Smartest House Home Automation: Outdoor Motion Sensor $25, Zooz Z-Wave On/Off Switch

coachclass

Mar 18, 2025 3:55 PM

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Joined Dec 2010

coachclassMar 18, 2025 3:55 PM

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Quote from dumask

:

I switched all of my pir sensors to Zooz since they can be hard wired. I hope they start releasing other hard wired sensors soon.

How reliable are they? I'm also contemplating getting their zwave motion sensor that can be hard wired. But besides being hard wired, do they function well? The amazon reviews are very spotty.

Last edited by coachclass March 18, 2025 at 08:57 AM.

dumask

Mar 18, 2025 4:01 PM

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dumaskMar 18, 2025 4:01 PM

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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank dumask

Quote from coachclass

:

How reliable are they? I'm also contemplating getting their zwave motion sensor that can be hard wired. But besides being hard wired, do they function well? The amazon reviews are very spotty.

They are the best PIR sensors I've used. I have tried Aqara, Hue, Samsung, and Third Reality.

The Zooz are more reliable and more configurable (sensitivity, cool down, etc). If you want to go with zigbee PIR my recommendation would be ThirdReality.

2

1

nayr14

Mar 18, 2025 4:18 PM

83 Comments

Joined May 2013

nayr14Mar 18, 2025 4:18 PM

83 Comments

Quote from jitzy

:

Why don't you place a device needing wireless communication inside a metal box. People always making the same mistake. Lol . Ever heard of a faraday cage?

Because many areas require conduit and therefore need to be in a metal gang box. If they cannot work because of a metal gang box, they aren't properly designed and shouldn't be sold.

I've been using GE z-wave switches for years in metal gang boxes without issues.

2

ZoozCS

Mar 18, 2025 4:21 PM

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ZoozCSMar 18, 2025 4:21 PM

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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank ZoozCS

Quote from ejordan525

:

Wanted this to control a bathroom exhaust fan, but it looks like they only suggest using on 150w led or 600w incandescents.

We just released a new switch model: ZEN75 which is perfect for fans and other inductive loads.

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5

csw3190

Mar 18, 2025 4:47 PM

26 Comments

Joined Jul 2018

csw3190Mar 18, 2025 4:47 PM

26 Comments

Quote from fawzi

:

the prices keep increasing every couple of months. i dont mind the shipping minimum but I was hoping for a better sale.my biggest issue with them is that their dimmers dont have any light indicator or sliders to distinguish them from none dimmers

There is a small LED on the bottom right of the dimmers (the frame around the rocker)

1

Chambers007

Mar 18, 2025 4:59 PM

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Joined Nov 2011

Chambers007Mar 18, 2025 4:59 PM

98 Comments

Quote from antidelldude

:

Do you ever use the wireless 3-way function? I'm finding too much of the delay for my liking for on off and dimming. It varies from half a second to a full second. And when dimming, I will let go of the dimmer paddle and the lights will get brighter than where I had it at the bottom of the dim. But on the main switch, dimming is much more responsive. This wasn't a problem on my old switches because they did not use wireless three-way. I went All in on it at my new place, and it does have its advantages like being able to put a switch somewhere with just power, but the disadvantages are quite annoying. I am using home assistant and the newest zooz Zwave stick with the newest firmwares on everything.

My situation exactly! I built a cottage last year and installed Zooz dimmer switches throughout. My issue is when I have 3-way virtual dimmers. The master switch obviously works fine, but when I try and use the companion dimmers to dim the lights the delay is not wife friendly. I went and purchased some Innoveli switches and will be replacing the Zooz ones to see if the problem gets fixed.

pierf87

Mar 18, 2025 5:47 PM

375 Comments

Joined Nov 2014

pierf87Mar 18, 2025 5:47 PM

375 Comments

Am I the only one that got 11 email notifications about this deal? Is it my notifications or a system thing?

basicthe

Mar 18, 2025 6:13 PM

769 Comments

Joined Dec 2008

basictheMar 18, 2025 6:13 PM

769 Comments

Quote from ejordan525

:

Wanted this to control a bathroom exhaust fan, but it looks like they only suggest using on 150w led or 600w incandescents.

I have multiple ZEN71's (on/off switch) controlling bathroom exhaust fans. The Panasonic whisper, and a couple generic Amazon ones. According to the page, it supports fans up to 3A. The Panasonic is only 15w, for example. Been running for years without issues.

Drake250

Mar 18, 2025 6:15 PM

11 Comments

Joined Oct 2016

Drake250Mar 18, 2025 6:15 PM

11 Comments

Quote from Chambers007

:

My situation exactly! I built a cottage last year and installed Zooz dimmer switches throughout. My issue is when I have 3-way virtual dimmers. The master switch obviously works fine, but when I try and use the companion dimmers to dim the lights the delay is not wife friendly. I went and purchased some Innoveli switches and will be replacing the Zooz ones to see if the problem gets fixed.

