Motion Sensor - Fibaro

The eye. The Fibaro Motion Sensor puts four sensors into one ball the size of a golf ball: motion, temperature, light level and an accelerometer. It sits on a shelf or on the supplied bracket in a corner and needs no wiring at all.

• What the Fibaro Motion Sensor actually sees
• Motion plus light level is the pair that matters
• The lens tells you what it is thinking
• The accelerometer does two jobs
• Where it goes, and what it needs

A Z-Wave hub is required.

What the Fibaro Motion Sensor actually sees

Four things from one ball 44 mm across: movement, light level, temperature and its own orientation. It looks like an eye and it is meant to, which is why people put it on a shelf in a living room rather than hiding it in a corner. Nothing to wire, nothing to drill, and the supplied bracket takes it up a wall when you want proper coverage.

Motion plus light level is the pair that matters

Motion alone gives you lights that come on at midday. Light level alone tells you nothing about whether anyone is there. Together they give the rule everybody actually wants: come on when somebody walks in and it is dark, go off when the room empties. Light reads 0 to 32,000 lux and motion carries 7 metres, with Fibaro recommending it goes about 2.4 metres up.

The lens tells you what it is thinking

The eye glows in a colour you choose to show what it has detected. That sounds decorative and is not: when a rule is misbehaving, being able to stand in the doorway and watch whether the sensor is triggering saves an hour of guessing at the hub. It is the fastest diagnostic on any sensor we sell.

The accelerometer does two jobs

It is tamper detection, so the hub is told if somebody picks the sensor up or turns it to face a wall. It is also a plain vibration alarm, which can be pointed at something that should not move: a safe, a gate, a window that rattles when it is forced. Temperature reads 0 to +40 degrees to within half a degree alongside it.

Where it goes, and what it needs

Indoors and dry. It runs on the supplied CR123A cell and sits on a shelf or on the bracket in a corner, around 2.4 metres up for the full 7 metre range.

It is a Z-Wave device and needs a hub. We carry three that will run it: the Fibaro Home Center Lite, the Fibaro Home Center 2 and the Homey Pro. For humidity and UV as well, the Aeotec MultiSensor 7 reads six. Fibaro publish it at fibaro.com.