Im struggling to find or to describe what i need. Im looking for a sensor that you can wave you hand in front of to turn something on or off ( in this case opening a door that part i have sorted i just need the contactless input ) . Kind of like you would have on a hands free soap dispenser.
So its like a IR motion detector but all the ones i can find are for burglar alarms or a massive field of operation like a whole room.
Any guidance or what this is or how i can find one would be fab. Im looking for something that i dont need to make myself i.e off the shelf.
As @alwas mentioned, I use the regular PIR motion sensors for exactly this, I just put them in a small box to limit the detection zone. Or place them carefully.
I have one on the side of the nightstand next to my bed aimed at the bed. To trigger it I just wave a hand in front of it as I’m getting in or out of the bed.
I have a third underneath the couch pointing down. When I approach with my wheelchair, there’s just enough room to get the edge of the foot rest under the couch and that will trigger it. (So will a broom, though, if someone is sweeping there.)
These have all been in place for at least two years and work well for us.
I should say Fibaro also makes a zwave device for exactly this, called the swipe, but it’s about the size of a regular tablet and pretty expensive. It recognizes several different hand gestures, though.
And you will need custom code for it.
We got one and tried it, but found it required fairly large arm movements which were too tiring for me so we returned it. (I’m quadriparetic.). It does have the advantage that you can walk past it without setting it off, you have to face it and do the intentional gesture to trigger it.
They do have one of my favorite home automation commercials ever,
RBoy
(www.rboyapps.com - Making SmartThings Easy!)
5
Try a 4 in 1 motion sensor like one from Monoprice or ZooZ. Set the motion sensitivity to low or lowest so that it will trigger only when you’re right in front of it. You can reduce the sensitivity of the other features like humidity,temp,light so that it improves battery life.
It is used in many soap dispenser. This sensor does not detect gesture. It is just often associated by waving hand in front of the dispenser as detection. It is for short proximity distance sensing. There are more expensive variant that will give the distance. The above just detect on or off.
