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Motion sensor question


Jeremiah Pauw

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Currently my lights are programed to shut off when the motion senor stops seeing motion. I would like to some how set it up so that if I double tap my lights they stay on even if motion sensor does not sense motion. I'm sure this is possible but can't seem to figure it out. Please help

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Currently my lights are programed to shut off when the motion senor stops seeing motion. I would like to some how set it up so that if I double tap my lights they stay on even if motion sensor does not sense motion. I'm sure this is possible but can't seem to figure it out. Please help

Something even better - 

Start a timer when you sense motion and turn on the lights. When the timer expires - turn off the lights.  Every time you sense motion restart the timer.  You will be surprised at how little time between sensings you need to keep the lights on, and now your lights will go off quickly when you are not in the room and stay on when you are in the room.

 

My entire house works this way an dI think you will like it better than the variable/double tap method. 

 

Now you will never have to touch the light switch again - and yes - you can make it dependent on the time of day and make it dimmer at night after 1 am or something.

Bill

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Something even better - 

Start a timer when you sense motion and turn on the lights. When the timer expires - turn off the lights.  Every time you sense motion restart the timer.  You will be surprised at how little time between sensings you need to keep the lights on, and now your lights will go off quickly when you are not in the room and stay on when you are in the room.

 

My entire house works this way an dI think you will like it better than the variable/double tap method. 

 

Now you will never have to touch the light switch again - and yes - you can make it dependent on the time of day and make it dimmer at night after 1 am or something.

Bill

 

Good call, this is exactly how I do my motion sensor night lights.  I do have an "override" variable to disable them temporarily also.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If using a timer such that the timer's expiration turns off the light, you can set the top button of the light switch to stop the timer, thus keeping the light on until turned off by a human. (Sometimes you might want a door contact switch to trigger the lights, so you can't make use of the restart with motion per above)

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It will be a happy day when C4 decides to sell a line of dimmers/switches with motion detectors built in....possibilities abound! :)

It would be nice, but a motion sensor incorporated into a dimmer or switch takes up a lot of real estate and ends up looking like this

http://m.globalindustrial.com/m/p/electrical/switches/occupancy-sensors/occupancyvacancy-sensor-with-switch-120v-2-amp-white?infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=CK_Tvbfg474CFcQ7MgodQmwArg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Works well for closets, etc., but not in living spaces especially in multi-gang boxes.

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In 10-20 years motions won't exist as we know then other then on legacy installations. New homes will have smart floors and will know where everything and everyone is within the home.

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...The producer(s) of Star Trek were genius!

Star Trek was actually an excellent predictor of future technology, lots of research papers on this subject. Actually on SciFi and it's impact on tech development.

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I remember, back when I was working, some yahoo decided to propel his career by suggesting to cut power usage in the bathrooms.  He had Facilities rip-out good switches and put in crappy sensor switches.  They would reset when you walked in the loo.  You had to turn a corner and go into a stall and close the door.  I lost count of how many times I was sitting there and the lights would go out.  After a few days I noticed someone vandalized the damn motion.  Obviously I wasn't the only one shit'n, I mean sit'n, in the dark.

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  • 1 year later...

Good call, this is exactly how I do my motion sensor night lights.  I do have an "override" variable to disable them temporarily also.

I also have variables, but the problem is remembering to turn off the variables (otherwise you have a brick or manual house). So - At ten AM I have a variable reset that turns off certain variable overrides - the most notable is a GUESTDOWNSTAIRS.

 

When I have a guest downstairs I turn on this variable - this enables an override of the automatic lights if I want to, turns the airconditioning or heat on to appropriate human levels, enables fans etc.

 

If I don't turn off the variable I inevitably pay for several weeks of lights and air conditioning because we forget to turn off the lights etc if they were overridden by the guest. This resets the house every morning at ten AM to normal and limits extra costs.

 

Bill

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I remember, back when I was working, some yahoo decided to propel his career by suggesting to cut power usage in the bathrooms.  He had Facilities rip-out good switches and put in crappy sensor switches.  They would reset when you walked in the loo.  You had to turn a corner and go into a stall and close the door.  I lost count of how many times I was sitting there and the lights would go out.  After a few days I noticed someone vandalized the damn motion.  Obviously I wasn't the only one shit'n, I mean sit'n, in the dark.

