Your presence can light up a room with the new Philips Hue motion sensor

By Jenny McGrath August 29, 2016

IFA 2024

This story is part of our coverage of IFA Berlin 2024

Your presence can literally light up a room if that room features the new Philips Hue motion sensor. The latest technology to come out of the lighting company, the motion detector promises “to ensure comfortable passage around your home, even during blurry-eyed, wake-up calls by your children in the middle of the night.” Thanks to the integration between the sensor and your Philips Hue system, you can set your lights to be triggered by nothing more than your entrance into a room.

IFA 2016: RHA shows off two high-end headphones, first-ever headphone amp ahead of IFA 2016

Recommended Videos

The motion sensor can detect the time of day, so it’ll always provide you with the right amount of light. In fact, you can even personalize your lights’ settings, so that the automatic illumination triggered by the sensor during the night is a much softer, gentler light than the one you’ll enjoy during the day. The sensor’s reaction time is purportedly no more than 0.5 seconds, so you shouldn’t be left searching for a switch ever again.

“As the leader in connected lighting, we constantly seek to evolve our system and make it simple and easy to use. The introduction of Philips Hue motion sensor not only provides hands-free control but also enables lighting to respond to your needs,” said Sridhar Kumaraswamy, business leader of home systems at Philips Lighting. “It delivers peace of mind by guiding you through your home at night, and no longer having to remind the kids to turn off the lights when leaving a room, keeping you even more energy-efficient.”

Setup is claimed to be a snap, with no wires to speak of and just a battery to keep things running. All you have to do with your new motion sensor is place it on a side table or book shelf, place it on a metal surface by way of a magnet, or mount it to a wall or ceiling and adjust the motion detection direction. The sensor will interface with the Philips Hue app, and is also integrated into the company’s entire line of lighting products.

Retailing for $39.95, the Philips Hue motion sensor will be available on MeetHue.com and at retailers like Amazon.com and Best Buy beginning in October.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…

Smart Home

Philips Hue expands smart lighting to the great outdoors

The Philips Hue Inara brings smart lighting to the outdoors.

Philips Hue is a brand most people familiar with the smart lighting scene know and love. It has created a variety of smart lighting options to display in and around the home. Now, the company is expanding its outdoor collection with three new lights: The Inara, the Lucca, and the Resonate.

The Resonate is a black, minimal, rectangular wall light that casts light up and down your home siding. The light beams from the light are shaped in a unique and eye-catching triangular design. The Resonate will be able to display both color and white lights.

Smart Home

Why smart lights are the perfect entry point to the smart home

philips hue updates old products adds gradient strip iris lifestyle living room

Getting started with building a smart home can be daunting. The benefits are sort of nebulous at first, and the up-front cost can be off-putting. There are a lot of ways to approach the idea of building out a smart home, but we contend that smart lights are the best first step on that journey.
You can start small
If you want to upgrade your home's entire lighting setup at once, you can, but that can be pricy. Luckily, you can buy a single smart bulb for $20 without a separate hub and enjoy the benefits right away, and then decide to expand. Mix and match brands one light at a time to find the combination of cost and value that works best for you, then go all-in with whatever lighting system you like best.
The benefits are visible

The benefits of many smart home devices aren't quite as palpable as a smart light's. A smart light changes the mood of your entire home and reinvents your relationship with a light switch. Meanwhile, smart speakers can amount to a spooky robot ghost lady that lives in your kitchen. A smart lock gives you a different way to fumble for your keys. A smart thermostat operates quietly in the background with the end result being a comfortable temperature. These benefits are harder to come to grips with than turning your living room purple whenever you want.
Smart lights are idiot-proof
Setup for smart lights is painfully easy. It's often little more than turning off the light, popping out the old bulb, putting in the new one, turning the light on, and pairing with your phone. It's hard to mess up. In a worst-case scenario, you'll need to reset the bulbs and pair again. In the vast majority of instances, you'll be dealing with the same standard size of socket, so not much chance of getting the wrong kind of bulb.
Your phone has great support
Smart lights are one of the product categories with the most consistent support for smart home platforms like Google Home and Apple HomeKit. These are well-integrated with the phone you already have, giving you an easy way to issue voice commands to your lights. These mechanisms are in addition to native Android and iOS apps that often provide home screen widgets and advanced functions you'll need to dip into anyway during setup.

Smart Home

How to use motion sensors for smart lights outdoors

arlo pro 2 blink xt2 ring floodlight cam home security cameras deals best buy labor day sales 2020 camera 720x720

Smart lights are a great way to enhance home security. Being able to flip on the lights remotely or automatically, you can give the impression that someone is home and expose potential intruders. It's possible to link your smart lights to outdoor motion sensors so that they flip on as soon as it detects any motion. Let's take a look into how it all works.
Can you put motion sensors outside?
There are absolutely motion sensors that are meant to work outside. Many smart home doorbells and security cameras have built-in motion sensors that can connect to your smart lights. The one catch is that since motion sensors need to communicate with lights, they need a power source. This source can be wired, or battery-driven. For example, Hue offers a battery-powered motion sensor that can activate your home's lights when triggered.
Can you add a motion detector to an existing light?
Yes, there are add-on motion sensors that you can attach to existing lights.

The easiest way to install a new motion sensor to an existing outdoor light is to use a light socket adapter. You would place the adapter between your current light bulb and your socket. You don't have to worry about handling any wiring. It also means you don't need to upgrade to smart lights to provide motion activation since the socket adapter handles the triggering. This socket adapter from Wyze is especially promising.
How do you wire a motion sensor to an existing outdoor light?
Specific instructions for wiring up a motion sensor will vary by brand. Be sure to check the manufacturer's instructions on specifics. If you aren't using a socket adapter and will need to do the wiring, here are the general steps.