Motion Sensor Dusk/Dawn hasn't changed in a week.

[mrceolla]

I noticed that it has been on since 12/9 shortly before 7pm. I received a low battery warning earlier that day. The following day I replaced the battery and also updated my Insteon plug-in to the latest version.

Any ideas what could have caused this or how to fix it?

What does this sensor actually detect? In other words, what exactly triggers it on and off?

Is it safe to try a factory reset on the motion sensor? I don't believe I've changed any of the default settings and I only have the 3 default links in it now:

Link #2 Dusk/Dawn Sensor has local control reporting to HomeSeer
Link #3 Low Battery Warning has local control reporting to HomeSeer
Link #1 Occupancy Sensor has local control reporting to HomeSeer

If after a reset I do a 'Program Device for HomeSeer' will it be reprogrammed with those links and be expected to function normally w/o any additional work?

Thanks for any input.

[joegr]

The dawn/dusk sensor is just a light level sensor. Depending on where the thing is and what the light level threshold is set to, it may not have been bright enough to trigger it in all this time. I don't use them in any events because they don't seem very reliable. One of mine hasn't switched since 9/15/12, but the motion is still working.

[mrceolla]

Ah, OK. That makes sense. Except I took it to a window for a few seconds and also put it right up next to a light and the status never changed. Still on. Does it require a certain light level for a certain period of time? Does it know the difference between sunlight and indoor light, or color temperature? It is after 4p here and getting dark so maybe there wasn't enough light at the window.

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone though. Thank you for the input. I'd still like to understand how to test the functionality of the dusk/dawn sensor. If my tests above should have worked, then I'd still like to know how to fix it.

Any ideas on that?

[joegr]

Yes, there is a time requirement. I think that it is 15 minutes, but I am not certain about that. You can't change the time limit, but you can change the light/dark threshold setting.

Note that my other motion sensors (they are near windows) change dark/light indication several times a day.

[mrceolla]

Thanks joegr. I just noticed that it finally changed and was writing to this forum when I received a notification of your post. 10-15 sounds right. I didn't time it but I left it by a light for a while and just saw the status change in HS.

Thanks for helping me satisfly my curiosity.

Have a great holiday season and a happy new year!