It will turn off your furnace when the window is open now. But you have to pay $5 a month to get that functionality. They added a last step in the insulation that asks if you want to add the smart security standard for $5 a month to enable that functionality.
Hey MDT - Definitely agree that it needs to be exposed through the camera as that’s just good manners. :). Honestly though - I imagine that most people who own an Ecobee camera will have already have an Ecobee thermostat so I don’t knock off too many marks as I imagine the lack of that feature won’t affect too many people as it’s covered by the thermostat.
Thanks Shane! Yeah - I’m looking forward to ecobee leveraging this as Pty of their eco+ feature. I’d love to see more intelligent temp controls and it looks like they’ve got all the parts to do it now
thanks Dustin! Yeah - There’s a couple of places that I’ve been able to consolidate by using these. Still working on the Haven Review as well which is where these become even more interesting!
Appreciate the time and effort you put into reviewing the sensor. The crazy thing is I have two of the sensors that I’ve been planning on using, but never hooked them up, but by watching your video now I think I will. I did have one question, what is the point of the motion sensor? If I have cameras outside I'm gonna know about that motion before I know about the motion inside LOL...
Ohhhhh there are SO many reasons for these things. Imagine that you could use the motion sensor to trigger the lights in your front hallway as you walk towards the door. I’ve got mine in the small mud room ( enclosed space between the house and the outside door ). When I open the inside door, the motion sensor piece detects me and the lights in that small space turn on. You could also use this in a closet to do some advanced automations using convert to short cut ( working on a video next week with some ideas around using the contact sensor piece which might help drive some inspiration. ). But yeah... If the camera’s on the outside and the motion sensors inside... all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the sensors. :)
Hey CFS! Appreciate the kind words! For the lights in my office, I've done reviews on MOST of them which can be found in this playlist . th-cam.com/play/PLIdK6RdGwb3R6mbMTh7E5hEYzaC-9noBB.html. If there's anything in particular you wanted more info on, I'll be happy to answer whatever I can. :)
The response time seems to be approx the same as zigbee. Better than Bluetooth. To be honest since the motion sensors moved to BLE4/5 there responsiveness has gotten so much better that I only notice the difference in very specific cases - like walking through a hallway quickly. The issue most people see with BLE motion/contact sensors now seem to be more to do with range rather than the protocol itself.
I really don’t know what type of sensor to get to solve the “cool the whole world” problem by shutting off the a/c when a sliding glass door is open! I’ve spent hours and hours on the web and just don’t know how to solve such a simple problem. Any suggestions? Your videos are helpful. Thank you
Hey DCB! So the sensor piece is pretty easy in that you'll want to use a contact sensor to detect when the door is open/closed. The hard part is the automation piece. I still haven't found something I'm really happy with - but the best you can do right now is to do just turn the state of your thermostat to off while the doors open, and then turn it back on when the door closes again. Not at all a solution I'm happy with though. I'd like something a little more elegant that would allow me to detect when the window is open for X minutes, then turn the thermo state to off, but unfortunately, that's not ( at least to my knowledge ) supported in Homekit today. Definitely something that could be done in Home Assistant, but I just haven't been annoyed enough yet to dig in to address this use-case. :)
@@Homekitgeek This is what I need too for a beach rental property. I disagree though, automation is just software code. Thats much simpler than hardware. All they need to do is code in a simple on off and timer switch with the AC. This is so simple. Shocked its not already an option
Absolutely this will still work with HomeKit as you described. motion sensors and contact sensor triggers can be used to trigger and HomeKit scene you define.
@@Homekitgeek I just tried them, it works perfectly with the door open or closes, the only "issue" now is that for some reason, in homekit, I cant make any automation with motion to work with this ecobee smart sensor, any ideas?
Hey Omar - Hoping to step up production over the next couple of weeks and release a bunch of things that I’ve been behind on. Haven is at the top of that list!
When you are on the ecobee Home Screen the contact sensor shows up right above the thermostat. If it is not there it probably didn’t get installed correctly. Also on that same screen at the bottom there is an activity button for me (I’m paying for the security package so I don’t know if it is there without that). You can look at activity and see if the contact sensor is showing things open and close.
Great review dude. I've been looking for an alternative to the regular occupancy sensors in one of my rental's since they just chew through batteries. This looks like it will serve dual purpose to turn off the heat when tenants leave the window open too. Too bad the Ecobee smart light switch didn't end up getting the occupancy sensor software in the end. That would have been a great combination. Did you keep one of the contact sensors long term? How long did the CR2477 last?
Definitely agree it’s an interesting product! I’ve sent in the idea to connect them directly to the thermostat status to the Ecobee team as well and I’m really hoping that they will implement this in a user friendly way. As far as battery life; I’m still running in the original batteries in both sensors with no issues. I did some poking around and it looks like there’s a hidden “low pattern” value that’s just marked as “no”. So far I’ve been really happy with then. Sounds like a rental property with an ecobee thermostat might be a great fit fit these little guys!
For the 2 pack which is about $39.50 a piece. More expensive than some of the other contact sensors but also twice as powerful as you e got the motion sensor too. :).
It will turn off your furnace when the window is open now. But you have to pay $5 a month to get that functionality. They added a last step in the insulation that asks if you want to add the smart security standard for $5 a month to enable that functionality.
Good stuff Chris. I like that they put two sensors together but it’s gotta get exposed to Homekit thru the camera
Hey MDT - Definitely agree that it needs to be exposed through the camera as that’s just good manners. :). Honestly though - I imagine that most people who own an Ecobee camera will have already have an Ecobee thermostat so I don’t knock off too many marks as I imagine the lack of that feature won’t affect too many people as it’s covered by the thermostat.
