to turn the display and night light on in dark areas – just make sure you set an automation to not turn the display or night light on when you sleep!

There have been some early reports of people finding the built-in fan to be too noisy, and have returned their units on this basis, and I can say that you can hear the fan, although I personally don’t find it to be irritating at all, but then that’s down to the individual. Where I am, which is next to Keelung river, Taipei, there’s plenty of noise from both insects and humans, and as it’s hot and humid for much of the year, we’ve either got the AC or some fans on at night, not to mention the air purifier, so I really don’t notice it.

SUMMING UP
I’m happy that I bought the unit, if for no other reason than I love my HomeKit gadgets (in case you didn’t notice…), and I already have an Eve Room (1st gen) that can read temperature and humidity, as well as VOC levels, which the A1W can’t, a Kaiterra Laser Egg 2 for PM2.5 levels, and a Mijia multi sensor that covers PM2.5, VOCs, temperature, humidity, and carbon dioxide levels, so I’m already well covered. It is another device to get me a better idea of pollution though, and living in Taiwan, this is a big concern unfortunately. If I were to compare it to the most similar product of the other two devices mentioned, it would be the Laser Egg 2. I’ve had this product for nearly 18 months now, and I do like that you can see the average PM2.5 levels for where you are, to compare with indoor levels, and that it has an app that allows you to customise the display, as well as set the Air Quality Index standard (AQI) to either China, US or India, none of which the Koogeek can do. On this point, I would guess that the A1W has been calibrated to Chinese standards, but that’s just a guess, based on the different numbers I see between the two devices. That being said, it’s a fair bit cheaper than the Laser Egg 2, and it has more functions for the price, so it’s a toss up on more sensors for you money or more reliable readings – but only based on my guesses.

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