I used UltraPro 700 Z-Wave dimmers throughout my house. They physically appear nearly identical to the Zooz products, but were cheaper for me to buy (I have 1 Zooz 800 still from when I was playing with various Z-Wave smart switches before determining which product to use throughout the rest of the house). The UltraPros have an "add-on switch" for 3+ way setups that is NOT a smart switch, but instead basically an identical switch that connects to the "main" switch via the traveler wires to relay presses instantly (it gets power from neutral). I've found these are a perfect balance of all my switches being smart enabled and dimmable, but still accessible to non tech-y users.

Just my 2 cents.

The Zooz products here are great, a few more parameters to play with in Home Assistant compared to the UltraPros I went with. But a bit more expensive and it did not meet my 3-way needs.

2

fawzi

Mar 18, 2025 7:52 PM

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Joined Aug 2014

fawziMar 18, 2025 7:52 PM

2.2K Comments

Quote from csw3190

:

There is a small LED on the bottom right of the dimmers (the frame around the rocker)

yes but the idea behind a smart home that everyone can use them. i have to tell them about which one is a dimmer and which one isn't.
we need this design for a z-wave device: https://www.casetawireless.com/us...mer-switch

hceuterpe

Mar 18, 2025 9:10 PM

566 Comments

Joined Jul 2006

hceuterpeMar 18, 2025 9:10 PM

566 Comments

Quote from antidelldude

:

Do you ever use the wireless 3-way function? I'm finding too much of the delay for my liking for on off and dimming. It varies from half a second to a full second. And when dimming, I will let go of the dimmer paddle and the lights will get brighter than where I had it at the bottom of the dim. But on the main switch, dimming is much more responsive.
This wasn't a problem on my old switches because they did not use wireless three-way. I went All in on it at my new place, and it does have its advantages like being able to put a switch somewhere with just power, but the disadvantages are quite annoying.
I am using home assistant and the newest zooz Zwave stick with the newest firmwares on everything.

I doubt you are using the newest, newest version. The 800 series controllers especially have long been having lockup issue with a various firmware SDKs versions. Not sure exactly when, but it's been an issue for more than 16 months. Silicon Labs (the company that controls the Z-wave platform and chips itself) was the only one who had/could to fix it (and supposedly did so with SDK 7.23.0+). If you have drop issues with the 800 series stick (e.g. certain Z-wave devices appear dead regularly) consider contacting Zooz for their beta firmware to try it out.

I've been running this for a few weeks now, and I can honestly say it has helped considerably with reliability.

The only downside I've found with their switches is they can't use add-on auxiliary switches in 3+way setups like Inovelli and UltraPro/GE/Enbrighten can.

basicthe

Mar 18, 2025 9:27 PM

769 Comments

Joined Dec 2008

basictheMar 18, 2025 9:27 PM

769 Comments

Quote from fawzi

:

yes but the idea behind a smart home that everyone can use them. i have to tell them about which one is a dimmer and which one isn't.
we need this design for a z-wave device: https://www.casetawireless.com/us...mer-switch [casetawireless.com]

I have about 30+ zooz devices throughout my house. Basically every switch is either a dimmer or on/off switch. I've never had any guests get confused about how they function, given that they work just as you expect a decora switch to work. I think the only thing you could argue is that the advanced dimming functions require you to understand how it works. But for most people they don't want to know if the light is smart or not, they just want to push up, turn on, push down, turn off, and they function great that way. I like the double tap up for full brightness and hold down for dimming (which can both be customized), but most people won't be aware of these at first.

ducki3

Mar 18, 2025 9:42 PM

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Joined Feb 2015

ducki3Mar 18, 2025 9:42 PM

1.1K Comments

Quote from dumask

:

I switched all of my pir sensors to Zooz since they can be hard wired. I hope they start releasing other hard wired sensors soon.

Any experience with the 800 outdoor sensor?

csw3190

Mar 18, 2025 10:08 PM

26 Comments

Joined Jul 2018

csw3190Mar 18, 2025 10:08 PM

26 Comments

Quote from fawzi

:

yes but the idea behind a smart home that everyone can use them. i have to tell them about which one is a dimmer and which one isn't.we need this design for a z-wave device: https://www.casetawireless.com/us...mer-switch

I was just pointing out that they do have LEDs.
And I don't understand how a physical dimmer slider would be compatible with wireless control and less confusing than the Zooz switch. With a physical dimmer slider, I hit the up button to turn the light on at the slider-dimmer level (say, 50%) then what if I have an automation like adaptive lighting that turns the dimming to 10% because it's midnight? That seems more confusing to me as an unacquainted user.

dumask

Mar 18, 2025 10:25 PM

464 Comments

Joined Nov 2015

dumaskMar 18, 2025 10:25 PM

464 Comments

Quote from ducki3

:

Any experience with the 800 outdoor sensor?

Yeah, I replaced my Hue outdoor sensors with the Zooz ZSE70. They work great in my setup.

I always hated the Hue because I couldn't ever get coverage or sensitivity where I wanted it, plus they eat batteries.

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Smartest House Home Automation: Outdoor Motion Sensor $25, Zooz Z-Wave On/Off Switch

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