Anyone recommend a reliable motion-sensing PIR light bulb?

itm2

I'm looking for a motion-sensing PIR light bulb (preferably LED). I bought one from eBay which worked for about 5 hours, then turned on and stayed on. I've been looking at similar on Amazon, but every one that I've looked at so far has a significant number of reviews which say that it stopped working within hours/days/weeks of purchase.
Can anyone recommend one that they've had for more than a few months, and have not had any problems with it?

ka7e

I had a couple and found that they just weren't responsive enough and using it on a landing was useless with a 2-way switch. I use rechargeable LED strips instead and have in hall, stairs, landing and bathroom. I also use them in cupboards and under bedside cabinets. At night, we can navigate around the house without switching on any lights which is especially useful for children and the elderly. The strips keep their charge for about a month and recharge via USB in 30-90 mins depending on size and brand.

daveyjp

After two attempts I ditched LED PIR units.  I have gone back to a 150w halogen bulb lamp.

For how long the lamp is on savings from LED aren't worth worrying about.

itm2

So the halogen PIR ones are more reliable? Can you recommend a particular model? 

tetrarch

I'm not a big fan of combination products. I'd be inclined to source a good bulb and a good sensor. I looked at Screwfix, but their product doesn't get good reviews.

This one from Amazon does:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SEBSON-Ceiling-Mounted-Infrared-suitable/dp/B0789BYSK1/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3R9CR3QKG8UXU&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.UJt-gie_MI81VG2kNLGS3cwiiMkDdj957nRFiJX-_yzlE_jTqaPP4bolGRIzePaPSLpU8alhelsw0GDWRJOfnMxnlnRSfNbApk9Z-GtaIlaxIzzE7EYkk1FK1wjOoOAVK8svEgNaGJQ_ZTam5I84IPMoI_DmQiAwMEM-Xp_HSi830HaUxAM-bShuVVPkvqqY5DQPTj1dsPoreEOSmKLmx9nQrTs61nPs3YXIuueCbt3PDUsKoyOjcx6J75V6HXjCsUTk5FzXVYtGohDtdodBRqISNHLMJXqrDhMuxuHivgk.rghVhJEa9o1108Ei95oXH48IyHySp1eMSFNUYG3t5V4&dib_tag=se&keywords=pir+sensor+indoor&qid=1710586907&sprefix=pir+sensor,aps,123&sr=8-5&th=1

Regards

Tet

ashe

It's not for everyone but most lights in our house are controlled by motion sensors and time profiles, but I use home assistant to configure all that.

its not a cheap option but a hue lightbulb and a separate hue sensor would do the job, no good for just one light tho as you'd also need a hub. It's only bedroom and living room we don't use sensors on and it's quite effective 

they poll every 10 seconds which restarts the timer on the automation & very reliable 

Lorian

You can get PIR light switches to sit on a standard back box if the location of any existing switch is suitable

itm2

ashe said:

It's not for everyone but most lights in our house are controlled by motion sensors and time profiles, but I use home assistant to configure all that.

its not a cheap option but a hue lightbulb and a separate hue sensor would do the job, no good for just one light tho as you'd also need a hub. It's only bedroom and living room we don't use sensors on and it's quite effective 

they poll every 10 seconds which restarts the timer on the automation & very reliable 

Thanks yes I also use Home Assistant but I thought an all-in-1 solution for <£10 would be a simpler solution. If it had worked....

itm2

Lorian said:

You can get PIR light switches to sit on a standard back box if the location of any existing switch is suitable

Thanks - that would have been an interesting option but the switch in question is a 3-way (controlling the lights on the bottom, middle and top floors)

ashe

itm2 said:

ashe said:

It's not for everyone but most lights in our house are controlled by motion sensors and time profiles, but I use home assistant to configure all that.

its not a cheap option but a hue lightbulb and a separate hue sensor would do the job, no good for just one light tho as you'd also need a hub. It's only bedroom and living room we don't use sensors on and it's quite effective 

they poll every 10 seconds which restarts the timer on the automation & very reliable 

Thanks yes I also use Home Assistant but I thought an all-in-1 solution for <£10 would be a simpler solution. If it had worked....

Well its not a cheap solution using hue and motion sensors, but it is a nearly 100% effective one. Like I say above there are only 2 rooms we don't use these on, and they control our bathroom lights and extractor fans (in conjunction with some cheap humidity sensors). 

The automations in home assistant are powerful and you can profile them to do things like only activate on an offset of sunset for example, rather than just being dumb "it comes on every time its activated" type jobs, meaning any time you go in during the day its on too. 

I did try some cheap sonoff PIR's for £10 each but I wouldn't recommend them personally, the cooldown time between detects is too high. 

Prior to these we had timed profiles for things like garden lights, landing and hall, and manual switches for bathroom lights and fans, and used alexa for everything else. Living room is now driven by devices (e.g when TV is on, after a set time, it will trigger the lights on dim, when paused the brightness increases slightly etc)

I toyed with having pressure sensors under the mattress to negate the PIR for the bedroom but too many variables to get it completely right I think.