Hey everyone! I wanted to share a project I recently completed that combines outdoor lighting with motion detection and Arlo cameras. It’s been a fantastic addition to my home security and I thought I’d walk through how I set it up in case anyone is interested or has suggestions for improvement.
I started by installing Hue outdoor flood lights around the perimeter of my house—nine in total. To complement these lights, I added outdoor motion sensors in each lighting zone. I chose Hue motion sensors due to their reliability in other parts of my home. Each zone is configured with an ‘auto’ mode, which I control through the room lighting app. I also set a restriction so the lights only activate from sunset to sunrise minus 30 minutes. While this works well, the motion sensors are a bit too sensitive, often triggering unnecessarily. If anyone has a better outdoor motion sensor recommendation, I’d love to hear it!
To enhance security further, I integrated Arlo cameras in each zone. Arlo’s person recognition feature is fantastic, so I set up an IFTTT applet to trigger a virtual HE switch whenever a person is detected. This means the lights can activate based on motion, person detection, both, or neither, giving me a lot of flexibility.
For added convenience, any person detection also triggers an Echo Speaks alert, letting me know someone is outside. While I’d prefer a more reliable detection system than Arlo, it’s been surprisingly effective. There’s a slight delay, but it’s manageable.
I’d love to hear if anyone else has implemented a similar setup or has tips to improve it. It’s been a great project and I’m happy with how it’s enhanced my home security!