Ecobee sensors have a built-in occupancy feature that helps optimize your home’s energy usage. When no motion is detected by the sensor for more than 30 minutes, it is considered unoccupied. This means that the sensor will not actively report occupancy to the thermostat or trigger any actions based on occupancy.
The duration of occupancy measurement and its persistence depends on the mode you have set on your Ecobee thermostat. In both Smart Home and Smart Away modes, occupancy is measured every five minutes. Once occupancy is detected, it will be considered occupied for a period of two hours. After two hours of no motion, the sensor will revert to an unoccupied state.
It’s worth noting that the occupancy feature can be customized to suit your specific needs and preferences. Ecobee provides various settings and options to adjust occupancy behavior. For example, you can adjust the occupancy threshold to make it more or less sensitive to motion, and you can also set a different duration for the occupied state.
To access these customization options, you can navigate to the sensor settings on your Ecobee thermostat or use the Ecobee mobile app. This allows you to tailor the occupancy behavior of the sensors to best fit your lifestyle and home environment.
In my personal experience, the default settings of the Ecobee sensors have worked well for maintaining a balance between energy efficiency and comfort. The two-hour occupancy duration provides a reasonable window to ensure that the sensor remains occupied even if there is a temporary absence of motion. This helps in avoiding unnecessary fluctuations in temperature or triggering of actions based on occupancy.
However, it’s important to note that individual preferences and home dynamics can vary. If you find that the default settings are not suitable for your needs, I would encourage you to explore the customization options available and experiment with different settings until you find the optimal configuration for your specific situation.
Ecobee sensors remain unoccupied when no motion is detected for more than 30 minutes. The occupancy feature measures occupancy every five minutes and considers the sensor occupied for two hours after detecting motion. Customization options are available to adjust the occupancy behavior to better align with your preferences and lifestyle.