How to temporarily disable motion sensor?
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I've installed about 40 Kasa smart switches throughout my house as part of a full renovation project. Almost all are model ES20M--motion sensor w/ dimmer. I also have some KS200M, motion-activated WITHOUT dimmer for use w/ ceiling fans. And a few simple dimmers and 3-way dimmers.
I've spent time in the app to configure them to explore the functionality. I still have a MASSIVE problem that makes them almost not functional at all.
There are times when I want lights to remain off and NOT turn on automatically with the motion sensor.
Examples:
-- I'm watching TV and want lights to remain off even if I get up for any reason. The app includes a 'movie night' scene, but it just turns lights off (or on). I have to re-push 'move night' to turn the lights off again.
-- I'm eating and want lights over the dining table to be on and other lights to remain off. If I get up from the table, the sensor for other lights turns on automatically. I have to turn them off again manually
I know I can set a schedule for each sensor so that it can only be turned on or off manually for a certain time period. BUT that only applies during this time period. The time of day when I want to temporarily disable the motion sensors are not predictable enough for me to include this in a smart setting. For example, if I'm not watching a movie, I want the relevant lights to turn on automatically w/ motion.
The 'manual off' buffer tries to address this issues but is designed for a different purpose. It can only be set for a very short period: up to a minute. And it's a device setting that would be active all the time, vs. something that can be turned on for a certain time period when desired.
I've had to set many sensors to 'manual only' as a result of this bug. I prefer to keep them motion-activated for the other benefits, but this issue is just too annoying.
I have a house full of these switches -- please help!
Is there a fix? Any way to create a smart scene that can group sensors together and disable the motion sensor? Or other workaround?
