When we use our bathtub (not that frequently) we like the bathroom lights set to a certain way (overhead off, Vanity off, and the mirror backlighting set to 5%) Each of these lights has Motion Lighting Rules (with mode specific rules) that control them, The bathroom also has 3 motion sensors due to its horseshoe shape (near the door & mirror, near the toilet, and covering the tub and shower area)
90% of the time the mode when we take a bath is "Sunset" (our night time, pre-bed mode) and the scene is Play (watching tv in living room) or "Night" (default after dark scene)
all the lights are lutron dimmers
The tub is very large, and takes 30 mins to fill, we don't currently have a leak (water level?) sensor on the tub, but I wouldn't be completely opposed to getting one
Not only would I want to pause all the bathroom Motion Lighting rules, but also set one of the lights to a specific level.
That would be a simple and viable option, and I do have extra pico remotes, but it doesn't feel clever enough... good backup plan though... (I could even turn off the switch when I get in bed with my Withings Sleep sensor)
It really depends on what sensor you want/have to use to trigger it.
Depending on placement you could use a motion sensor that is only trigger when the bath is used and have a rule that flips a virtual switch.
If you have a smart switch controlling the exhaust fan you could use this running for 30 minutes as the bath is filling to trigger a virtual switch again. Provided this would be turned on when filling anyway.
Dependent of the style of tub you have you could look at attaching a hidden temperature sensor to it and use that as a trigger if the tub heats up when filled.
At some point I'm finally going to get around to trying to building a flow rate sensor for my shower to turn the fan on and off you could do a similar think if you really want to make something clever.
The exhaust fan is not yet smart (it has a humidity sensor built in but itās not āconnectedā ) I have a lutron fan controller to replace it but havenāt wired it yet. I donāt tend to turn that on when weāre bathing as itās a bit loud
I can access the back/rear of the tub from an access panel in the adjacent closet, so I could attach a temp sensor to the outside of the tub that could possibly act as a sensor, given it would technically be in the crawl space under the house Iām not sure how accurate it would be (possibly quite cold air, but attached physically to the warm tub, and I donāt know if the double stick tape would be too much of an insulator)
Unfortunately the motion switch is too wide (by design) and covers the shower as well.
Also the bath is relaxing and there might be long enough periods of non-motion that would turn off activity in the zone.
It depends how clever you want to go...
How about a pressure switch connected to the water supply - (And a contact sensor to connect it to HE) this would tell you when the water was running.
Easy to setup timers after that once the pressure switch tells you that the water has stopped Flowing.. hmmm.. dunno.. depends on how long you usually spend in the bath..
If you have access to the hot supply line for your tub, attaching a temperature sensor to monitor for a sustained increase would reliably trigger the "Pause" rule.
And to disable the "Pause" put a contact sensor on your towel cupboard door that triggers when you open it to get a dry towel.
Which of course wouldn't work if you have a towel warmer.
Hmm, but you could use the tub temp sensor to control an outlet to turn on your towel warmer.
Actually I think I might try this using a temp sensor at my hot water tank and the bathroom motion sensor to control my own towel warmer.
Is what I do. My motion rule pauses when a temp sensor taped to my hot water line is above a certain temperature. The beauty of this is you can dial that temp to your liking based on how often you use the hot water to day warm up the tub, wash body, etc.
āUnfortunatelyā () we do have a towel warmer. It is already smart and connected (lutron) but we do use it at night when we take showers or rinse off before bed and I donāt want āmood lightingā when I jump in the shower before bed, only when we take a bath.
I donāt really have access to the water line itself due to the configuration of our crawl space and even if I did it would be a nightmare to have to shimmy under there every time I need to change batteries.
If I go with a temp sensor attached to the underside of the tub turning on the towel warmer at the same time is a great addition to my current setup. Still a little worried if the sensor is going to be sensitive enoughā¦
Flo is IFTTT connected, so you can potentially use it. Thereās only three inputs though. One of the is called āInfo Warningā. Whatās that?
If you could get a trigger based on Flo detecting that youāre filling the bath, that could be what you disable lights and fan with.
I set this up for my wife using the Alexa in our bathroom. She just says āAlexa, Iām having a bathā, and Alexa shuts off the lights, disables the motion sensor for an hour, shuts off the extraction fan, disables the humidity sensor for an hour and says āEnjoy your bathā
I like the, hide a motion sensor in the bottom of something attractive but shaped like a pringles can. Wave your hand over it to trigger events. The only gotcha is the default time outs of motion sensors, prevent using them for a quick toggle on then off. One of those light sensors that you tape over a washing machine finished LED might be useable in some clever ways.
Thatās doable, we have a Google Home clock
in the bathroom that would work, what is it doing? Triggering a scene or? If so how do you make a scene active for just an hour?
Conceptually interesting but we have bare white plank ceilings, nothing to hide a Pringleās can onā¦ also like I said, bath is relaxing and I donāt want being too still to cause the mode to unexpectedly end.
I said Pringles-Can-like, it can be any vessel. If you want something more automatic, if you have a can light above the bath, you can replace the bulb with a sengled with built in motion.
So I got a Aqara Water Leak detector and mounted it inside the tub a bit lower than "full" should be with the repositionable gel pad that comes with the Inovelli 4-in-1 motion sensors. And am using that for now, When it's wet it sets the light level in the bathroom, opens the skylight (and eventually will play a specific mix on the Google speakers in the bathroom) and the bathroom motion lights disable while the sensor is wet
Is what I do. My motion rule pauses when a temp sensor taped to my hot water line is above a certain temperature. The beauty of this is you can dial that temp to your liking based on how often you use the hot water to day warm up the tub, wash body, etc.
) we do have a towel warmer. It is already smart and connected (lutron) but we do use it at night when we take showers or rinse off before bed and I donāt want āmood lightingā when I jump in the shower before bed, only when we take a bath.
