Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly

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Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly

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Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-19 08:51:52 - last edited 2022-10-31 06:14:32
Model: Tapo H100  
Hardware Version: V1
Firmware Version: 1.1.2 Build 220513 Rel.161425

Hi,
 

I already posted this issue in the motion sensors thread, not really sure if its an issue with motion sensors or the hub so I'm posting it here as well.

 

When dealing with Automations, if the trigger is a motion sensor and the action is to turn on a light using the "on duration" function, for example if a motion detected in the hallway, the hallway light should turn on for 30 seconds. Sometimes the action is not taking place at all. Some other times, there is an extreme delay (30 sec till 2 minutes). It happens at random times during the day.

 

I'm not sure if this is an issue with the hub (H100) or the motion sensors. Sometimes they work without problems and the action is triggered instantly, other times it doesn't work or the action is delayed.

 

When the motion is triggered but the action is not talking place, I take a look at the tapo app, the motion is registered with a time stamp, but the action (turning on the light bulb for 30 sec) doesn't take place. Does that mean that the motion sensor did it's job just fine by reporting the trigger but the hub failed for some reason to turn on the light? Or could it be a bug in the automation script?


The sensors and the hub are very close to each other (2-4 meters).

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks!

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#1
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1 Accepted Solution
[Solution]Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly-Solution
2022-10-25 07:48:24 - last edited 2022-10-25 07:50:56

Hello everyone, 
Thank you for feedback in regard to the between Tapo senors and Tapo Wi-Fi product in an Automation/Smart Action. 

Here we'd like to share some details about the fix, so the new community users can see the information in full and provide feedback in the correct channel

 

Applies to: 

Tapo Smart Sensors/ Smart buttons with T100 hub. 

 

Phenomenon: 

Some users may notice there is delay in up to 2-4 minutes or even longer in the automation:

Tapo sensor (Trigger Device)senses the motion creates the motion-triggered log instantly,  but it takes 2-4mins before the Tapo Wi-Fi product (Trigger Device) to execute the action.


Solution: 

Fixed by TP-Link R&D team since Oct 24th,2022 


This topic will be closed for further comment soon, if you have additional feedback with sensors, please Start a New Thread in the community and detailing your concern. Thank you. 

 

Related Articles:

New Tapo SubGHz Family- Tapo Smart Sensors, Smart Switches, Smart Buttons and More on the Way

TP-Link Sub-GHz Technology

 

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#17
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-19 14:36:50 - last edited 2022-10-19 14:37:57

  @Leo-B I have exactly the same problem since today morning! 

It is not motion sensor problem, but Hub problem, because I have same problem with smart button 

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#2
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-19 14:42:39

  @NyGabor 

 

I'm guessing it's a hub Problem too, since the trigger is registered and I could see it in the Tapo App.. the lights won't simply turn on.

Sometimes some sensors work fine while others do not. it's very random.

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#3
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 02:02:18 - last edited 2022-10-20 08:44:10

Hello   @NyGabor @Leo-B 

Thank you for your valuable feedback with Tapo Smart Motion Sensor  & Tapo Smart Hub and sharing the case details.

As delayed/no response can relate to the lag of the Wi-Fi network, please confirm you can turn ON/OFF the Tapo device without delay on your phone. 

To look into this further, can you help provide some information here: 

1. A photo of your automation settings, what are the trigger & action device

Trigger: 

Action: 

2. A photo of the Activity log. Please help point out the exact time point that an action device does not respond to help us trace the activity by timeframe )

3. please help record a video of the phenomena (motion+ delayed or no response of smart device) and share the video link with us, like via the Google Drive/ OneDrive, that would be very helpful.

4. Distance between hub + Sub device

5. Please share the MAC address of Trigger/Action device via PM

6.The model of your phone and its OS 

7. Tapo APP version 

Thank you.

 

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#4
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 07:05:34

Hi  @Solla-topee ,

 

here are the answers for your questions:

I can confirm when I manually turn on/turn off the bulbs/LED strips/whatever in the Tapo, then it is immediately do it. So it is working correctly. Only I have this delay issue when an automation triggered VIA THE HUB!!. If the automation is Hub independent (like turn on a bulb in a certain time, or turn off a smart plug in a certain time, etc.) then the automation is good, and the action take immediately. Again: the problem is appeared only when H100 hub is involved

 

1. About the automations:

Trigger: when motion detected

Action: turn on a L920 LED strip at 50% for 2 minutes between 9PM and 6:50AM  (this is a kitchen night light)

 

Trigger: when motion detected

Action: turn on a L510 bulb for 3 minutes (this is a toilet lamp)

 

Trigger: when smart button pressed

Action: turn on or turn off a L510 bulb (I use this as bedroom light)

 

All of the above automations are not working properly, and have delay issues.

