I tried to follow up but no longer have access to my posts in the private lounge… I figured instead of a PM for this toilet conversation I’d make a post incase others are interested.
@bamarayne - I remember us talking about your toilet motion sensors. In my quest to fully automate everything, the newly installed “Water Closet” in my Master Bathroom is next. In there I have a light (dimmer) and a exhaust fan (switch). Both smart. What kind of logic do you have going on in your bathroom to make sure the lights come on when they need to and say on while you are in there, but not making the kind of “movements” a motion sensor would pick up?
So summarize, I have
Lights on a smart dimmer
Fan on a smart switch
Contact Sensor on the door
Willing to add a motion sensor or more depending on what @bamarayne has
I solved my motion problem by installing the motion overhead and adding a contact sensor to the door. If motion is active and door is closed then keep the lights on. If motion is active and door stays closed for 5 minutes then turn on exhaust fan. If door opens and motion was active in the last 5 minutes then using exhaust fan, wait 5 minutes turn off.
Im thinking of doing the same, regarding the exhaust fan switch, do you use a normal zwave on/off switch? i have not open it to see what it looks like yet.
Also if you are the kind of person who likes to always close the door of your bathroom. Perhaps adding a door sensor would be cool to have to improve your rules?
My wife keeps the toilet door open and I typically close it. The biggest difference was mounting the sensor to the ceiling.
My Master has a separate door for the toilet room. In main bath area there are 3 dimmers (GE), 1 switch (GE) and a multi-sensor. In the toilet room (really small) there is 1 dimmer, one switch, one contact and one multi-sensor. The fans are on a regular GE Switch.
The assumption is that the toilet door is normally open. So dealing with my wife, since she hardly ever closes the door, the only thing I can rely on is motion and if motion stays active for 5 minutes then someone is doing the #2.
That’s why I am interested in seeing what come of this thread!
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
7
Hi Eric,
I will do my best to explain… I’ll start with this, parts…
I have three motion sensors - toilet, shower, and room
I have one contact sensor - cabinet door
I have three smart bulbs and a bunch of switches
I have one echo
I have two virtual override kill switches
A total of 15 devices
I have what I call layered automation for this room. There are three layers…
Level one - modes
Level two - Jason
Level three - Wendi
Level one - this is the basic level that determines light levels that are triggered by motion and determined by the mode. This is for short visits to the room… Walk in and right back out.
Level two - this is for when I am using the room. I like my lights at different levels throughout the day, depending on what I’m doing. This is mostly for when I shooter at different times of the day. This level overrides level one and is targeted by the shower motion sensor and the mode.
Level three - my wife likes the lights all on and at 100%. She does not like the lights to change once she sets them. When she is using the room she ALWAYS opens her cabinet door. So I put a contact sensor on that door to trigger her level. It stops all automations in the room, both level one and two, and sets the lights to all on at 100%. It also turns on the switch to her curling iron. That turns off when the door closes so the iron can not be left on. She can also tell Alexa to set the lights at a different level and they will not change.
I’ve been running this for a long time and it works great. If something glitches, line a bulb fails to redoing, I just open the cabinet door fur a couple of seconds and it resets everything.
There’s a quick browse list for bathroom projects in the project report section in the community – created wiki. You should find some interesting ideas there, including several posts from @bamarayne .
Personally I would not fully automate that room. Rationale being that
A) often, someone in that room might be fully engaged in a particular (ahem) process that is undetectable by a motion sensor
B) often, you do not need/want lights on when in there. Middle of the night need to pee? Do you really want all the lights blazing? Do you want the fan to come roaring on, and wake up everyone else in proximity?
I know I don’t; it’s easy to just do your business, give a quick wipe and flush and leave the room without ever flipping a switch.
My sole automations would turn off lights and fans if motion is not detected for X minutes. Everything else has to be at user command/discretion.
I think this is another case where different things work for different people. I have many of the same concerns about motion sensors controlling lights, but in our house we have it set up the other way – – motion turns the lights on, but we don’t have inactivity turn the lights off, since if I’ve fallen I don’t want to be lying there in the dark while I’m waiting for assistance.
@rayzurbock wrote one of the first smartapps to deal with bathroom lighting, in his case he specifically tried to allow for someone being in the shower by capturing humidity trends. There was a lot of good discussion in that thread about different use cases and it was interesting to see how different people often wanted opposite sets of rules. This was all before Core was available. Choice is good.
Middle of the night, Light Blazing?! Middle of the night=turn light on at 8%.
My family is NOTORIOUS for leaving lights on.
It’s too dark in the bath for me to aim properly.
Humidity rises over 50% turn exhaust on and leave light on.
If no motion after X minutes, then operation shutdown!
This month, I hit an all time record of 562 Kilowatt hrs for the month. This is what started me down this path since I was at 3600 Kilowatts hrs average per month.
1 Like
bamarayne
(Jason "The Enabler" as deemed so by @Smart)
15
With all of the devices I have… I’ve never bought a humidity sensor… Hmmmm…
I considered getting a humidity sensor. I couldn’t get a good answer of how good they were. so… In my shower I have have a motion sensor (Iris Motion sensor). I’ve been using it for 3 weeks now in there. It has never not sensed motion while someone was in there.
I know right. I just started buying the Zooz Multi-Sensors which have Motion, Temp, Moisture and Light sensors. Use the @RBoy DTH. Just ordered some 22/2 wire and a 3v 1A power supply to hard wire the 4 that I have as battery life is an issue. They are pretty cool for only $30 bucks.
Wish I could redo things but hey, you live and learn. I have so many duplicate temp sensors now that could have been avoided if I would have know about them sooner.
I am going to use some of the aspects of your Piston posted here to improve my bathroom automation.
I know there has been a lot of discussion about these sensors as I have been researching them for a week now, nothing definitive. How soon would you say after you turn the shower on does the humidity change enough for you to trigger the fan? Also, how are the lux readings?