Great info. Thanks Chris! I love my Ecobee thermostat so it’s cool to see them expanding into different products.
Thanks Shane! Yeah - I’m looking forward to ecobee leveraging this as Pty of their eco+ feature. I’d love to see more intelligent temp controls and it looks like they’ve got all the parts to do it now
I like the idea of combing contact and motion sensor.
thanks Dustin! Yeah - There’s a couple of places that I’ve been able to consolidate by using these. Still working on the Haven Review as well which is where these become even more interesting!
Appreciate the time and effort you put into reviewing the sensor. The crazy thing is I have two of the sensors that I’ve been planning on using, but never hooked them up, but by watching your video now I think I will. I did have one question, what is the point of the motion sensor? If I have cameras outside I'm gonna know about that motion before I know about the motion inside LOL...
Ohhhhh there are SO many reasons for these things. Imagine that you could use the motion sensor to trigger the lights in your front hallway as you walk towards the door. I’ve got mine in the small mud room ( enclosed space between the house and the outside door ). When I open the inside door, the motion sensor piece detects me and the lights in that small space turn on. You could also use this in a closet to do some advanced automations using convert to short cut ( working on a video next week with some ideas around using the contact sensor piece which might help drive some inspiration. ). But yeah... If the camera’s on the outside and the motion sensors inside... all depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with the sensors. :)
Is there monthly fee on that app?
Great review. BTW, what lights are you using around your office? Have you done any reviews on them?
Hey CFS! Appreciate the kind words! For the lights in my office, I've done reviews on MOST of them which can be found in this playlist . th-cam.com/play/PLIdK6RdGwb3R6mbMTh7E5hEYzaC-9noBB.html. If there's anything in particular you wanted more info on, I'll be happy to answer whatever I can. :)
I know you touched on it briefly, but how’s the response time of the sensor compared to those using Zigbee or Bluetooth?
The response time seems to be approx the same as zigbee. Better than Bluetooth. To be honest since the motion sensors moved to BLE4/5 there responsiveness has gotten so much better that I only notice the difference in very specific cases - like walking through a hallway quickly. The issue most people see with BLE motion/contact sensors now seem to be more to do with range rather than the protocol itself.
I really don’t know what type of sensor to get to solve the “cool the whole world” problem by shutting off the a/c when a sliding glass door is open! I’ve spent hours and hours on the web and just don’t know how to solve such a simple problem. Any suggestions? Your videos are helpful. Thank you
Hey DCB! So the sensor piece is pretty easy in that you'll want to use a contact sensor to detect when the door is open/closed. The hard part is the automation piece. I still haven't found something I'm really happy with - but the best you can do right now is to do just turn the state of your thermostat to off while the doors open, and then turn it back on when the door closes again. Not at all a solution I'm happy with though. I'd like something a little more elegant that would allow me to detect when the window is open for X minutes, then turn the thermo state to off, but unfortunately, that's not ( at least to my knowledge ) supported in Homekit today. Definitely something that could be done in Home Assistant, but I just haven't been annoyed enough yet to dig in to address this use-case. :)
@@Homekitgeek This is what I need too for a beach rental property. I disagree though, automation is just software code. Thats much simpler than hardware. All they need to do is code in a simple on off and timer switch with the AC. This is so simple. Shocked its not already an option
if I do not pay for the haven subscription, will this still work with homekit to turn on the lights when motion or a door is open?
Absolutely this will still work with HomeKit as you described. motion sensors and contact sensor triggers can be used to trigger and HomeKit scene you define.
@@Homekitgeek I just tried them, it works perfectly with the door open or closes, the only "issue" now is that for some reason, in homekit, I cant make any automation with motion to work with this ecobee smart sensor, any ideas?
@@irsluna I'm pretty sure the contact sensor doesn't detect movement. It only detects open and close.
what homekit app are you using?
Great review but no UK support for Ecobee
Appreciate the kind words! Sorry that you can’t partake in the goodness!
Can I set up for garage doors?
Hey Chris when are you going to release your review of Haven?
Hey Omar - Hoping to step up production over the next couple of weeks and release a bunch of things that I’ve been behind on. Haven is at the top of that list!
Chris Young thanks I am really looking forward to that review!
How long is the motion sensor reset time?
How are those sensors showing on your thermostat? Mine do not.
Contact motion sensor works like a room sensor too?
When you are on the ecobee Home Screen the contact sensor shows up right above the thermostat. If it is not there it probably didn’t get installed correctly.
Also on that same screen at the bottom there is an activity button for me (I’m paying for the security package so I don’t know if it is there without that). You can look at activity and see if the contact sensor is showing things open and close.
Great review dude. I've been looking for an alternative to the regular occupancy sensors in one of my rental's since they just chew through batteries. This looks like it will serve dual purpose to turn off the heat when tenants leave the window open too.
Too bad the Ecobee smart light switch didn't end up getting the occupancy sensor software in the end. That would have been a great combination.
Did you keep one of the contact sensors long term? How long did the CR2477 last?
Definitely agree it’s an interesting product! I’ve sent in the idea to connect them directly to the thermostat status to the Ecobee team as well and I’m really hoping that they will implement this in a user friendly way. As far as battery life; I’m still running in the original batteries in both sensors with no issues. I did some poking around and it looks like there’s a hidden “low pattern” value that’s just marked as “no”. So far I’ve been really happy with then. Sounds like a rental property with an ecobee thermostat might be a great fit fit these little guys!
@@Homekitgeek what homekit app are you using that shows the sensors of the thermostat?
79$....... nah thanks
For the 2 pack which is about $39.50 a piece. More expensive than some of the other contact sensors but also twice as powerful as you e got the motion sensor too. :).
Agreed, your home is not worth $79 of security 😂