Z-wave Outdoor Motion Sensor

Other Devices & Integrations Door Locks & Sensors
1

One of my frustrations has been the lack of a reliable outdoor z-wave motion sensor. Less than two years ago, I purchased a commercially available sensor and mounted it on my garage. It lasted a few months. I replaced it under warranty, and the new sensor lasted about another year before failing. I have trouble understanding this because in three places on my house, I have inexpensive motion sensors lights that I purchased for less than $15 at a major home improvement superstore. All of these lights have worked reliably for over a decade. One is mounted very close to the position of z-wave motion sensor, so it is exposed to the same conditions as the much more costly motion sensor that failed.

I decided to try to convert an outdoor motion sensor light from that superstore into a z-wave motion sensor. To do this, I added a Vision ZL7431 z-wave relay. (I selected the Vision relay because it was the smallest I could find. There is another similar relay on the market which is slightly larger. I assume it will work fine, but I did not test it.) The wiring I used is as follows:

  • Connect white wires from power mains, motion sensor, ZL7431 relay, and lights.
  • Connect black wires from power main, ZL7431 relay, and motion sensor.
  • Connect green wire ZL7431 relay, red wire from motion sensor, and black wires from lights.
  • Cap off yellow wire from ZL7431 relay.
  • Cap off red wire from ZL7431 relay.
  • Cap off blue wire from ZL7431 relay.

The resulting light is mounted on the corner of my garage, pointed so that if there is motion detected in my driveway, the motion sensor lights turn on. Then, the ZL7431 sends a signal to my Vera controller, which turns on other lights around the outside of my house. The On time of the motion sensor lights is controlled by the timer on the motion sensor, while the On time of the other lights is controlled by the Vera.

The attached wiring diagram and pictures show what I did.

DISCLAIMER: If you do not have confidence in your ability to work with 120 volt wiring, do not attempt this. This is enough voltage to kill someone, so you must take appropriate precautions, such as turning off the circuit before installing a light, and triple checking your work before turning power back on. Also, while this has worked fine for me for about a month now, I cannot provide any assurance that it will work at your house.

2

Nice job! Thanks for posting this and the instructions on how to wiring everything.

3

I have an existing LED motion sensor light from Costco on my drive. I may have to take that down and see if I can modify that one using your schematics and have it tell Vera when it goes on.

I recall seeing motion sensors at ACE hardware a while back to add to existing external lights like the one you show without that sensor. That would make it even easier as I don’t have to try and open my existing light which I may not be able to do but can just hook up that 2nd sensor to the mains and the relay.

4

Yes, BOFH, I am thinking of mounting a motion sensor set up just this way in one part of my house where I don’t want a light, just a sensor. I am pretty sure it would work fine without having a light attached. But I have not tried it yet.

5

I’m interested in this approach - but doesn’t the motion detection only occur at night? I assume that when it daylight the lights do not come on even with motion - so if the lights don’t come on how does the relay detect that motion has occurred?..

6

Ehertz, when I first understood what you were doing I said the guy is a genius! I took what you provided and built on to it in such a way that Vera has total control over the lights AND the motion detection works 7X24. This is what I did:

I ordered the ZL7432 relay - it has 2 switches. I disconnected the 2 red wires (load) to the lamps and connected them to the LOAD output for switch #2. The HOT input for switch #2 is connected directly to the HOT side of the line. In this setup VERA would - as before - be able to detect the motion detection module outputing voltage to SW#1 input (in my case connected to the BLUE wire for a 7432) - and Vera could trigger on that status change and turn on the light via switch #2. Light stays on until Vera turns it off. I just tested this out and it works (using a very primitive PLEG script)…The 2nd great advantage to having Vera control the lights is now you can leave the motion detector in TEST mode. TEST mode was only used for initial setup of the flood lamp - so you could adjust your motion “zone” during the day - but the lights stayed on for only 4 seconds. But now that Vera controls how long to leave the lights turned on (or even IF to turn them on if it during the day) - we can take advantage of the 7X24 motion detection that the TEST mode provides.
.
On a related subject if it was possible (and I don’t know without risking damaging the detector) to take a 2nd motion detector - and connect it in parallel with the other - you could have close to a 180 degree coverage. Does applying 110 volts to the “output” wire on the detector when it is not “enabled” cause a current flow? These motion detector flood lamps I’m using are only $15 - so I may check that out this weekend.

