Philips Hue Spotlight and Outdoor Motion Detector

 

I have an old spotlight above my drive way that we never use because the switch is in the garage and it is not on a motion sensor.  I have always planned to replace it with a motion sensor light but it is about 25 feet above the ground and I really don't like working on ladders that high anymore.  It also uses 100 watt incandescent bulbs which are extremely inefficient so I was hoping to switch to LED technology.

As I was looking through Philips Hue product lines I found that they have some outdoor rated LED spotlights that are only 13 Watts so that solves the efficiency issue.  I was hoping I could build an Amazon Alexa routine that triggered off motion on my Arlo security cameras which is possible but I could not find a way to have the lights trigger only at night.

Fortunately Philips Hue sells an outdoor motion sensor that does exactly what I need.  Setup was fairly easy as it is with all hue products.  The only confusing thing is I needed to setup the scene for turning the light on and off based on motion through the motion detector itself, not the lights.  Once I had that figured out it was pretty easy.  The only thing I am not sure about is I needed to set a time for nighttime behavior but I want the light to come on only when it is dark and that will change throughout the year I am not sure if that will need adjusting.  The motion sensor is set to only trigger when it is actually dark out so the time range seems to be redundant.  Just something to keep an eye on throughout the year.  So far they have been working flawlessly.

The only complaint I have heard about the motion sensor is that you cannot or it is very difficult to replace that battery.  That is pretty unfortunate for a $50 product, hopefully it lasts at least a couple years and by then they may have a new motion sensor with additional features.   The sensor does have a thermostat built in which I am not too sure what to do with.   I guess you could run some automations based on temperature but I can't think of a good use case for it.  The weird thing is I can't find the temperature anywhere in the Hue app.  It only shows in Apple Home, which I rarely use.  Apple Home may be something I need to dig in and learn about at some point as it seems some smart products only integrate there.

Overall I am pretty happy with this solution.  It is a bit pricey but that is what you get when you go with Hue products

 

Yolink Water Sensor

This past winter I had a couple issues with water leaks in my basement.  First my hot water heater pressure relief valve was intermittently releasing water, then a sink had a loose connection that was leaking water and during an ice storm water was backing up against my foundation and coming into the house.  My basement also serves and an in-law apartment and is finished so any floods would be costly and extremely inconvenient.

So I decided it was time to invest in some type of leak detector.  As I did my research I found that I had a choice of smart leak detectors or dumb leak detectors.  The dumb detectors basically just sound an alarm when they detect water.  This wouldn't do me any good if I am away from home or the leak is in some corner of the basement where I couldn't hear it.

I decide to look at the smart leak detectors and was surprised by the lack of products in this category.  Moen makes a leak detector that is meant to be paired with their water monitor but its cost was about double what the other options were.  I found a coupe online reviews for the Yolink water sensor.  It was reviewed really well, expandable and fairly inexpensive.  The only drawback that I could see was it needed its own hub and I was really not that excited to add yet another hub to my smart home but having a seemingly sharp increase in leak issues in my home I needed a solution so I pulled the trigger.

Yolink sells the system in a few different configurations based on your needs.  I went with the hub and four sensors.  But you can buy extra leak detectors in one or three packs.  Setup was very easy.  The app was intuitive and easy to add the hub and sensors.  A few days after installing we had another ice storm and the app notified me that water was detected in my basement.  I was able to resolve the issue before any damage was done, so the product basically paid for itself and then some.

I like that for under $20 I can add an additional sensor if I have an area I am concerned about.  If you have a large home you don't need to worry about range with this product.  It uses a wireless technology called LoRa (long range) and they claim a quarter mile range.  This would be great for a barn or detached garage.  They also claim a 2 to 10 year battery life.   I cannot confirm any of this but I have not had any range issues and all of my sensors are still showing 100%.

Yolink also sells other products to pair with their hub such as motion sensors, door sensors, temperature and humidity sensors and smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.  They seem to always be adding new products as well so I am sure I will me adding more components at some point.