Any good floodlight could have a movement detector that may activate its mild when somebody enters its detection zone. What makes the Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor particular is that it could set off a number of Philips Hue good bulbs and good luminaires. And these lights will be each outdoors and inside your house.
When a burglar journeys a floodlight, they simply would possibly shrug, duck out of the pool of sunshine, and proceed to interrupt into your house, considering “Eh, it’s just a dumb floodlight.” But an intruder would possibly suppose twice if in addition they see a light-weight flip on inside your house. The last item the everyday thief needs to do is break in whereas somebody’s residence.
Installing a Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor
To set up the sensor, you’ll screw a plastic bracket to a flat floor, hook the sensor on that bracket, after which safe it to the bracket with a set screw. Philips gives an optionally available bracket that allows you to mount the sensor to an inside or outdoors nook. The consumer handbook signifies a 3rd mounting choice, utilizing a cable tie—which is likely to be an excellent choice for mounting to one thing like a rain gutter downspout—however Philips would not present a cable tie.
The bracket to the left of the Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor means that you can mount the sensor on both an inside or outdoors nook.
Screws (that are overly lengthy if you happen to’re mounting the bracket to wooden siding or trim) and hollow-wall anchors (which would possibly additionally work for set up on stucco or masonry) are supplied within the field, as is a fold-out set up handbook that covers solely the bodily set up. While this documentation does instruct you to name up the Accessory menu within the Philips Hue app so as to add the sensor, that’s all it says. You’re by yourself in terms of determining the right way to configure the app to activate lights in response to movement.
Configuring a Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor
Michael Brown / IDGThe Philips Hue app allows you to program Philips Hue lights to any scene based mostly on outside movement.
Fortunately, these steps are usually not tough to determine. The sensor can set off a number of Philips Hue good bulbs and luminaires without delay, however its set off relies on rooms, not particular person fixtures. When you put in Philips Hue bulbs or fixtures, the app has you assign these gadgets to “rooms.” When you configure the movement detector, the app means that you can choose a most of three rooms by which all Hue bulbs assigned to these rooms will be managed each time movement is detected.
I mounted the sensor above a set of French display screen doorways on my again porch and set it up within the app to manage the lights in my “backyard” room and in my “pool table room.” “Backyard” has one Philips Hue Calla bollard-style pathway mild and three Philips Hue Lily panorama spotlights, whereas “pool table room” has 5 Philips Hue White and Color Ambiance A19 good bulbs in a lamp hanging over my pool desk.
The app means that you can set two units of actions (“behaviors,” because the app labels them) for daylight, and a second set of two for nighttime hours. You outline when every interval begins and ends. One habits determines what all of the lights in every room will do when movement is detected, and the opposite controls what the lights will do as soon as movement is not detected for a user-defined interval starting from two minutes to 1 hour.
It’s an all or nothing affair
Behaviors can set off all of the lights in a room to modify to any of the Philips Hue lighting scenes or mild recipes, or you’ll be able to program the app in order that the lights in a room do nothing in any respect. You can program totally different behaviors for every room, however not for the person lights in that room. I programmed the app in order that the Lily spotlights and Calla pathway mild in my yard would change to their brightest worth at evening, whereas my pool desk mild would come on in a “nightlight” mode. After 10 minutes, the pool desk mild turns off, and the yard lights return to their earlier state. That final choice is necessary, as a result of you may want brighter mild solely when movement is detected, after which have your panorama lighting revert to a extra atmospheric setting afterward.
The movement sensor presents 12 meters of vary (39.4 ft), with a horizontal area of view of 160 levels and an 80-degree vertical area of view. The prime half of the dome-shaped sensor is roofed with a black plastic hood, in order that birds flying overhead or leaves falling from close by bushes gained’t produce false alarms. The sensor detects variations in infrared radiation within the setting, and its lens screens motion straight beneath it, so that it’ll reply whenever you open a door and stroll below it. The prime half of the lens detects motion at longer distances, reminiscent of somebody approaching your door from the entrance or facet.
Michael Brown / IDGThe creator put in the Philips Hue Outdoor Motion Sensor above a French screendoor on his patio.
If you uncover that the movement sensor is popping lights on unnecessarily, you’ll be able to regulate its sensitivity within the Hue app. The gadget additionally has a built-in mild sensor that ought to forestall it from unnecessarily turning lights on throughout daylight (though the daylight habits you program within the app would possibly override that).
A must have accent for Philips Hue customers
As with all Philips Hue gadgets, the outside movement sensor makes use of a ZigBee radio for command and management. As such, including one will lengthen the vary of your Philips Hue community, which is likely to be significantly helpful if you happen to’re putting in Hue merchandise outdoors your house and also you uncover that the required Hue Bridge is having problem reaching them. You can set up any mixture of Philips Hue indoor sensors, outside sensors, and wi-fi switches, however you are restricted to 12 such gadgets on a single community.
This sensor is ineffective if you happen to don’t have Philips Hue lighting merchandise in your house, however it provides vital worth to that ecosystem if you happen to do. Being capable of management lights outdoors and inside your house based mostly on outside movement detection delivers each security and safety advantages. This is a good concept that’s exceedingly properly executed.