Motion Sensor PD-OSENS-WH

I don’t usually write reviews, but this product nailed a tricky setup. Our long basement storage area has 3-way switches at both ends—one inside and one outside the space. I wanted motion-activated lights, which can be tricky with 3-way wiring. The long space and two entries eliminates using switch mounted motion sensors. The Claro Smart Light Switch and sensor made it simple. Wiring instructions were crystal clear. I swapped the inside switch, added the jumper to the outside "dumb" switch, paired the sensor with a quick six-second press each, and it just worked—no app needed. I placed the sensor where it could see both doors, tested it, and it detected motion perfectly. Set the timeout for one minute, and the lights behave exactly as I wanted. If you need motion-activated lighting with a sensor away from the switch, this is it. Simple, effective, and reliable. Pros: Works with 3-way switches Sensor can be placed remotely from the switch Accurate motion detection at longer distances Easy setup—no app required Clear wiring instructions Cons: Limited if you want full smart-home automation with multiple Claro devices If you want the second switch to act like a normal switch you'll need to replace it as well with the Claro Accessory Switch

Wow. I just don't know what all these reviews are on about. Look, I get that if you expect something to work one way and it doesn't, you're going to be upset. And in that way the negative 1-3 star reviews here are valid. I'm here to tell you why I think this is a 5 star product. I'm a Homekit user. When I built my system up from the ashes of a prior ZWave setup, I made a big decision: anywhere I had a lamp, I'd use a Hue bulb. Anywhere I had a switch, I would use a Lutron Caseta switch. I don't have any need/desire for color in my lights, so this worked perfectly for me. My primary goal was to automate every single light in my house and do it as cheaply as possible. It's been 3 years now and there's one thing I'm certain of: Caseta products are the best home automation products ever made. I have NOT ONCE had a problem with my Caseta products, and the Hue stuff gives me constant headaches. The only motion sensors I have in my house are in my laundry room and hall closet. They're Hue sensors controlling Hue bulbs in the Hue app (Homekit is completely incapable of programming occupancy correctly - the biggest oversight in a platform full of problems). As I mentioned, I have frequent problems with all the Hue products, so I was THRILLED when Lutron announced their Caseta motion sensor. I think I literally jumped up and down, I was so excited. Imagine my disappointment when I checked out the reviews on Amazon and Reddit! Everyone hated it! I couldn't believe it! But, as I mentioned, I consider Caseta products to be the best ever, so I took a chance on the sensor...and I'm glad I did. Look, I'm using this thing in a room where I actually don't want to use a light switch. I'm using it in my garage workshop, and I've had it installed and operating for 2 weeks now. I can tell you that in my setup it has been nothing short of flawless. It takes less than a second for the lights to turn on when I enter the room. Less than if I'd used a switch. I have the sensor set to pick up minor movement and I have it set for a 5 minute timer. I have not ONCE had the lights turn out on me while I was in my garage. And that's pretty important when I'm using a freaking table saw. Even when I'm on the opposite side of the room standing very still in front of my wall-mounted computer, the sensor is able to pick up enough motion to keep the lights on. The entire time I've been writing this review, I've been standing 15-18 feet from the sensor with my back turned to it, and my slight movements have been enough for it to catch. On the flip side, I know that the five minute time-out is working perfectly. See, we have a fridge and freezer in our garage, so we regularly come out here to get something. I've had plenty of times where I've come back to the garage anywhere from 7-15 minutes later and the lights were off like they should be. Again, I'm not doubting the people who don't like this sensor. I'm assuming that if I walked into the room, the lights went on, then I walked out of the room and turned them off from a switch and then walked back in a minute later, the sensor wouldn't turn the lights on. I can see that complaint and I think it's reasonable. I just wanted to offer this counterpoint to argue that in my situation it's far and away the best possible option. SUMMARY: If you have a place in your home or business that you only want controlled by motion and not switches, this is the sensor for you.

It just works. My only complaint is that Lutron sensors are not visible to Apple home and work within the Lutron setup. Easy to work with but not perfect.

I won’t cover all the points others have covered well in previous reviews but I’m going to put a few more things out there worth knowing about: 1) Sensor coverage: The IR detector’s “view” is sort of a cone, but it is a downward tipping cone. Thus the view is extends straight out horizontally from the sensor window, extending downward from the horizontal plane. What’s that matter? It provides you with some tricks with the coverage. If you have pets, mount the sensor upside-down lower on the wall then recommended. e.g. 4’ instead of 6’-8’. People will still activate it, but dogs will not, as the view is horizontal, extending upward. On a staircase, I have one installed on the bottom wall, upside-down, so that it looks up the stairs. 2) Speaking of which: Walking towards an IR sensor tends to work more poorly than when the motion is across the sensor view. Still, I’m impressed with how well it works when walking towards it. You can see details of the sensing area in Lutron’s spec sheet: https://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/3691125_ENG.pdf 3) Outdoors? Official operating temp is 32 °F to 104 °F (0 °C to 40 °C). I’m not sure what will happen if it gets below freezing, but I’m going to try it. But if you can’t mount it in a covered area outside, you can always put it in a plastic bag, perhaps with an opening towards the bottom to reduce condensation. It does work through a bag, it does not work through glass. Oh, and bugs like to get inside such devices, and they can set them off crawling across the sensor. Close up those holes if mounting outside. 4) Time On duration: No idea when, but the latest versions of this now have a 1 minute timeout setting. It’s not marked on the back of the unit: Just perform a normal duration setting procedure, pressing the timeout button until all 3 time LED’s start flashing. Then do a long press (couple of seconds) the 3 LED’s should glow steadily. There’s your 1 minute setting. 5) Problem area: You do get more options if using this with the Lutron hub. Some. The one big frustration I have (as well as lots of others apparently) is that the IR sensor has no awareness that you’ve turned lights on or off manually. This would logically be possible with a hub involved, since it knows when lights are on or off and how they got into that state. Then the sensor won’t turn off the lights that you manually turned on. For now you should plan on either letting the motion sensor control the lights or users, but not both. The closest you can come to making the motion detector behave under manual control is if you switch your lights on and off from the on/off button on the detector itself. If you turn lights off with the button, it won’t turn them back on automatically again until all motion ceases. Think if you turn off the lights to watch a movie: they won’t automatically come on again until everyone has left. So in summary, it’s a nice sensor but as others have said, it would be even better if Lutron would deal with the problem areas. I know I’d buy more of them, but right now their limitations limit where I can use them. There may be a way around this with a different hub setup, but I’m not that far down that torturous path yet…

The item is good, But I expected more integration and more IOT functionality. It is not so far in fact from its analog grandfather.

Works great. Thought there might be some concerns. But has worked great from day one and two months later no issues

Can use the motion sensor to operate any Lutron modules or trigger a “scene”. This is the simplest most idiot proof smart home system available since x10 went defunct, IMO.

Lutron Caseta is good quality. Never buy open box or returned from amazon. They are always ruined by the previous customer and returned. You cant tell they are bad from a visual inspection, so amazon tries to resell them

I use this motion sensor to turn the smart lights on whenever someone enters the bedroom. While it works great 95% of the time, sometimes (5% of the time maybe) in the middle of the night, when the room is dark it doesn't detect a person until they get VERY close to the sensor. I haven't been able to figure out any pattern or reason why it does this, and it's very rare, but it does happen. Other than that, this sensor works fantastic for its purpose.

Good quality Lutron sensor! No more not less