Review: Weatherproof Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor Lets You Automate Your Indoor or Outdoor Lights

[zhenya]

From a hardware perspective, this is great. I needed something exactly like this and will buy at least one.

From a software perspective, there is one thing missing that I badly need (unless someone knows how to do this): a back-to-previous-state command. For example, my outdoor hue lights are set to shift colors in a fairly complex way, which I achieved through a pattern of HomeKit automations. No matter what color they are on at any evening time, I'd like for them to turn bright white when they detect motion and then go back to the previous color when the motion is no longer detected.

The easiest way to do this (by far) would seem to be an option that simply returns the lights to their prior state when the motion stops. Is there something like this that I'm missing? As is, if I have 18 automations that set lighting colors during the week, it seems like I need 18 separate automations to get the lights back to those colors when the motion stops. This seems undesirably complicated.

iConnectHue does this perfectly. Hue Labs may work if you are ok with just this ONE customization, but I find the Labs interface really clunky if you start wanting to really manage your lighting at a granular level. iConnectHue is well worth the money.
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Noooo!!! My 1.0 hub is identical to the 2.0 but they've mothballed it so it's getting no more updates, doesn't support Homekit (purely a software thing), requires a separate app and works like rubbish.

I protest the fact they want $100 (AUD) for a brand new 2.0. Please no 3.0...

The second hand market here in the US is flooded with these because it’s almost universally cheaper to buy a kit of bulbs including the bridge for “free” rather than buy the bulbs/bridges separately. The price is about $25 for a new bridge on the second hand market.

 

[Powerbooky]

I've found one problem though with the Hue Sensor. Mine failed connection when outside temperature got below -7ºC / 20ºF. This might be the internal battery failing under the low temperatures. I guess my Hue Outdoor Sensor had been on the store shelf for a few years.

Someone used it for the brightness sensor, I would like to close my Fyrtur blinds when brightness is xxx Lux.
Indoor sensor lacks that feature

Nope... both Hue indoor and outdoor sensors have a light sensor which can be read by HomeKit. Unfortunately there's a catch, the lux value from the Hue sensor can used for conditions, but you cannot set a working trigger for it. At least that is the case with my Hue / HomeKit setup.
What I've found out is that the Hue bridge (hw2.1) with software up to version 1.42.1942135050 all Hue motion sensors only trigger HomeKit when motion is detected. So any HomeKit rule that waits for some temperature or light value won't be triggered unless motion is detected as well. This is probably intended behaviour to conserve the sensor's battery power, but is a bit annoying in this case.
To work around this behaviour, I created a repeating timer in the Eve HomeKit app that also uses the light and temperature sensor as a condition. Every 5 minutes all outdoor sensor data is read by this rule and controls blinds and lights accordingly during daytime. Now during daytime the shades will activate when its a warm day with lots of sunshine, livingroom lights will turn on when it's a dark day.

So far, I've combined HomeKit devices (with rules) and Hue devices (with routines) in one setup and it works great.
The few things that are missing for me in the current software versions is indeed light and temperature triggers from Hue, setting a transition rate for Hue lights in a HomeKit scene/rule and triggering specific Hue Scenes/Effects from HomeKit.

Some of this functionality can also be enabled via third party software like HomeBridge or HomeAssistant but I would like it to be more integrated in HomeKit.

 

[tbcuthbert]

My Philips hue outdoor motion sensor is triggered by branches and shrubs moving in the wind? I have a light set up for security at night which is on almost continuously if there is any wind. Some articles state this has a PIR sensor. The sensor seems to have lots of sensors but the one for motion does not seem to work for heat sources like humans??? I do not need the lights turned on for wind!

 

[zhenya]

My Philips hue outdoor motion sensor is triggered by branches and shrubs moving in the wind? I have a light set up for security at night which is on almost continuously if there is any wind. Some articles state this has a PIR sensor. The sensor seems to have lots of sensors but the one for motion does not seem to work for heat sources like humans??? I do not need the lights turned on for wind!

Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity and/or positioning? We have 3 outdoor sensors and heavy wind does sometimes set them off, but it's relatively rare once I got them dialed in. Now that our neighbor with a cat moved out they are a lot less active!

 

[tbcuthbert]

Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity and/or positioning? We have 3 outdoor sensors and heavy wind does sometimes set them off, but it's relatively rare once I got them dialed in. Now that our neighbor with a cat moved out they are a lot less active!

Thanks. Yes I tried motion sensitivity at almost off and still kept triggering. No cats. I have been able to contact Philips hue, and they are providing some troubleshooting assistance.