Typically my wife feeds our dog in the morning, and my son feeds him at night. Unfortunately, sometimes we forget who did what and I’ll get texts throughout the day saying “I think I forgot to feed the dog… can you do it when you get home?” etc.
Our dog food is stored in a plastic bin inside one of these shelf things from IKEA. (It’s not exactly that, but it’s the same idea.)
My idea was to eliminate the confusion around our dog feeding by adding either a motion sensor or a door sensor inside the ‘drawer’ part of the shelf, so SmartThings knows when someone has pulled the drawer out and, presumably, fed the dog.
I would also set up some kind of signal (like a color changing nightlight or something to that effect) above the dog food station that displays GREEN most of the time (dog has been fed), and RED if the sensor was not triggered by a certain time of day. That way, my wife would see the signal at a glance and know she still needs to feed the dog, or at night one of us will see the sensor and realize our son forgot to give the dog dinner, etc.
What would be the best type of sensor to check if a drawer has been opened? Motion sensor behind the drawer, or door sensor? Or something else entirely?
And further, what would make a good ‘signal’? Is there a particular (cheap) nightlight that would work, or something else? I like the way this HomeSeer thing looks but all the extra functionality (and expense) makes it overkill for what I need.
Thanks in advance!
