Hidden Room Access

[JDRoberts]

Been done a couple different ways so far.

Smart & Secret Bookcase

So I decided to create a secret bookcase door in my house… I always wanted to build a room with floor to ceiling bookcases despite the decline of the physical book. When you have floor to ceiling bookcases however, you really want to then have a secret door, obviously. So my friend Scott and I set out to make this happen. Not just any secret door, mind you, but one that uses the SmartThings service to enable a lot of fun and follies. I’ll chronicle some of the work here in the coming weeks.

This one uses an Arduino shield, so probably too techie, but might give you some ideas, anyway:

Secret Door Setup

I’ve got a secret door I’m trying to wire up to my smart things. Here’s the vision: I punch in a code on the payphone I have mounted on the wall, and the bookcase swings open. Here’s what I’ve got so far: The bookcase door is being held close by a pretty strong electromagnetic latch (running on 12V power), connected to a regular Z-Wave outlet that I can turn on and off from my phone. I used IFTTT to make sure the switch always stays on, which basically makes it act like a momentary switch so I can toggle it, and then shut the door and have it latch. The payphone is mounted on the wall. It does nothing (but look awesome) so far. Here’s the parts I’m looking for input on: I need to connect the latch to a UPS, so if the power cuts out the door doesn’t swing open. I have a UPS for 12V …

And mine isn’t exactly secret, but could be. So here’s another approach to occupancy that shows combining a sensor with a presence indicator and uses almost no custom code:

A dual device approach to geopresence for smaller areas (sequential detection)

Okay the last couple days it’s been working very well, and it is really nice to have when it is working. So as long as I treat it as a convenience, meaning I always have to have a Plan B available, I like it. Here’s how I have it set up. Everything is done with hello home actions. There is no custom code except for the creation of one virtual switch. And I’m using that switch for some other things in IFTTT, not for the actual arrival events in smartthings. You could leave the virtual switch out, and still get the improvements regarding network drop offs. I usually wear my hat when I go out, so I leave my hat In the cupboard with a motion sensor under it. When I’m ready to go I pick up the hat which triggers the motion sensor. This sets the mode to “JD Leaving.” This motion sensor is onl…