This is a serious question... how does it know? I have motion lighting in my bathroom. It works great. However, on occasion I guess we don't move enough when we're on the toilet and the lights shut off. So how do you guys let HE know you're on the toilet??
I already have a motion sensor near it, but that doesn't seem to pick it up. I thought of some kind of pressure sensor on the seat (which my wife said no to as she's seen what the underside of a toilet seat looks like when living with a man and said "that sensor will be destroyed"). Has anyone thought of a good way to make this work?
Why not use a combination of motion sensor and door contact sensor? Both motion and contact sensor must be inactive/open for a period of time for the lights to turn off?
I just set a longer timer... I refuse to buy additional sensors to cover every single permutation. It is a waste of money, and a waste of my time writing logic.
You can't fool proof something. some bigger fool will always figure out a way to break it...
I have a wall directly adjacent to my toilet, so I mounted one of the Iris V2 motion sensors right on. They're pretty sensitive and pick up even the smallest movements - works well for me. You can pick these up dirt cheap on ebay.
I had a pressure sensitive mat near the toilet.. definitely a bad idea - gets really nasty.
I also recently purchased a bidet that has some kind of capacitive touch sensor integrated on to the toilet seat. This is mainly used to turn on a deodorizer automatically - but with the help of a power monitoring plug, I can get a pretty good idea if someone's on the toilet seat!
A quick firing motion sensor, like the Iris V2.
Dead zone of 30 seconds before re-trigger?
As targeted as possible on ground 0.
Stuck to tank, blocked by seat.
Stuck to ceiling above, perhaps to wide a field of view.
One of those shelving units that go above the toilet, head heigh.
that may give you the motion that works.
another suggestion would be Exlax, to give you the motion that works.
( ;> ;} sorry could not resist, Plumber)
Its own rule to interact with existing rules as required.
I envision a new virtual switch "POOP OverRide"
A relatively long ""delay with cancel","cancel delayed actions"" cycle time.
Relatively long being related to the length of time you sit there,
without turning the page. :}
These are the sort of security sensors fitted under boat decks to detect intruders. They fix with epoxy glue and are reasonably small. My seats were actually wood and so I carved a small recess in them for sensor and cabling. Work really well. I also use them on my stairs to detect travel direction (up/down).
Occupancy sensing was less appropriate because at the time I was attaching a device called a 'pan fan' that sucked air directly from the bowl via the cistern above and then outside so was very discrete. Fan activated by sensor but would work for lights of course too.
Actually looks like they may be called stress sensors 'pulsors'
Just wave your arm. My light dims 50% before it’s going to turn off, so I just wave my arm if I want it to stay on. Sometimes I just let it go off. Nothing to see until I’m finished anyway, at which point they turn back on because I’ve moved again.
How a bout a contact sensor on the toilet cover? The light can't go off if the toilet cover is open (needs a time out of course... there is always someone who doesn't close it after his business is done).
I don't know what's the norm where you live, but in my flat we have two bathrooms. One with a shower and one with a bathtub. So you need perhaps a second method to prevent the light from going off too early... humidity for example. Just in case someone is showering or takes a bath.
Or you can add a button for manual light control for longer "meetings".
I set mine for 10 minutes, and people use the hue dimmer for off, I only have it auto on, rather than off. But after 10 mins, if on it will turn off.
If you’re in there long enough for it to turn off when sat on the pan, then you have bigger issues that HA ain’t gonna fix. only a doctor or Ducolax is needed
Last time I looked at this is when I just made the OFF timer longer... Because - who cares?
The math for me looked like:
Three 10 watt LED bulbs in my bathroom
$0.09/kWh electricity in my area
Assume people use the bathroom 20 times a day (they don't)
Extend OFF timer by 10 minute to make sure it doesn't turn off unexpectedly
20 times/day * 10 minutes each time = 200 extra minutes of use per day = 3.33 hours/day
Cost per hour = (30w/1000w)/h * $0.09 = $0.0027/hour
Cost to extend time = $0.0027/hour * 3.33 hour/day = $0.009/day = $0.279 per 31 day month
Why would I spend more money on another sensor, or my time writing code/logic, to work around that? My time is worth A LOT more than $0.28 to me...
Sometimes it is not about what makes sense, it is about what you can do. I agree, financially it doesn't necessarily make sense. But then again, I am sure we all have done things that are not financially the smartest thing to do just because we got that "urge"
Thanks everyone. I think I came up with my plan based on some thoughts here. I'm going to assume most folks are courteous and turn the fan on. I'm going to add to the rule that if the fan is on, then it won't shut off the lights. As far as the shower goes, that's a great point too for motion lighting but I already have that one covered. I have a Kohler DTV (digital thermostatic valve) that has an HTTP interface that I can use to see if the shower is running.
;} sorry could not resist, Plumber)
