Question

I just added automation to a walk-in closet and am hitting a snag. The closet has a light fixture that holds two bulbs. I put in two Ecosmart smart bulbs. The fixture is wired straight to romex, so no switch and the bulbs are always powered. I put a Samsung motion sensor in the closet. In the app (the new one) I added two automations: 1. On motion turn both bulbs on. 2. If no motion for 1 minute, turn both bulbs off. This seemed simple enough, and sure enough if I walk into the closet both bulbs immediately come on. However, if I am in the closet for a minute or two (and moving around some in sight of the motion sensor) the lights will turn off. I can wave in front of the motion sensor all I want and the lights don't come on. However if I open the app and turn the lights on myself they of course immediately come on. Any recommendations? Am I hitting some known snag, and/or is there a better way to design this?  

Answer 1

Might just be that the sensor takes more than 1 minute before it will go back to active. I think my ecolink sensors would wait 2 minutes after activity before it showed motion again. Maybe set it to turn off after 3 minutes of inactivity?  

Answer 2

I did the same thing for my bathroom. At night, a dim light comes on and a bright one during the daytime. The light automatically turns off IF both there has been no motion in 10 minutes AND the door is open. This way the lights never shut off on you while showering, etc. You might want to do the opposite with a multipurpose sensor so that the lights will not turn off if your closet is open.  

Comments

I don't usually shut the door to the closet so that wouldn't really work. Maybe I'll just expand the sensor time as others recommended, and possibly add a button near the door so I can manually turn it off as I'm leaving if I really want (although that kinda defeats the whole purpose).  

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I know what ur talking about with the smartthings motion sensors not detecting motion immediately after the lights shut off, as I have some around my home. For this purpose, though, I use the GE/Jasco motion sensor and I think you'd be much more satisfied with its functionality over the ST motion sensor.  

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@forbes bingo, Smarthome does not have to mean complicated home. I have converted many of my smartswitches to the Jasoco motions.  

Answer 3

You should only need one automation with a built in off after motion.  

Comments

@reasoning this is what I do, laundry room motion sensor senses motion and urns on lights. Then turns off after 3 minutes of inactivity, all in one automation.  

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I find if you get too complicated with automations, they fight each other

Answer 4

I would increase the time. Some motion sensors only check every so many minutes.  

Answer 5

Use Smart Lighting. I just did the one below for our hallway and it works perfectly.  

Comments

This^ Work's perfectly and will reset timer every time motion is detected (local too) so it won't switch off whilst you are in there

Answer 6

Create a WebCoRE piston that turns the light off if there is no motion for two minutes (stays inactive )

Answer 7

You need to use something like Webcore. Unfortunately Smart Lighting and other built-in apps are not that smart. When you set it to turn off after no motion for 1 min, it won't reset when there is motion. Once there's no motion for a minute, it's going to turn off no matter what.  

Comments

@goldarn Sorry, that’s not correct. It works just fine. I have another Smart Lighting set up to turn off after 1 minute of no motion and it instantly detects motion and turns the lights back on - even as they’re turning off and you re-enter.  

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@formulary Hunt Right, it turns back on. But the timer doesn't reset when it detects motion. You need Webcore to do that.  

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@goldarn The timer does reset - you can move about for several minutes and it will turn off 1 minute after leaving the area. No issues. It works time after time.  

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Yeah, as others have said Smart Lighting works fine for this, and its local. No need for Webcore for OP's use case

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I'm a huge webcore fan but smart lighting does this just fine. My kitchen lights are managed by smart lighting. They turn off after 10 minutes of inactivity and when we are in there cooking or eating they never have a problem with just shutting off after 10 minutes.  

Answer 8

I’ve been using smart lighting for my closet for the past two years and it works perfectly with SmartThings sensor. Here is my setup.  

Answer 9

Open the app to the sensor and see how long it stays at motion before going to no motion. Some happen in seconds some longer. Also reposition the sensor. Some sensors you can walk straight up to and they dont go off you need to walk across the sensors path.  

Answer 10

I had same problem with my adt motion sensor. I switched to a iris sensor and it works fine. After researching, it was because the reset time of the sensor. I switch the art motion to 5 min and it worked fine then.  

Answer 11

I have read many good solutions but have to ask the question, why is a light fixture wired in always hot (no switch)?  

Comments

@formulary why do you need a switch when you're using smart bulbs? It had a switch, but for now I've bypassed it by piggy tailing past it.  

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@royster It's code in some areas, there needs to be a local means of disconnect for say changing bulbs and not having the fixtures powered. Safety issue.  

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@sammy yeah it was just temporary. I'm putting a paddle in, though it will look strange having a paddle on the ceiling!  

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Oh Lord - wonky wiring at @royster’s!  

Answer 12

Up the timer to 2 or 3 minutes, motion sensors have a reset time on them.  

Answer 13

I’m lazy. With all the SmartThings connected devices in my home I decided the walk in closets and the laundry room were places I didn’t need to worry about routines for. I put in those motion sensor switches that were smart before the new generation of z-wave and zigbee technology. For those areas where I don’t use a lot and do not need any complex automations to specify time of day etc etc, they just work. LOL

Answer 14

So after all this I realized my mistake. When you guys said "smart lighting" you were talking about an actual ST add-on app. I was just creating the automations directly in the automation builder. I switched to the smart lighting app and it's worked flawlessly. actually better than I even expected. Thanks for all the help!