My external motion activated floodlights are not on/off but dimmed. They ramp up over 4s and dim over 30s. I initially did this because I was not catching intruders faces as they turned away when the floods came on before the camera recorded and the cameras were also momentarily blinded by the bright light, but it’s a nice welcome so kept it. It also doesn’t annoy the neighbours as much with the false alarms overnight. Having to use Halogen still though until dimmable LED’s appear.
I would like to see this done or get pointed to the right thread for this. I have Fire TV's and IP cameras connected to BlueIris. I'd like to see a turn on TV and display camera when the alarm goes off.
My TV is fed via HDMI from a cable TV tuner. I use the BrightSign hardware which sits inline on the HDMI and can superimpose text or live video from another HDMI or IP source. These units with various capabilities can be found online from around $50-$200. They are driven by a powerful IP based command protocol allow great positioning and resizing even up to 4K HD video. The BrightSign units are primarily intended for advertising / signage or restaurant menus etc.. like McD.
I don’t use FireTV but that could be your main input source, and BI providing the IP feed and HE the control.
Some TV’s have an inbuilt ability to this, both text and video , but in Europe I think some manufacturers eg Samsung block this for some legislative reason
I recently installed an IoTaWatt power meter and have found many ways to use it for automations. For example, I now use output from our rooftop solar system to determine when outside lights should turn on/off.
I have also focused on safety and "disaster-prevention." Many leak sensors, smoke/CO detectors, combustible gas sensor, and more. For example, I wired a contact sensor to the unused overflow shutoff switch on a condensate pump and use a rule that turns off the hybrid water heater and dehumidifier draining into the pump.
Oh yea, I have a flood and drain hydroponic garden outside and I use HE to control the pump schedule.
The biggest thing is talking to my wife about what is/is not working for her. This means spending time to refine existing automations to better fit with our lifestyle and blend even more into the background. Hubitat and home automation will be the most successful when I no longer notice it
Just curious if you're using my IoTaWatt integration for Hubitat? Or did you write your own? I am always curious how others are accomplishing these integrations to see what I can learn. Thanks!
Can you share some of your devices, and what you are currently doing with them as far as rules or automations?
For example, do you have a humidity sensor in the shower to run the bath fan automatically? I recently did this and it is so nice to have it run until the bathroom humidity is gone.
How about motion lights in the bathroom? I have two motion "rules" for light after midnight (20% brightness) and the rest of the day (50% brightness).
I turn on my garage, outdoor, and entryway lights with the garage door opener, and back off 15 minutes after the door closes.
I have Alexa tell me the wash machine is done, and when there is severe weather.
I made the kitchen light switch double tap event control the light over the sink so I didn't have to add an extra switch on the opposite side of the room. Same with the hall light and basement light, they didn't wire the basement to be controlled from upstairs, easy fix with a couple button controller rules.
I have a couple more, but these are the main rules.
I have this too, though a little different. I had no hub back in the day I made it so it's standalone with an Arduino nano. But I also thought the fan started too late so I added a temp sensor to the warm water supply tubing. As soon as the shower goes on and the tube goes over 40 degreed Celsius is turns on the fan. So it's little bit more ahead of the high humidity. And it turns of if humidity is below 60% again.
Yes! I am using your integration and I should have given some kudos -- it works great. I also followed your install and picked up the same sprinkler box, except I mounted it on a brick wall and used metallic conduit for power and flexible PVC for the CT wires.
For anyone who has even the slightest interest in gaining insight into power consumption, if you have space in your panel for current transformers, I can't recommend it enough. With it, we caught many small parasitic loads and actually found a failing GFCI outlet in our master bathroom.
I don't think I've seen mention of dashboards? There's a whole huge can of worms you could open up there if you're not already dashed up.
This one's not strictly home automation, but it seems from the above like a project you might like that would go well with some of your other projects: Look into making your own SMART MIRROR/MAGIC MIRROR?
Coupling one of these with dashboards could be a pretty intense and extensible project that would give you plenty to do!
I'd toyed with the idea of a magic mirror. I love the idea. Right now, I have a dashboard on my cell phone and that is it. I know! It sounds crazy, but let me talk a bit about my setup. I hope i don't miss anything. It's a bit of a read.
We'll start with the outside and work inward like walking through the house.
Outside lights - turn on an hour before sunset and off an hour after sunrise IF they're on. They turn off when night mode is invoked, but turn back on if a door is opened to enter or exit our home if it's within the sunset/sunrise time frame. (Front, garage, back garage, overhead, or walkway door.
Inside garage lights turn on when entry to the garage is made at any time. It's not ever very bright in there. so house to garage, back garage door, front garage walk way door, overhead.
Enter from garage to kitchen/dining - the kitchen island when the entry door opens will light if the motion sensors in that room are inactive and the lux is below the set threshold. The house knows that no one else is moving and turns on that light to help you into the door. The light in that entry also turns on when the pantry door is open. Lights the pantry closet quite well.
the kitchen/dining pendants only actively turn on between 5&7 as dinner happens in that timeframe. there are 3 motion sensors to keep them on while we're moving in there. One above the dining table/above stove/sink/ on in the entry path be the table.
