Hey everyone, I thought I’d share a project I recently worked on. It’s all about creating a smart outdoor lighting system that’s both energy-efficient and secure. I’ve got nine Hue outdoor floodlights installed around the perimeter of my house, each in its own lighting zone. I also set up outdoor motion sensors in each zone—north, south, east, and west. These are Hue motion sensors, which I’ve had good luck with before.
The setup is pretty straightforward: each zone can be switched to “auto” mode, which means it activates based on motion. But here’s where it gets interesting—I also integrated Arlo cameras in the same locations. These cameras have a person recognition feature, which I’ve linked to IFTTT to trigger a virtual HE switch whenever someone is detected. This means my lights can come on either because of motion or because the camera spots someone, and I can choose which one takes priority or have both work together.
I also added a restriction so the lights only activate from sunset to sunrise minus 30 minutes. Despite the motion sensors being set to low sensitivity, they still trigger pretty often. If anyone has a better outdoor motion sensor recommendation, I’d love to hear it!
Another cool feature is that whenever a person is detected, it triggers an Echo Speaks alert, letting me know someone’s out there. It’s not perfect—person detection has some delays—but overall, it works remarkably well. I’d love to hear if anyone has tips on improving this system or alternative person detection solutions. Drop your thoughts below—I’m all ears!