One note while I’m thinking about it. Use switch #1 to connect to the motion detector - and #2 to the lamps. I don’t think you get a status message if you use #2 connected to the motion detectors…

All of this was to provide a way for me to take a Zwave event (motion) and turn on a specfic camera on my zoneminder server. I still have to figured out how to do that but from what I’ve read others are doing it…and I can get away from having zoneminder trying to detect motion in the video feed…thanks Ehertz for your help on this. I doubt that I would ever have thought about putting the relay in-line with the motion detector…

REK

7

REKEMP10, first, thanks for your very kind words.

But much more important, thanks for your great extension of my method. I really, really like the idea you presented of using the motion sensor as a trigger, and then letting the Vera actually set the timing on the lights. A fantastic idea!

As for your earlier comment that the motion sensor only works after dark using my method, that is correct. That is exactly what I wanted to achieve in this particular location. As I mentioned, I had a different motion sensor originally, and because of its limitations, I had it triggering lights on the front of my house whenever motion was detected, which meant that my lights were turning on even at noon. I did not like that. So I wanted to use the commercial motion detector that did have very good light sensing capabilities and did not worry about getting a more general solution. But, as with many things, now I can see uses for both a solution that works both when it is dark in some locations, and a general solution to detect a “presence” in other locations, so thanks for figuring out how to do that.

8

I just installed a modified flood light using the 2 relay Zware switch as described above. I also added a 2nd motion detection - at least with the ones I’m using it does not appear to be an issue to connect the outputs of the sensors together (and connect that to the input of switch 1 so Vesa can detect that voltage input change when motion is detected). So motion is triggered - either detector - sends status change to Vesa - PLEG logic turns on switch 2 (which makes the flood lamps go on). Lights stay on for X minutes. This allows me to cover both access points to my rear deck. In addition the status changed kicks off a telnet session to my Zoneminder camera server - telling it to turn on Deck camera for 60 seconds. I’ve left both detectors in TST mode so motion is detected all the time…PLEG logic keeps the lights from turning on if daytime. So far working well. See how reliable it is - all of this depends on the status message making it to Vesa. Anyone knows if this is a “send and forget” - or does the switch depend on an acknowledgement from Vesa that signal was received?

REK

9

[quote=“BOFH, post:3, topic:195259”]I have an existing LED motion sensor light from Costco on my drive. I may have to take that down and see if I can modify that one using your schematics and have it tell Vera when it goes on.

I recall seeing motion sensors at ACE hardware a while back to add to existing external lights like the one you show without that sensor. That would make it even easier as I don’t have to try and open my existing light which I may not be able to do but can just hook up that 2nd sensor to the mains and the relay.[/quote]

I have tried many different LED motion lights and have found all of the ones I tested to NOT work.
Their voltage exiting the motion detector that powers the LED lights is different than the 110VAC used by these relays.
I have found it better to buy the 110VAC motion floods and get LED bulbs to install in them as they still use about 24 watts total and I can use these relays to communicate with my Z-Wave system.

10

Another suggestion would be to use a “typical” 120VAC sensor module with a relay having a 120VAC coil, use the relay contacts to trigger your favorite Z-Wave module.

I would think the sensor and relay could mount in a watertite electrical box (you can find all sorts of sizes at Home Depot).
I’ve mounted such a box inside the overhang and run a threaded pipe to the sensor under the overhang, then mounted the relay in the box. Only a relay contact connection would exit the box, going to the Z Wave module. And yes I know 120Vac has to enter the box as well.

I’ve attached a “typical” connection diagram. It might help some understand the simplicity of this approach. If you need more info on specific situation please ask.

The below link is the first sensor I found on Amazon. It is for illustration only and not something I’ve even investigated.

IMPORTANT
There is a risk a motion sensor output requires a current draw in excess of the relay coil requirements. This varies by mfg and the information may or may not be available. In the sensor link below, one reviewer stated the output is a contact. If true there would not be a problem powering a relay coil.