 

Here you can see for example the kitchen light automation:

 

 

2. The activity log for the motion sensor looks like this, as you can see the automation is not triggered:

 

 

But after some minutes (2-4 minutes) the HUB finally trigger the automation, and do the desired action. Please see the same timestamps after ~3 minutes:

 

3. About MAC adress:

Trigger device: 28-87-BA-DC-3B-4B

Action device: 5C-A6-E6-A2-D3-F1

 

(as I mentioned I have more devices, and all of them has the problem, so again I say: this is a HUB problem)

 

4. Phone model does not matter I think, the automations should be executed without phone. Anyway I have Redmi Note 10, my wife has Samsung S22 and my son has Redmi Note 7, we use the app from all of the 3 phones.

 

5. Tapo app version: 2.10.6

 

Just one more thing... In the past I always could see the triggered actions in the HUB event log. But since yesterday it is empty. It says no events, which is definetaly not true:

 

I did the following actions: factory reset HUB, factory reset bulbs/LED strips, factory reset motion sensors. None of them helped...

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#5
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 08:35:33 - last edited 2022-10-20 08:40:36

  @NyGabor  Thank you very much for  providing more  case details,

If it is convenient,  can you help also record a video of the phenomena (motion+ delayed response of bulb) and share the video link with us here or on the support email.

To better assist with your case, we create a support email  TKID221026862 and get it escalated, please check your email inbox. Feel free to let us know how it goes later. 

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#6
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 09:03:16 - last edited 2022-10-20 09:35:35

  @Solla-topee 

 

Hi Solla, Thanks for your reply :)
 

I'm on the same boat as @NyGabor with the exact same behavior.

 

You've requested a video, Will try to make it when I find the time. For now I'm also sharing my logs incase they help.

 

The problem is with many automations like kitchen, hallway, bathroom etc. Below I'm sharing the bathroom automation logs.


Automation trigger: Motion sensor.

Automation action: turn on the bathroom light bulb for 1 min (on duration = 1 min).

 

The result is the action is extremely delayed 1-4 minutes.

Manually turning on and off the light bulb works instantly with no delay. there seem to be no wifi lag at all. I've done a lot of tests in this regards. my wifi latency is around 1ms between all devices. light bulbs below 100 ms and hub below 5ms.

 

Since running this automation has the exact same behavior and logs as the ones @NyGabor shared, I'm not gonna share them, instead I created the automation in a different way to make sure it's not a bug with the "on duration" option.

 

So the new Automation:

 

Trigger: Motion sensor

Action: Turn on the bathroom light bulb (without on duration).

 

Now I need a way to turn off the bathroom light after 1 minute, so I created a shortcut to turnoff the bathroom light with a delay of 1 minute like so:

 

Shortcut:

Action: Turn off the bathroom light

Delay: 1 minute.

 

I added the shortcut to the automation. This way I have an automation that will turn on the bathroom light (without the on duration option) and also calls a shortcut that will turn off the bathroom light after 1 minute.

 

The Automation looks like this:

 

 

 

 

And here is the shortcut:

 

 

 

 

BTW: Doing the automation in this way will let you turn on the light bulb with the "device last on state", unlike the "on duration" which does not support the "device last on state" and only turns the light on to a predefined color and brightness.. just a small tip, I think the "on duration" should support the "On last device state" but that's a completely different topic :P

 

 

Anyways, The new automation also did not work correctly, the extreme delay is still there. just like using the "on duration". Below are some logs, notice the time stamps and the delay in between when the motion was detected and when the automation was triggered:

 

 

 

And the event log of the hub is empty for me too:

 

 

I did a factory reset to the hub, sensor and light bulb... did not help.

 

 

And here are the rest of the info you've requested:

 

Phone: Xiaomi 12. Tried it with an iphone "same problem".

Tapo app version: 2.10.6 "latest".

 

Will send you shortly the MAC addresses of the hub, sensor and light bulb via PM.

 

Is there a way to get more verbose logs out of the devices?

 

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#7
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 09:14:12 - last edited 2022-10-20 09:16:33

  Hello @Leo-B 

Thank you very much! 

For test purpose, try to connect the phone & Tapo smart Wifi device to the same Wi-Fi network and see if that makes Wifi device response faster

On your phone, can you ping the Tapo Wifi smart device like bulb, or plug light strip, and see if there is any lag or packet lost ? 

This is to check the local Wi-Fi network delay

For reference, here is a FAQ How to check the network connection stability of a Tapo Camera

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#8
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 09:26:36

  @Solla-topee 

 

All devices including the phone are on the same local wifi network.

 

Here is a ping to the Hub (kept it going for 2 minutes, no packet loss).

 

And to the bathroom Light bulb, also no packet loss:

 

 

 

 

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#9
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 11:04:51

For me it is very strange that Leo-B and me has the same problem started on exactly the same day. Did we have maybe a FW upgrade over the night and at morning we just faced the issue?

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#10
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Re:Automations based on motion sensors not working correctly
2022-10-20 11:14:01

  @NyGabor 

 

For me it actually started a few days ago, it could still be a FW update that my hub/sensors grabed before yours.. no idea

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#11
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