Eve launches new HomeKit motion sensor with Thread, light triggers

AppleInsider

The new second-generation Eve Motion HomeKit sensor adds Thread support, an integrated light sensor, and costs less than the previous model.

Six years after its original motion sensor was released with HomeKit support, Eve is launching an updated model to replace it. Alongside the regular motion detection of the previous model, this generation adds a luminosity sensor.

The company also says that it has aimed at future-proofing the motion sensor by adding Thread, and being ready for the new Matter smart home standard.

"We can't wait for Matter to become available in Fall 2022," said Jerome Gackel, Eve Systems CEO. "With the launch of the new model of Eve Motion we continue to deliver a wave of products prepared to shape the smart home of the future."

"Combining wireless motion and light sensors," continued Gackel, "Eve Motion is the essential tool to automate your HomeKit smart home."

The luminosity sensor allows for light-based triggers alongside motion ones. So a person entering a room in daylight might, for example, trigger a fan to turn on. But someone entering the same room at night would instead have the lights turn on.

Suitable for both indoors and outdoors, the new Eve Motion sensor has an stated 120 degrees field of view. It is powered by two AAA batteries, and connects wirelessly over Bluetooth Low Energy and Thread.

The new Eve Motion sensor costs $39.95 -- $10 lower than the previous model. It is available direct from Eve, and will shortly be available through Amazon.

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macgui

Looks very similar to Hue's motion sensors. It's currently available from Amazon and at $40 it's $10 cheaper than the original Hue motion sensor and the same price as Hue's newer version.  

I need to read up on Thread capability but I don't think my Hue setup has it. Having a light trigger as well as a motion trigger adds some utility though and I've been needing at least one more motion sensor.

linkman

Not withstanding potential security concerns and cost savings, is there any advantage this device would have versus a camera that potentially has a lot more functionality?

appleinsideruser

I wonder if you can have a lux based threshold trigger (without needing motion)?

elliots11

linkman said:

Not withstanding potential security concerns and cost savings, is there any advantage this device would have versus a camera that potentially has a lot more functionality?

You can put a motion sensor in a bathroom and it's ok.  Good luck doing that with a camera.  In general a motion sensor is less intrusive to privacy and overall vibe of a room than a camera. So deployment options and emotional experience.

22july2013

appleinsideruser said:

I wonder if you can have a lux based threshold trigger (without needing motion)?

Yes. That's part of the Home app. Check the Home app on your Mac, iPhone or iPad. It should be under "Add Automation / A sensor detects something / Select a Light Sensor. / Select Lux reading".

In fact, the article mentions that you can trigger based on lux.

22july2013

linkman said:

Not withstanding potential security concerns and cost savings, is there any advantage this device would have versus a camera that potentially has a lot more functionality?

A Homekit camera could detect motion specific to "Human / Animal / Vehicle." (Unless you are Jay Leno you probably don't have cars in your house.) And you can select regions of the camera's image to detect or ignore motion. These are good features.

And wow, I just discovered that Homekit even has an "occupancy sensor" rather than just a motion sensor for my Homekit cameras. That's new to me. I'm going to try that out.

So you are right, cameras have more functionality, but if you just want to detect motion in a hallway or something, motion sensor are good enough.

22july2013

macgui said:

Looks very similar to Hue's motion sensors. It's currently available from Amazon and at $40 it's $10 cheaper than the original Hue motion sensor and the same price as Hue's newer version.  

Hue's motion sensor also supports temperature readings, but Eve doesn't. Until this week I was using a Hue sensor to tell if if my fridge temperature dropped too much. But I never found the hue Bridge to be reliable, so I've ordered some of these motion detectors so I can finally rid myself of the Hue Bridge.

However Eve billed me 22 hours ago and I still haven't seen a notice that they have shipped it yet. I thought companies only billed after they shipped.

appleinsideruser

22july2013 said:

appleinsideruser said:

I wonder if you can have a lux based threshold trigger (without needing motion)?