I had motion detectors in the bathrooms as well - my daughters told me that they did not appreciate the lights going off when in the shower because no motion could be sensed. So - I have sensors on the door - when the door shuts completely the timer stops.

 

Bill

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One of the things that is interesting about this use of timers and motion detectors is this - 

You can:

1. on motion set all the lights to a specific setting

2. on motion

     --IF timer is running reset timer

     -- if timer is not running - set the lights the way you wish.

 

I like option number 2 because it allows the user to turn off lights or dim them or turn them up and have the setting that they wish until the timer expires and then the default settings are back - this was a critical discovery for me in the search for wife happiness.

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One of the things that is interesting about this use of timers and motion detectors is this - 

You can:

1. on motion set all the lights to a specific setting

2. on motion

     --IF timer is running reset timer

     -- if timer is not running - set the lights the way you wish.

 

I like option number 2 because it allows the user to turn off lights or dim them or turn them up and have the setting that they wish until the timer expires and then the default settings are back - this was a critical discovery for me in the search for wife happiness.

 

I have a few motion sensors for my Concord 4 alarm, and the system is obviously integrated into my Control4.  Do you recommend using those for lighting too, or are there better motion detectors for such applications?   I only have 3 motion sensors for alarm purposes, but would like to put motion detectors in every room for lights (except bedrooms, that would annoy me, but then again maybe disabling them between certain times would fix that).  I wasn't sure if I should buy more of the same ones for my alarm or something different for those rooms that don't need alarm coverage.

 

Also, something else I wanted to do, is it possible to set motion sensors up for turning on TV?  I'm assuming it's not a problem, just haven't got to that point yet.  My 4 year old gets up, sometimes before my wife or I.  He usually goes right into the playroom.  He doesn't quite know how to turn on the TV/receiver, etc in there though.   Is it possible to set it for say between 5:30 and 7:30am only, if motion is detected, to turn on the TV and put on X (probably Disney) channel, for him?    Also, I'd probably tie a notification that comes to my iPhone, just so we know he's up, in case we don't hear.    

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You can certainly use your security system to feed this in. Zones in a system can always be set to not be monitored etc for alarm purposes and just be used for automation use.

Yes you can put in overrides for time etc.

Using a security system for this CAN cause a bit more delay than using a direct unit mind you, though it generally is minimal - alternatively there are wireless options that integrate direct (Card Access, Axxess Industries and NYCE) - there's a bridge to directly talk to GE wireless sensors from Card Access or if you have sensor connections available you can wire motions directly to controllers.

 

And yes you can trigger whatever you want on a motion event, so turning on TV, go o channel etc is certainly possible - just takes a bit to work out exactly what you want (ie, only if TV is off, time, weekday/weekend and so on).

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I had motion detectors in the bathrooms as well - my daughters told me that they did not appreciate the lights going off when in the shower because no motion could be sensed. So - I have sensors on the door - when the door shuts completely the timer stops.

 

good deal, unless you are trying to keep a pet out of those rooms and keep the doors closed regularly.  My "brilliant" kids are finally trained to close the door most of the time, but will close the door with the lights on.

 

The only thing I've done is start dimming lights very slowly after a large amount of time, but that isn't foolproof either as you don't want to get out of the shower to reset when it starts dimming.  But for kids maybe they can just speed up the works and I don't care if they get a little upset. 

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If you are buying new sensors it is better to get ones direct into control4.

Alarm sensors have two lag factors. One the sensitivity is lower to prevent false alarms and not detect pets etc. Two, it then hits the alarm panel. The alarm panel com bus then c4.

All this means you walk in a room and by the time automation turns on the lights you have tripped over the dog.

The control4 direct can be set to get the lights on quicker.

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^ mine come up within a second max. I use them to turn the stair lights on so I don't trip over the dog who sleeps at the top and fall down a flight.

They're part of my DSC alarm

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2. on motion

     --IF timer is running reset timer

     -- if timer is not running - set the lights the way you wish.

 

I like option number 2 because it allows the user to turn off lights or dim them or turn them up and have the setting that they wish until the timer expires and then the default settings are back - this was a critical discovery for me in the search for wife happiness.

TexasBill, can you give examples of how you are using option 2? We are installing now and aren't sure how to set up the light automation. Thanks

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