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How to Set up a Philips Hue Motion Sensor

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One of the accessories you can buy is the Philips Hue motion sensor for smart lights and it is what you would expect, a sensor that can be used to monitor motion, if you go into a room or something moves triggering the sensor you can make your lights turn on or off if you wish. In 2019 the outdoor motion sensor was released.

There are currently two different Hue motion sensors.

  • Indoor Hue Motion Sensor
  • Outdoor Hue Motion Sensor

Functionally the both work the same and have the same features, they both have light sensitivity and read the temperature. The outdoor sensor is designed for outdoor use and is waterproof, it is also black whereas the indoor sensor is in a white casing. The outdoor sensor can be mounted on a flat wall or a corner.

Setting up a Hue motion sensor

The Philips motion sensor is a new smart home lighting system that automatically controls all of the hue lights in your home using motion detection.

Philips Hue Motion Sensor Set up

The wireless lighting system includes an integrated daylight sensor to allow for more granular control of your home lighting, along with the ability to set separate day and night schedules. If true convenience whereby your lights turn on exactly when you need them to, without lifting a finger is important to you, then this amazing motion sensor from Philips is definitely the best gadget for you.

How to Set it Up your Motion Sensor

  1. Open the Philips Hue app
  2. Open the settings tab
  3. Select the accessories configuration
  4. Tap on the add accessory option
  5. Choose the correct motion sensor 
  6. Follow the further steps in the app to set up

The sensor itself can be placed on a shelf or flat surface, or you can attach it to the wall, there is a small magnetic part that you screw to the wall, once attached you can place the sensor on and direct to where you wish it to point.

Clever Uses for your Philips Hue Motion Sensor

With some creative thinking there are a few great ways to use the sensor, here are just a few.

Hue Motion Sensor on your Stairs

Setting up the sensor on your landing or hall will trigger your lights to come on, if you set it to only work when you are in bed between a set time range then if you get up in the night you can have a few select lights come on very dimly so you can see where you are going.

Adding it under the bed means that as soon as your feet hit the floor the sensor has been triggered so your bedside light could come on so you can see as well as other lights around the home.

Night light

Again you can use it so that at night if it detects motion your lights indoors turn on very dimly so you can see, but not bright enough to wake everyone else up.

Turning Lights on as you walk in

Walk into a room and have your lights in that room turn on, no need to reach for a switch, your phone or use Alexa, just walk in and your lights turn on. Position your sensor near the door, when you walk in set it for your lights to turn on.

Cupboard lights

Open a cupboard door and have a light come on in side, great for pantries where you open the door, the sensor notices the movement and a light comes on inside so you can see what you are looking for.

As well as cupboard this could be used in your halls your lights come on automatically when you return home late at night, no need to keep tapping the wall looking for that light switch.

The Hue motion sensor has a 100-degree both vertical and horizontal detection angle, with a range of up to about 16 feet, which enables a very quick response and activation time.

Security light

Using the outdoor hue motion sensor you can activate your hue lights indoors and outdoors if you are away or out, if the motion sensor detects someone that may not suppose to be there, you can have your outdoors lights all come on and perhaps your indoors light too, to make it look like someone is in as a deterrent. Read our article Using Philips Hue As a Home Security System for more ideas.

Turn on your Garden Lights

If you have installed any Hue outdoor lights, then instead of using a routine to turn them on at a set time, how about using the outdoor motions sensor to turn them on when it gets dark, and then when it gets lighter in the morning they turn off.

Benefits of the Philips Hue Motion Sensor

As I mentioned at the beginning of my Philips Hue Motion Sensor Review, the Philips Hue motion sensor remains a popular extra for the Hue system, here are a few of the things I like about it.

1. Easy Installation

This smart wireless lighting sensor is a lot easier to install than you can ever imagine. The package includes a magnetic mount with screws for mounting the sensor on a surface like a wall. The mounting process is quite simple. A single screw secures the circular magnetic base to a wall, and then the motion sensor attaches magnetically in any orientation you prefer. The system is powered by two AAA size batteries that are already pre-installed with a plastic strip that you will need to take off to initially power it on.

2. Easy Setup

Setting up your Philips Hue motion sensor after installing it is relatively simple. As soon as the sensor is powered on, it should go into pairing mode, where it can be discovered and added from the “Add Accessory” option in the app settings. You can then find and hook up the sensor with your rooms.

3. Save on Energy Costs

The sensor will be automatically configured with default settings for daytime, night time, and no-motion lighting, which can be adjusted from within the sensor’s app. In each case, the sensor will only turn on the lights if there is no sufficient lighting in the room. This is a very useful feature designed to help you save on energy costs by not having the lights come on when not necessary.

What’s more, you can select the specific hours during which daytime as well as nighttime schedules are in effect. You can also choose a pre-defined lighting scene or level for each lighting scenario.

4. Enhance Your Sensor with a Wide Variety of Accessories

Another thing about the sensor that I found to be quite appealing is the fact that you can add several accessories to it to unlock enhanced lighting experiences. For instance, an accessory like Amazon Alexa or Siri allows you to control your sensor by voice apart from motion.

Conclusion

The Philips Hue motion sensor is a great product perked with more features and more advantages than many of its rival products. I recommend this wireless lighting sensor to anyone who would like to have their home all decked out with some sweet, smart lights that they can control with hand motions, voice commands or by use of a smart phone.

This product can be purchased online or from any store near you that deals in smart home lighting products.


Founder & Editor

Mike is the founder of Hue Home Lighting, a huge Hue fan with far too many lights, covering home and garden. A smart home gadget addict and also enjoys the odd bit of DIY

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5 Comments

  1. Riaan De Witt

    Please can you add the functionality to only use the motion between certain times. Day night does not work well

    Reply
  2. D Murphy

    I wish there was a greater functionality than to lighting. For security uses a light going on is great, but a notification to a cell phone by text or alert would be great.

    Reply
    • Jen

      If you’re using HomeKit from apple you can customize the sensor to send an alert when motion sensor is triggered.

      Reply
  3. Xavier

    They would be a lot more practical if they could control individual or a bunch of selected lights (like zones or manual selection) rather then having to select entire rooms – it is a shame as they do work well Otherwise

    Reply

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