Sliding Door open/close sensor

Our master bedroom bath has a sliding door. I am using GE switches to turn on fan and lights in the bathroom along with a motion sensor. However I am not happy with the motion sensor’s sensitivity. Is there a open/close sensor specifically designed for sliding doors? What I mean is that one would not normally close the sliding door completely. So if I use a normal open/close sensor, it wont work. I am looking for a open/close sensor which will allow to have a gap of 2inch between its two components. That way once I slide the door to open, lights will turn on and when I slide the door partially to close, lights will turn off.

Maybe you could use the regular open/close sensor, but use more than one magnet contact at different lengths so it thinks its closed, even though partially open. If I’m comprehending your scenario correctly. Or maybe a magnetic strip, until you want it to think it’s open.

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Is it a pocket door or a (I think they are called) barn door?

Normally, you position open/close sensors to detect when a door is completely closed or not.
If it works for your application, you could position the sensor to detect when the door is completely open or not. You would have to reverse the logic of any automations, or perhaps modify the DH to invert the reported state.

Another thing to try is to use multiple magnets. Position the sensor to detect that the door is completely closed (or open) with the sensor & magnets at the top instead of side of the door. Then, add extra magnets along the path to keep the reed switch closed for as long as you want the door to read closed (or open).

I don’t type fast enough, so RightHand beat me to the multiple magnet suggestion! :slight_smile:

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Good ideas. Thank you guys.

I did not think about adding multiple magnets but I think this will be the easiest solution. Also I can try reversing the logic of open/close so that light will turn on when sensor is open and place the sensor accordingly in the pocket sliding door.

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The multiple magnets work great, that’s what I’ve done to allow some airflow without disabling the sensor completely. I got a set of magnets that are made for non-smart alarm sensors from amazon, but I’m sure there’s cheaper ones avaialble.

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Now that I am rethinking it, I will try following logic first and if i am not getting good results, then I will add multiple magnets.

If ST multisensor acceleration is active
and motion changes to active
then turn on

if motion is active and ST multisensor acceleration changes
then turn off