Motion Sensor - Aeotec (Multisensor 7)

The Aeotec MultiSensor 7 is six sensors in one small cube. Motion, temperature, humidity, light, ultraviolet and vibration, all reported to your Z-Wave hub from a device that fits in the palm of your hand.

• What six sensors in the Aeotec MultiSensor 7 buy you
• Motion and light are the two that do the daily work
• Temperature and humidity for cooling that is not on a timer
• Battery or USB, and it changes the behaviour
• Mounting and what it needs

The UV sensor reads 0 to 11 on the index.

A Z-Wave hub is required.

What six sensors in the Aeotec MultiSensor 7 buy you

One device to mount, one battery to think about and one entry in the hub, instead of four separate sensors in four corners of the same room. Motion, temperature, humidity, light, ultraviolet and vibration all report from a cube that sits in the palm of your hand. In a room where you want occupancy and climate and daylight, that is the difference between a tidy install and a shelf of gadgets.

Motion and light are the two that do the daily work

Motion carries 12 metres across a 120 degree view, which takes in most rooms from a single corner. Light reads 0 to 30,000 lux, and that is the reading that stops the obvious annoyance: lamps coming on at four in the afternoon because somebody walked past. Motion plus a lux threshold is the rule you actually want, and this sensor gives the hub both halves of it.

Temperature and humidity for cooling that is not on a timer

Temperature runs -10 to 50 degrees and humidity 20 to 90 per cent. On the coast that combination is the useful one, because comfort here is as much about humidity as heat. A fan, an air conditioner or a dehumidifier driven from a real reading behaves very differently from one on a schedule, and costs less to run.

Battery or USB, and it changes the behaviour

Two CR123A cells or a USB lead. This is not just a power choice. On battery the sensor wakes on a schedule to save the cells; on USB it reports continuously. If you want climate readings you can graph, or motion with no lag, put it on USB. If it is going somewhere without a socket, take the cells and accept the slower reporting.

Mounting and what it needs

Four ways to mount: corner bracket, wall, ceiling or simply stood on a shelf. The vibration sensor tells the hub if it is knocked or moved, and the UV reading covers the light that fades furniture and fabric near a window.

It is a Z-Wave device, so a hub comes first. Three of ours will drive it: the Fibaro Home Center Lite, the Fibaro Home Center 2 and the Homey Pro. If you only need motion, temperature and light, the smaller Aeotec TriSensor costs less. Aeotec publish it at aeotec.com.