Disable motion sensor to keep light on

I have had issues with my use of the Alexa / Google option, so my take on this option is mixed, but that may be coloured by other aspects of my setup, so it is hard to say whether or not I would suggest this to others at this stage.

Odd, we use Google Home to disable automation more than any other methods and it never failed us. I have a virtual switch in each room called "[Room] Automation". When we need to disable the automation, we just say: Hey Google turn off the automation in the [Room]. It works 100%, even though the command doesn't match the name of the devices. Googlers have gotten better at guessing what device the user meant to turn off :slight_smile: Yes, the [Room] Automation is alwys on, it's off only when the automation is disabled. I have rules for each room to turn back the virtual switch on, after X number of minutes.

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It's probably unfair to mix my own issues into another thread like this.... I have also enjoyed the fruits of the Alexa / Google option.... Having worked for some time. My gripe, if I can inject a feature request I have made previously, is that it is difficult to change the device / text used here... Lengthy discussion that is probably best held separate to this thread.

What I will say is that I (think) that turning off automation may be better managed through a virtual switch included in the motion lighting rule, but cannot comment confidently on this, having only set it up earlier this afternoon.

Virtual switches are so outdated. There are
many smarter ways of doing this, but I am old school, and prefer this method.

Probably....

I guess my gripe has been the process of dealing with issues with the Alexa device itself or the Motion Lighting Rule. e.g. The Alexa / Google Device is no longer relevant or the rule has become corrupt... The process for dealing with this, where the Alexa / Google device has been used in various rules or apps is cumbersome... IMHO.... Probably worth a separate thread if you want to discuss in more detail....

I've been kind of busy and honestly didn't read every reply but based on the OP original question I think I am doing something like this. I have contacts and motions controlling my garage lights. If I open the garage door and enter my home through the laundry room door, or if I open my laundry room door to throw something into the garbage and go back in I want the light to turn off promptly. If I enter the garage and am going to be there working I want the lights to stay on this rule works well for me.

Lots of interesting solutions here (which reflects well on the community!). Since I rely mostly on automation, but my wife likes to rely on voice activation, I use the following simplistic solution that works on our household.

Required expression is dependent on luminance level (no need for lights unless it is dark) and a virtual switch [Motion lighting enabled]. Motion detection triggers RM rule to automatically turn on light for x number of minutes and renews as long as motion attribute is active. When entering the room, if we use the verbal command “turn on the lights”, lights will stay on indefinitely since this command not only turns on the light, but also turns off the [motion lighting enabled] virtual switch. When exiting, the verbal command “turn off the lights” turns the light off, then re-enables the [motion lighting enabled] virtual switch. Very simple and reliable, but perhaps no good for people who do not wish to use any verbal commands.

If your wall switch supports/differentiates between physical and digital switching (mine do not), you could also just use the same type of virtual switch to enable and disable motion lighting based on your physical button push as well.

For the future, I understand that there are presence sensors getting ready for market that do not depend upon motion or even line of sight but use some sort of radiowave detection. I know that there are already motion sensors that use microwaves for detection (I have a couple of dual tech motion detectors in use that utilize a combination of IR and microwave detection with algorithms to decrease false positives and negatives but they still rely on motion). The new technology supposedly does not rely on motion for person/live tissue detection and can detect a non-moving person. Not sure of how people feel about being constantly bathed by microwaves though, lol. Anyway, my method is very simplistic but hope it helps.

I was asked to elaborate. This uses 3 rules.

First one turns on light and sets variable to 1. This makes light stick on.

Second one only turns on light when door opens to enter garage but only if variable wasn’t set to 2 which only happens if light was just turned off manually. Then light sticks on if variable is 1.

Third one is the double tap or single tap manual off to cancel stick. For 5 seconds the variable will be 2 so if I open door to go back into the house the garage light won’t come back on.

Not shown is the garage door opener which also uses the variable in a similar way. Complicated but it works and simpler schemes led to frustrating lights off situations or wasteful on cases.