I have a house full of LIFX bulbs (yes I may have spent too much lol).
What I have been trying to find online, rather unsuccessfully, is a motion sensor that I can use to operate with the bulbs. Ideally this would run via wifi so I can connect them to OpenHab 2; which I use to run my home appliances.
Can someone please assist me with this. I would ideally not like to send too much money for each sensor. I also live in Australia if that makes any difference.
This function does exist when paired with nest cameras, however, it seems broken as well. The āmotionā detection is triggered when the lights turn off if too close to the nest and they trigger a āturn back onā function. But, itās the closest I know of. /2 cents.
Not exactly what you want But I achieved this by: 1. Used homebridge to give Apple HomeKit control of my LIFX lights.
2. Set up a scene using an Elgato Eve Motion sensor. Scene turns on a light ( in my Garage) when the Eve detects motion. A second scene turns the light off when no motion is detected for 1 minute.
Most motion sensors are Z-Wave and require a hub. I have nothing against hubs in general, but Iāve not had good success with either Wink or SmartThings for anything that wasnāt naively supported in their apps. WeMo used to have a Wi-Fi motion sensor, but theyāre no longer making it.
I donāt know about you, but for me, Iād love to have motion sensors that activate only at night when I need to find something really quick. That way, I donāt trip trying to find a bunch of light switches around the house and am not waking everyone up loudly whispering at Alexa.
I have 55 LIFX bulbs and counting. I use Samsung Smartthings motion sensor and hub to trigger my bulbs. They turn on my basement lights when the door is opened, and my hallway lights when it late and you head to the kitchen, my attic when I head upstairs, and even my kids bathā¦ I have it turn one light turn on Blue at 25% so they are awoken by the bright lights.
The downside is you will need have Samsungās hub (which might be one reason why you have LIFX and not Phillips), but the it has worked well for me. Happy to explain more if needed.
I only have 8 LIFX bulbs so far (but have another 8 arriving next week). Iām using a Philips Hue Motion Sensor connected via HomeKit for motion detection and it works fine when triggering scenes that include LIFX bulbs.
How is the delay from motion dected to lights on? I have a Hubitat hub (similer to ST) and there is a real noticible delay going on and Lifx support is not very helpful
Less than a second from motion detection to LIFX bulbs coming on via HomeKit. Thatās using either a HomePod or Apple TV as the home hub. I have two of each so any one of them could be primary.
You need to be able to create an Automation and you can only do that if you have a Home Hub, i.e. a HomePod, Apple TV 4 or 4K or an always-on iPad that has been enabled as a Home Hub. Otherwise HomeKit wonāt show you the Automation tab in the Home app.
Not sure whether its correct ā¦ but I found that when using Lifx lights with Hue motion sensor, you definitely need the Hue Bridge. The Hue Bridge assumes you will be using at least one Philips Hue light so I could not work with at least one Philips light. The hue sensors then wonāt be assigned to a particular room. Then you use Apple Automation to get the automation ā¦ but that is limited as it canāt see the light levels of the Hue Motion sensor. To get around that, I used the Eve Elgato app which can create rules that can make use of the light levels and motion triggers.
Good question!
Iāve literally watched all the models of sensors and no one is working for me.
I have an old Apple TV so I guess now my last attempt should be to change it and use the new one as hub as @Djelibeybi said.
But now Iām thinking about 2 options: 1) Philips Hue motion sensor with Apple TV hub using Eve iOS app. In this case I donāt need a Philips Hub, right?
2) try directly Eve motion with Eve iOS app with Apple TV hub (I already tried it without Apple Hub but I sent the sensor back since it had only few options to configure it).
What do you think, guys?
Aaahā¦ so itās necessary at least 1 Philips bulb, to control also the LIFX, correct?
If I choose āPhilips hue motion sensorā I need: 1 Philips hub, 1 Philips bulbā¦ and do I need also an Apple TV as hub for HomeKit?
And what about the Eve motion sensor + Apple TV as hub? Anyone tried it to control LIFX bulbs?
P.S. are those sensors capable to activate lights when they detect movement, and to deactivate lights after they DONāT DETECT movements for some minutes?
Yes, youāll need either an Apple TV, HomePod or iPad for HomeKit as well as the Hue Bridge and a bulb to get the motion sensor to work (which is tedious). Never tried the Eve stuff.
For the automation you want, I use the homebridge-occupancy-delay plugin to achieve that result. The Hue bridge can do it natively with Hue bulbs.
Ok thanks. I donāt use homebridge, but when you say that Hue Bridge do the āsceneā I want with hue bulbs, you mean only if I had them exclusively?
Because actually I have only LIFX bulbs and I was thinking (following your suggestion) to buy Philips bridge+Philips motion detection+Only 1 Philips bulb to let the sistem work also with the other LIFX bulbs I already have
