I have a Multipurpose sensor on my showerdoor to trigger the ventilation for 15 minutes when it detects motion. When i am done showering and open the door again i don’t want the sensor to trigger the automation again causing a delay in the automation. How can I do this?
There are a number of different ways of approaching this depending on the exact details of the use case. For example, if you are the only one who uses that bathroom, it all becomes a lot simpler. The more consistent movement patterns, the easier it is to use them in automations automations.
For example, you could create the automation so that the motion sensor only triggers the desired actions when the mode is not “shower“ and have the motion sensor also change the mode to shower.
Now, no matter how many times you get in and out of the shower, the motion sensor doesn’t activate its automation until you change it back out of shower mode.
So now you just have to decide what will change it out of shower mode. It could be an absence of motion for 20 minutes, it could be a different sensor detecting something, it could be a time of day (just so you don’t forget to reset it), there are lots of options.
Another method would be to only run the automation if there has been no motion for x amount of time on that same sensor. But that depends on exactly how you have the sensor angled and if you intended it to pick up motion in the other parts of the room or only in the shower itself.
Still another method would be to add an additional sensor, maybe an open/close sensor on the bathroom door, and have the motion sensor automation check for how long the bathroom door has been opened or closed before the automation triggers.
Some people add a pressure sensor under the bathmat and create automations based on, say, a towel being left on that mat.
Many people use a humidity sensor in the bathroom and then trigger things based on whether the humidity has been rising or not, because that lets you know whether the shower has recently been running.
There’s also an option when creating an automation to set a time period And then have it run only once per day. That will work for some people.
But again, all of these things will depend on exactly how things work in your house. How many people use the bathroom, how much consistency are you willing to require from the humans for an automation to run correctly, etc.
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@hasse,
I thought it was detecting movement of people.
So this could work for you.
You could also try adding to the vibration condition in the automation other condition “fan to be off”. In this way when you go out, since the fan will be “on” it will not be activated again.
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BTW, because I use a wheelchair, the pressure mat idea works great for me in a number of different situations. Wheelchair on the pressure mat means one set of conditions, no wheelchair on the pressure mat means something else. Other people do something similar with a pressure mat on the sofa so they know whether someone is sitting there or not. Or a pressure mat under the mattress to determine if someone is in bed or not. 
But a lot of times automation design comes down to what can you consistently predict is happening in the environment at that moment. Once you have something to measure, you have something to trigger off of.
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Wow, thank you so much for this detailed explanation. There are multiple people using the shower and it can be 2 minutes or 20 minutes. Either way i don’t mind having the fan on for 20 minutes.
The multipurpose sensor is on the outside of the shower door. It triggers when it senses movement (of the sensor) not motion of people apologies.
So best solution, I think, would be if the sensor just doesn’t work for 30 minutes after it triggers the automation. So correct me if I am wrong but if I understand correctly I need to figure out how to create a shower mode that turns the sensor off for 30 minutes after it senses vibration.
Was one of the early users of ST but didn’t use it for years. So really forgot everything and have to learn again lol.
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That sounds like the perfect solution. Didn’t realise i could do this in the app. Perfect thank you!
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you’re welcome.
I think that @JDRoberts as I understood that it detected motion and that’s why I deleted it.
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Do not select that the fan is off for x time. This will not work, due to the timer will not start until the fan goes from on to off after automation has been triggered. Will cause the condition to never be met
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Just throwing this out there but maybe having it trigger for an additional 10-15 minutes after the shower is done is actually a good thing?
I have a condenser switch for my bathroom fans and this is the mode it works in. It runs for 10 minutes after the condenser has cleared to get rid of the additional humidity in the room after it no longer detects condensation. This is to better protect the room and does more for the bathroom than a simple switch does, because before installing this switch, I’d just flick the switch when leaving the room, which leaves too much trapped humidity.
It’s not a “SmartThing” but it does what I want it to do with minimal effort, and it’s reliable.
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I agree, it’s a good thing to leave it on longer. Doorsensor on the shower cubicle works fine for me now. We also have a toilet in the bathroom, so only humidity sensor doesn’t solve it for me, unless it detects smell aswell, haha. I have a motion button behind the number 2 flush button now to solve that. Works perfect.
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This is amazing, bravo. haha.