Not something I have to consider in any meaningful way in my setup, but I know plenty have to factor in an acceptance factor for various members of their smart household. So while it doesn't apply to me, happy to prompt discussion on how people have achieved harmony between the most important aspects of their life.... and those who they live with
Let's try to keep the discussion within the bounds of acceptability in 2022, try not to venture too far down the male vs female route... By all means have some fun with the topic, but with a healthy does of useful tips for those trying to introduce changes to their setup, taking into account those who have to live with those changes.
The best automations are ones you never have to pay attention to, they just work. My basement motion lighting just happens and no one in our house thinks anything about it. Likewise our bedside picos which control our bedroom sconces and overhead lighting.
Automating things just because you can does not mean you should.. for example I replaced all my den lights with Sengled color+ recessed bulbs. They work great but... I never use the color capability. Would have been just fine with a smart switch/dimmer. Over built and over spent.
That may have been true for your den, but I certainly appreciate the coloured bulbs for a deeper Orange / Red colour late at night. I definitely don't use the full range of colours, but do like this options for many parts of the house. But I don't use it in my garage, which is more of an occasional use of lighting at night, which I expect is close to the case for your den.
I asked my wife if there was anything she wanted to see. She didn't have any ideas until I started to share some of the ideas I had seen from others in the community. That sparked some ideas. I tried to create a few automations that were just for her and she really liked those.
Now every morning when she gets up all the speakers start playing bird sounds, and in the evening when we turn off the TV it starts playing frog sounds. She didn't know it was possible, but she thoroughly enjoys that.
Also things like having the bathroom light turn on automatically if she gets out of bed during the night is a big thing for her because she doesn't have great eyesight.
My wife would not like the change in colors, even gradual - maybe level control though. She is very practical and somewhat "old school" in her thinking. This was initially frustrating as I was starting myour Home Automaton journey BUT has ultimately turned out to be very helpful in building out our system and advising my clients / coming up with solutions for their homes as well.
How Do You Elevate the Environment For Those Around You?
You mean other than just being in their presence!?
In all seriousness, automate everything but make sure there is voice backup to control everything in case they wanted something else to happen. And, of course, the light switches still work too but I think they have all forgotten that they are there!
Once I got over the initial novelty of home automation, I realized that anything that annoyed my wife was not "smart". She is my muse and constant source of inspiration. There is a Zen in geeking out in a way that she finds pleasing.
Really, it is the same with all of my hobbies and projects.
I achieved a certain level of acceptance when we were visiting my mom's house and the comment I got was "it's so annoying to walk into a room and not have the lights come on automatically." I asked for it in writing.
My sons are very good at leaving lights on, so setting lights to turn off when no motion for a while has been great!
I think that a while back, I asked my wife if there was anything that would like to happen but doesn’t yet… This thread reminds me that I should ask again…
Automating the blinds was the most impactful, super nice to be able to either hit a button or schedule blinds to open and close. My next plan with them is to schedule them but integrate window sensors so if the window is open to override the schedule in case windows are open. This could be closing them on the sunny side of the house or at night when it is dark out.
Remotes and adding in the random stuff would be next. We have a stand fan in our bedroom that is controlled with an IR remote. I used the RM 3 Mini to learn the codes to turn it on, speed max, then oscillate, because it can't remember settings when turned on or off. I then used the Zooz zen 34 remotes and have them around. I have 3 in the bedroom that I can double click up to toggle the blinds open or closed, double click down to turn the fan on or off, single up is wife's lamp, and single down is my lamp. Then I stuck a remote behind the headboard on the bed so you can reach up and tag it when you are in bed and just want to be lazy or turn the light off when you get into bed.
Finally dimmers, I put them on every light in the house. The ability to dim everything is super nice, especially the bathroom if you get up in the night, the Leviton dimmers you can just tap the dim bar and it turns on at low brightness then you can click up if needed without blinding yourself. Also lights when watching tv or the dining room or really anywhere to have lights at different levels.
This is the key right here. I have motion lights in all the common areas of the house. After a year or two of feedback and tweaking here and there, it's to the point where they are completely taken for granted, even by me. The switches that control those lights (if they even have switches) are very rarely used, especially in hallways and similar places.
Same kind of thing for non lighting automations like thermostats, fans, etc. I haven't quite got to the same point with those things.
The key here is to position the motion sensors in a way that they trigger before a family member has time to hit the switch. Once that goal is achieved, the motion lighting becomes indispensable. Then you can tackle the never-leave-your-family-in-the-dark goal. Timing the lights to turn off too soon after motion is inactive, will not save you a ton of money on the electric bill - especially if you use LEDs - but will certainly drive the entire family crazy. Some times, the longer period is still not long enough. For those instances, the key is to provide different methods to delay/suspend/prevent the lights from turning off that are easily accessible and convenient to use for other household members.
Yep, this was one of my early mistakes. A person can remain surprisingly motionless for longer than you might think if they are doing something like reading, watching tv, or listening to music.
My family room entertainment center is all plugged into a power monitoring switch and all the motion rules are disabled if enough power is being used (ie, the tv and/or stereo is on). This does mean that if someone forgets to shut those things off the lights will stay on (or off if they were left that way), but sometimes compromises must be made. There is also a virtual switch on the dashboard that disables motion lights in that room. Useful for when a guest is sleeping on the couch.
Thermostat was huge for me when we moved. In retrospect, it was so simple. Almost 6 months later, I don't remember what the display of the Pearl looks like because we have literally never adjusted it manually.
All color bulbs that I have are either outside for mood lighting (holydays and what not) and a single one in the house in the living area that will change on important events like water leek detected, door bell, etc.
The biggest impact for acceptance for my wife was adding Alexa control for key lights, ceiling fans and thermostats. Having control of those items via phone app was almost a cute nerdy novelty but once Alexa was added in major rooms it completely changed the game. At first it was thought that a voice assistant was a gimmick at best, a security threat at worst but it was quickly adopted as part of the lifestyle and used every single day. Now my wife says she loves the whole setup and appreciates it being installed to make her life better! We don't have motion lighting and still haven't had the urge to go that route. But voice assist was a paradigm shift!
I dunno simple motion lights in the bathroom is really nice.. the only issues are sensor placement and getting the timeout set correctly. As a bonus when the lights go off after a slight delay the fan comes on for a few minutes or so.
If that Aqara human presence sensor ever gets released in the US, THAT will be a game changer. Much better than just motion.
Motion lighting is big in our house as is timed lighting. Personally I hate talking to an assistant. Right now tweaking how we watch tv in the evening (ramping down the lights with certain aspects of watching)