JohnRob

Typical Motion sensor:
[url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YPKVS/ref=psdc_14107631_t1_B01IU8CT0M]https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002YPKVS/ref=psdc_14107631_t1_B01IU8CT0M[/url]

Possible relay choice: (in my experience Omron makes a quality product)
[url=https://www.amazon.com/Relay-OMRON-MK2P-I-MK2P-110V/dp/B01N3TW4TC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1487897826&sr=8-12&keywords=120Vac+relay]https://www.amazon.com/Relay-OMRON-MK2P-I-MK2P-110V/dp/B01N3TW4TC/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1487897826&sr=8-12&keywords=120Vac+relay[/url]

OR perhaps"

[url=https://www.amazon.com/Relay-Omron-LY2J-110VAC-120VAC/dp/B00YAQ9T9I/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1487898006&sr=8-27&keywords=120Vac+relay]https://www.amazon.com/Relay-Omron-LY2J-110VAC-120VAC/dp/B00YAQ9T9I/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&qid=1487898006&sr=8-27&keywords=120Vac+relay[/url]

11

@ehertz - Great post. This is exactly what I would like to do. Thanks for posting the method and connections.
Would it also be possible for you to highlight what the wire colors that you have connected on the vision micro switch, motion sensor, flood lights represent (i.e. load or line or neutral etc).

Reason is I am unable to find the VISION microswitch and am planning to get another one (ENERWAVE ZWN-RSM1) instead. And that micro-switch does not have as many wires. So want to make sure that I am connecting the right wires together.

Greatly appreciated.

thank you

  • Rc
12

[quote=“ehertz, post:7, topic:195259”]REKEMP10, first, thanks for your very kind words.

But much more important, thanks for your great extension of my method. I really, really like the idea you presented of using the motion sensor as a trigger, and then letting the Vera actually set the timing on the lights. A fantastic idea!

As for your earlier comment that the motion sensor only works after dark using my method, that is correct. That is exactly what I wanted to achieve in this particular location. As I mentioned, I had a different motion sensor originally, and because of its limitations, I had it triggering lights on the front of my house whenever motion was detected, which meant that my lights were turning on even at noon. I did not like that. So I wanted to use the commercial motion detector that did have very good light sensing capabilities and did not worry about getting a more general solution. But, as with many things, now I can see uses for both a solution that works both when it is dark in some locations, and a general solution to detect a “presence” in other locations, so thanks for figuring out how to do that.[/quote]

I wish I could get this to work. I have wired the damn thing 20 times without any luck. I have never had problems wiring any relay before including a single vision relay. Any advice would be great. I know this is an old topic but I have been all over the web without any luck. Days of searching.

13

Hope you get lucky in fixing the problem.

14

There are several outdoor motion sensors available now. Here are a few:

Z-Wave Steinel IS 140-2 Motion Sensor
Z-Wave Everspring Indoor/Outdoor Motion Detector SP816 - Gen5
Z-Wave Philio Motion Sensor PSP05 - Gen5

I have the last 2 and they work well. I tested the 2 to see which will be better for the front of the house. I went with the everspring one, the philio one went to the back.

15

We now sell these Z-Wave Outdoor Motion Lights as a flood light or a wall light and are now in version 2 and have sold hundreds.
They seem to fit a need for people trying to add a Z-Wave motion sensor to the outside of their home or business and do not want to buy a cheap motion that will break in a few months.
Please ask if anyone has any questions about them.
https://www.007systems.com/z-wave-outdoor-motion-lights.html

16

First, this is the first time I have looked at this thread in a very long time. I wanted to install another motion sensor light on my house because there has recently been someone breaking into cars in our area, so I wanted to check how I had done this before. As Rcube noted, it appears that the Vision ZL7431 relay is out-of-stock pretty much everywhere. I assume it was discontinued, although I do not know.

To answer the questions that were posted:

Rcube wrote: “Reason is I am unable to find the VISION microswitch and am planning to get another one (ENERWAVE ZWN-RSM1) instead. And that micro-switch does not have as many wires. So want to make sure that I am connecting the right wires together.”

