Just getting started with ST – I have a few test devices, and will be getting some in-wall dimmers soonish. However, there’s one thing on our home-improvement list that I’m not sure how to approach.
Our house is two-story, and the upstairs gets… quite warm at times. One idea I had was to replace our stairwell’s ceiling light with a lighted ceiling fan that can help pull the warm air back downstairs. The light is currently controlled by a three-way switch (top and bottom of the stairs, of course). Where I’d like to wind up is:
- Motion-controlled lights: If it’s dark and someone’s on the staircase, turn the lights on automatically.
- Temperature-controlled fan: If the upstairs is X degrees warmer than the downstairs, turn the fan on automatically.
I’m assuming that I’ll need to run (or more likely, pay an electrician to run) a second wire to the ceiling to control the fan speed alongside the light. There seem to be numerous threads about a single fan/light switch concluding that there aren’t any good ones, so I’ll probably be needing to either expand the existing switch locations (each double-gang) to triple-gang, or move them to a new, separate, double-gang location. That’s a pity, and I’d love to be wrong.
I’ve looked at the GE 26933 motion + switch units for other places in the house, but the current switches aren’t ideally placed to catch stairway use (they look down the hall, not at the stairway). I could move the switches, or I could put a motion sensor on the stairs. Would a single motion sensor be enough to look both up and down the stairs, or would I actually need two?
I’ll probably use a SmartThings Multipurpose Sensor as the temperature upstairs to trigger the fan.