The kitchen/dining pendants will turn on at any time if movement exceeds 10 minutes in that area. So if I've started doing a longer task, the lights will turn on and remain on with motion. The lighting above the cabinets will turn on an hour to sunset and off an hour after. They remain lit at 20% with no movement and ramp up to 100% with movement. When night mode is invoked, then 1 strip turns off and one strip remains on to interact in the same way, but as a nightlight. In the morning, the other strip will turn back on when quiet time or home modes are invoked if it's between the sunrise/sunset hours. I have cans that light in the kitchen with motion as well if the lux is low enough, but stop responding after 7pm unless movement exceeds 10 minutes. The strips above the cabinets are bright enough to light the room enough to get a drink or put something away, etc. No need to keep turning on the main lights for a drink of water.
Bedrooms are lit with motion. The mode determines which lights turn on. Under the bed, two sconces, and a lamp. Fan turns on at quiet time and off in home mode. Quiet time turns off the lamp and two sconces. Only the under bed lights function as someone has gone to bed if quiet time is on. in night mode, everything turns off except for the small light strip above the kitchen cabinets. Tv's turn off and anything else that may indicate "on".
Upper living room has motion and fan also. Fan turns on if the temp exceeds a threshold. Turns off in away mode. Lights are switched. Turn on if motion triggers them and lux is below a certain level. If I turn the tv on, then the lights turn off and the table by the front door dims to 20%. That lights is on a sunset/'sunrise schedule and off and night mode, but dims when the living room lights or tv turns on and brightens when the room is unoccupied. I did this because we hang out in the basement more and we look like we're never home.
The rest of the house is more simple, just worth mentioning. Steps are lit with a sensor at the top and bottom. The bottom sensor turns on the basement living room lights when you reach it. The lights remain on if my office lights are on or the tv is on. Otherwise they turn off when motion stops. Same weith the spare bedrooms.
I can't automate my bathroom yet as we are still remodeling that room. Need an exhaust fan and switches installed. Electrician comes when he has slow days.
My house modes are dictated by our cell phone chargers. You read that right. Docking one cell phone changes the mode from home to quiet time. Docking the second cell phone changes mode from quiet time to night. undocking both changes to home. Presence dictates home and away modes also. I had to create the dock automation using a pressure button and contact sensors.
So, in that nutshell, I haven't a real need for dashboards as the only way my husband would allow this automation project is if he didn't have to do anything. Like push a button or ask alexa to turn something on for him. Everything had to be worked into something he does every day as a routine. Nothing extra. I've kind've begun to appreciate our silent automation qualities and take them for granted to an extent. Really messes with visitors.
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I missed one thing. The yard light in the back turns on when I let the pups out and off when I let them back in. Open - On - close -stay on - open- stay on- close - turn off. Pups get a treat!. Also, all of my other rooms, laundry, furnace, server rooms all have motion lighting, but since we don't use those rooms for much, there isn't much else in there. Also we have smart smoke detectors.
Right on! I've recently done quite a bit with motion lighting and time/mode aware behavior of switches and such, and definitely know what you mean about taking for granted when the light is just always kinda "right." That said, don't forget about the utility of dashboards as informational hubs about what your home is doing, status. A dash doesn't just have to be a control panel. It can display info from all around your home, and outside as well, I can tell from where I sit in my bedroom now that my kids are up, someone has messed with the thermostat (of course), and what the weather is going to be today, all at a glance. I can also see that my daughter has taken the portable speaker from the living room and is using it for Spotify. (And my dashboards AREN'T even set up primarily for info).
Was just a thought though. You have an enviable setup. Enjoy, and keep us posted!
Why thank you! I do have various tablets that can display a dash if I pull it up. My downfall is that the nest is empty. It's just my husband and I. I did threaten to put another smart lock in house door from the garage because he has this crazy habit of locking doors. WE LIVE IN IOWA! In a town of 800 people. It's VERY high crime. Someone might just steal his hershey bars. ha! I'm planning on getting some different cameras around this joint. The ones that I have are proprietary and won't let me add them to a dash. I think that once that happens, dashboards will be my thing. I think I will work on creating some new dashboards. It's come in handy from work when someone needs to stop by for something or I'm expecting someone.
You make a great point on that.
Oh, I doubt I have anything you don't already have outdone. Just simple things like how my deck light, which is motion activated after dark, has a Lutron Pico switch now so that if I want to cook out, I can turn it on, and it sets the mode to manual for an hour, and leaves the light on instead of motion... Or if I want to take the dog out and NOT trigger the motion detector, I can hit the off switch, and it sets it to manual and leaves it off for half an hour, then resets it to auto... Simple stuff, and various lights coming on as night lights for various lengths and different brightness depending on what mode the system is in. You've got more than I do in that regard.
I use Sharptools running on wall mounted tablets for my dashes.
Thanks! I actually have 6 motion sensors sitting here that I'd love to put to work.
I have the living room, kitchen, hallway, both bathrooms, pool deck, garage, and front step covered with motion in one form or another, though the front and garage aren't "smart" per se, because just good old fashioned occupancy and light sensing has proven to be all I really want there.
Haven't put any motion sensors in the kids' rooms or anything, because...1. there's nothing smart in those rooms (pun lovingly intended) and 2. If they're in there, they're lying there lazily on their phone or computer, and they wouldn't trigger motion anyway.
But I'd love to hear some silent ideas for 6 motion sensors that could perhaps be put to use in a way I hadn't thought of.
Very nice.