As for the Enerwave relay, it looks like it has four connections: Neutral, Hot, Load, and Aux. These appear to be equivalent to the following connections on the Vision relay. (Please note that I have not tested this. I am comparing the wiring diagram for the Vision relay to the wiring diagram for the Enerwave wiring diagram. So this is an educated, but untested, guess.)
Neutral - White wire
Hot - Black wire
Aux - Green wire (to motion sensor)
Load - Red wire (not connected when using ZL4731 the way that I described)

jelisa08 wrote: “I wish I could get this to work. I have wired the damn thing 20 times without any luck. I have never had problems wiring any relay before including a single vision relay. Any advice would be great. I know this is an old topic but I have been all over the web without any luck. Days of searching.”

jelisa08, perhaps you could attach some pictures of what you have done? One problem I have had is that I had a defective Vision relay that would not go into Inclusion mode, so that one would never work. But, other than that issue, I have been able to use these relays successfully.

ghost, you mention three outdoor motion sensors with Z-wave capability. Unfortunately, I do not see that any of those are available in the US, where I live. I did find an outdoor motion sensor made by Aeon (ZW100-A). However, the description for that says: “The device can be used outdoors with the motion sensor disabled.” Of course, while it might be nice to have a sensor that detects temperature, without the motion sensor capability, it is quite useless for my purposes.

Finally, Jamr, I am very pleased to see that someone is offering these for sale. I do hope that your business is successful.

17

Homeseer just released a zwave motion/lux sensor for use on exterior lighting. Controls 300W of bulbs.

https://shop.homeseer.com/products/homeseer-hs-fls100-z-wave-plus-floodlight-sensor

18

[quote=“kigmatzomat, post:17, topic:195259”]Homeseer just released a zwave motion/lux sensor for use on exterior lighting. Controls 300W of bulbs.

https://shop.homeseer.com/products/homeseer-hs-fls100-z-wave-plus-floodlight-sensor[/quote]

That looks great. Thanks so much for finding it.

19

The reason it says that is because any of these type of cheap PIR sensors create alot of false alerts. Even the motion light sensors in the first post are not good for security purposes. A breeze of different temperature (Warm or cold breeze) sets them off, a cat sets them off trees moving sets them off. Normally for turning on and off a motion light they work fine, but to base alerts or to wake you in the middle of the night for a car or home burgler (security use) these sensors are not good and the manufacture doesn’t want complaints. Which is why it says on it that you should disable the motion outdoors. Its not that it wont work it’s that you can’t trust it and it will have false alerts.

Alarm motions out doors will use dual technology sensors. It will have both a Microwave and a PIR (Passive Infrared sensor). PIR’s are cheap to make so they are most common, but they only sense temp change and can easily influenced by wind and outside air temps changing (better PIR’s even have temp compensation built in to try and help this). Then you have Microwave covers a larger area not influenced buy temp, but rather movement of an object (think radar detector). These are more expensive so not as common especially in a 5-15.00 motion sensor. But moving tree’s and such can set these off. Then you have dual technology that use both technologies in a single sensor. You need to have both movement and heat detection in the same area to trip the dual technology sensor.

20

The reason it says that is because any of these type of cheap PIR sensors create alot of false alerts. Even the motion light sensors in the first post are not good for security purposes. A breeze of different temperature (Warm or cold breeze) sets them off, a cat sets them off trees moving sets them off. Normally for turning on and off a motion light they work fine, but to base alerts or to wake you in the middle of the night for a car or home burgler (security use) these sensors are not good and the manufacture doesn’t want complaints. Which is why it says on it that you should disable the motion outdoors. Its not that it wont work it’s that you can’t trust it and it will have false alerts.[/quote]

I agree. However, for my purposes, all I am looking for is a motion sensor that triggers the lights outside my house to turn on, rather than generate an alarm. For example, about a month ago, my neighbors reported that someone came to their backdoor at about 2 AM and tried it to see if it was unlocked. It was not, and when he created enough noise that their two dogs started barking, he left. After hearing that, I checked the recordings on my security camera, and found out that the same person came up my driveway a few minutes later and tried the doors on my car to see if it was unlocked. A few seconds after he was doing that, he triggered one of my Z-wave motion sensors, which turned on all of the lights in front of my house. As soon as that happened, he ran down the driveway to get away from my house.

I have no doubt that if the lights had not come on, he would have worked harder to get into my car, and then tried to get into my house. The bottom line here is that false triggering of the motion detector is quite acceptable for my purposes. If my lights turn on a dozen times during the night, that is no problem.

As for the Aeon sensor, I had two of the earlier versions of the sensor. They were advertised to be for outdoor use. One I purchased, the second was a warranty replacement I received after getting in touch with Aeon. Both sensors failed within about 6 months. I had even sealed the replacement sensor with silicone to try to prevent it from failing. That I compare to the motion sensor lights I have had on my house for well over a decade with no problems at all.