Basic Setup? 3 lamps and 2 overhead lights

My ST hub and some monitoring devices will be arriving today, but I’ve been reading the forums here for the last couple of days and some of your setups have me wanting to try some simple HA my self.

I have a home office that has three desk lamps that I turn on 90% of the time when I enter the room. It also has the overhead light (two bulbs) and an overhead light (also two bulbs) in the closet that stays open all the time as it is used for product storage. I think I would like to set up some type of motion detector that will turn all of these lights on when someone enters the room. Below are my thoughts on how to do this.

Since the overheads each have two bulbs in them, I’m thinking I should go with some z-wave switches. Not only would this save a decent amount of money, but it would (as I understand it) add some Z-wave repeaters in this area of the house. I don’t ever foresee the need to change the colors or do anything special with the overhead lights except maybe expand the number of bulbs in the main room light via track lighting or some other type of fixture.

Anyone with more experience/time under their belt see anything wrong with this line of thought?

For the 3 desk lamps, they are all currently plugged into the same power strip. My thoughts here are to simply add a Z-wave plug module to the wall outlet and plug the standard power strip into that.

To tie it all together and have it turn on when I enter the room, I would use a motion detector of some type. My concern here is that while I’m just sitting at the computer typing and such is that the lights will get turned off on me. Are the motion detectors sensitive enough for my needs, or should I be looking at some other device/setup?

I’m completely new to all of this, so if you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks!

I don’t have alot of experience. I see nothing wrong with your thought process on this. Seems like a good way to get the result you want.

As for room occupancy that’s another can of worms. I was just reading through this thread earlier today.

Has some good discussion on the topic and ideas. With additional links to other discussions on the same topic.

Just be aware a motion sensor typically uses heat moving to detect presence. So sit still and sensor says nobody is there. That’s why the big discussion on different ways to overcome this limitation.

Hope that helps.

1 Like

This might be of interest:

Thanks guys. I actually found that thread this afternoon and was reading though it. I think the combo of a motion sensor and a multi on chair might do the trick. Now I just have to decide if this is work all the $$ it will take to setup.

2x switches = $60
1x Multi = $40
1x Motion = $30
1x Outlet = $50

So, roughly $180 so I don’t have to flip a half dozen switches a couple times a day. lol

1 Like

Another alternative if you have the ability to vocalize (not all of our community members do) is a $49 echo Dot instead of the sensors. :sunglasses:

At our house, voice has become the primary way of controlling lights, and everybody really likes it.