Yes. That's part of the Home app. Check the Home app on your Mac, iPhone or iPad. It should be under "Add Automation / A sensor detects something / Select a Light Sensor. / Select Lux reading".

In fact, the article mentions that you can trigger based on lux.

Perfect! Thanks for the explanation @22july2013. The article's phrasing left some doubt in my mind, "...allows for light-based triggers alongside motion ones." I was concerned it might need a motion detection to trigger the lux event. i.e. only detect motion when it's dark.

Tell me, is there hysteresis on the threshold to avoid re-triggering as night draws in?

22july2013

appleinsideruser said:

22july2013 said:

appleinsideruser said:

I wonder if you can have a lux based threshold trigger (without needing motion)?

Yes. That's part of the Home app. Check the Home app on your Mac, iPhone or iPad. It should be under "Add Automation / A sensor detects something / Select a Light Sensor. / Select Lux reading".

In fact, the article mentions that you can trigger based on lux.

Perfect! Thanks for the explanation @22july2013. The article's phrasing left some doubt in my mind, "...allows for light-based triggers alongside motion ones." I was concerned it might need a motion detection to trigger the lux event. i.e. only detect motion when it's dark.

Tell me, is there hysteresis on the threshold to avoid re-triggering as night draws in?

I was just looking at the Home app and I'm 99% sure that my conclusion about the light trigger is correct. I just threw out my Hue light triggers yesterday because I ordered the Eve sensors yesterday, so I can't test it for you right now.

I think you are asking if a light trigger could occur twice for the same event (morning, evening sunlight). That's a good question. Some people may actually want a very short reset time on the light trigger, but it sounds like you want a very long threshold. I'm not sure, but that would probably have to be a HomeKit feature, not a sensor feature. I can't test it today.

appleinsideruser

22july2013 said:

I think you are asking if a light trigger could occur twice for the same event (morning, evening sunlight). That's a good question. Some people may actually want a very short reset time on the light trigger, but it sounds like you want a very long threshold. I'm not sure, but that would probably have to be a HomeKit feature, not a sensor feature. I can't test it today.

Yeah, that is it. Currently I have Nanoleaf Aurora lights coming on gradually when it gets dark around sunset. But if it's a cloudy or rainy day, the timing's different than when it's clear and bright. So I've convoluted a system involving current weather conditions and visibility. So a light sensor would be better, but I wouldn't want it triggering more than once a day.

EDIT: Just reading the Eve blurb and it hints that my fears were right:

... refined by brightness.

Use Eve Motion's light sensor to make your rules even smarter: Turn on your lights only when there's not enough daylight.

But maybe I'm being pessimistic. Be interested to hear what you find when you receive yours (now they've taken your money)!

22july2013

appleinsideruser said:

22july2013 said:

I think you are asking if a light trigger could occur twice for the same event (morning, evening sunlight). That's a good question. Some people may actually want a very short reset time on the light trigger, but it sounds like you want a very long threshold. I'm not sure, but that would probably have to be a HomeKit feature, not a sensor feature. I can't test it today.

Yeah, that is it. Currently I have Nanoleaf Aurora lights coming on gradually when it gets dark around sunset. But if it's a cloudy or rainy day, the timing's different than when it's clear and bright. So I've convoluted a system involving current weather conditions and visibility. So a light sensor would be better, but I wouldn't want it triggering more than once a day.

EDIT: Just reading the Eve blurb and it hints that my fears were right:

... refined by brightness.

Use Eve Motion's light sensor to make your rules even smarter: Turn on your lights only when there's not enough daylight.

But maybe I'm being pessimistic. Be interested to hear what you find when you receive yours (now they've taken your money)!

My Eve sensors (and a couple of Eve switches) are scheduled to arrive by FedEx on Monday, according to the Fedex website. But it could be longer than that. I'll try to come back here as soon as I find out.

Your Nanoleaf Aurora lights are using, I presume (since you didn't state explicitly), your Nanoleaf app for the lux triggers. I refuse to use vendor apps for smart devices, I will use only Apple's Home app. So all I can test is what Apple's Home/HomeKit can perform.

The original poster didn't really say whether he wanted the solution from HomeKit or from the vendor's app. But at this point in time I plan to report only what Apple's Home app can do.

appleinsideruser

I’m almost wholly shortcuts and home app for my Aurora. I had to setup some scenes in the app and sync to my home, for fades and colour shifts. Lux triggers are inferred by the proxy of cloudiness and visibility distance to calculate arbitrary delays from sunset offsets. Ugly. Direct lux, tested by automation triggers around sunset, could work much better and avoid the need for hysteresis on direct lux triggers. 

Anyway, I look forward to hearing of your experiences with Eve next week. Have a great weekend @22july2013! Oh, and happy anniversary for yesterday!

22july2013

appleinsideruser said:

I’m almost wholly shortcuts and home app for my Aurora. I had to setup some scenes in the app and sync to my home, for fades and colour shifts. Lux triggers are inferred by the proxy of cloudiness and visibility distance to calculate arbitrary delays from sunset offsets. Ugly. Direct lux, tested by automation triggers around sunset, could work much better and avoid the need for hysteresis on direct lux triggers. 

Anyway, I look forward to hearing of your experiences with Eve next week. Have a great weekend @22july2013! Oh, and happy anniversary for yesterday!

I've installed my new Eve motion sensor today (and also some new Eve Switches.) It took Fedex several days longer than they predicted to deliver them to me.

Yes, the Apple Home app allows me to set up an automation that says "when Light levels Rise above 200 lux in Bedroom"... so that an action can occur (entirely irrespective of motion detection), and as a test I've set up an action to "turn off air purifier" when the light gets bright. It's not clear to me how many times per day this action could be triggered. I'm guessing that the Home App has a minimum amount of time required before the same automation can be triggered again. I'm not yet sure what that is. Everyone has their own needs in terms of how soon a trigger can be re-triggered. Some people may want the minimum to be 24 hours, but some may want it to be 24 milliseconds. It just depends what you are trying to do. The Apple Home app doesn't seem to have any way to configure this value.

appleinsideruser

22july2013 said:

appleinsideruser said:

I’m almost wholly shortcuts and home app for my Aurora. I had to setup some scenes in the app and sync to my home, for fades and colour shifts. Lux triggers are inferred by the proxy of cloudiness and visibility distance to calculate arbitrary delays from sunset offsets. Ugly. Direct lux, tested by automation triggers around sunset, could work much better and avoid the need for hysteresis on direct lux triggers. 

Anyway, I look forward to hearing of your experiences with Eve next week. Have a great weekend @22july2013! Oh, and happy anniversary for yesterday!

I've installed my new Eve motion sensor today (and also some new Eve Switches.) It took Fedex several days longer than they predicted to deliver them to me.

Yes, the Apple Home app allows me to set up an automation that says "when Light levels Rise above 200 lux in Bedroom"... so that an action can occur (entirely irrespective of motion detection), and as a test I've set up an action to "turn off air purifier" when the light gets bright. It's not clear to me how many times per day this action could be triggered. I'm guessing that the Home App has a minimum amount of time required before the same automation can be triggered again. I'm not yet sure what that is. Everyone has their own needs in terms of how soon a trigger can be re-triggered. Some people may want the minimum to be 24 hours, but some may want it to be 24 milliseconds. It just depends what you are trying to do. The Apple Home app doesn't seem to have any way to configure this value.

Thanks for the update and that’s good to know. I’d be tempted to play in a room with a dimmer switch on the light… my guess would be there’s no particular time limit. Rather, I’d guess it might require the light to reduce to say 180 lux before another transition above 200 can trigger an event. EDIT: If I wanted to limit the number of transitions per period of time, I’d concoct an interlock script which set an item to a state and tested it prior to repeating an event. A HomeKit timeout could turn off after say 12 hours to allow the action to run again. Fake HomeKit switches on HomeBridge are a great way to do this without a using a real device.

Tell me, is there a mounting keyhole slot on the rear to allow fastening to a wall with a screw? PS I see AI did a longer piece on the motion sensor recently…