hi I have just been given some massive tortoises, I was thinking of trying to get the system smart to save money and give them the best comfort, I was thinking of a sonoff th elite for the ability to turn the heater on when needed both day and night.
There is also lamps needed to warm them up and get them started in the day, would anyone have a idea for how I might be able to automate these light so they will turn off when the tortoise family have left the shed in the morning and to reactive the lights the the big guys return, I was thinking of a vibration sensor on the ramp but I am not sure if it would be able to tell if all of them have left or not, could this be done with some clever rule, or could there be another device that may be more suitable?
I don’t know much about tortoises, is this heating system purely for their comfort? Or could they get sick (or worse) if the system fails to turn on, or fails to turn off?
A home automation hub like Hubitat is probably not a good choice as a primary controller for anything that your animals rely on for their health and safety.
PIR or Radar presence sensors are some options.
I agree with the other comment.
I am not sure how big yours are, but I've seem many turtle and tortoise owners use radiant heat pads and flooring. It's low(er) energy.
thank you for your advice, the light turning off and on automatically would be tricky by pir I think as they our not over active but the heat to turn on and off with temp should be ok, but there is probably a more analog style system for this that would work, but from my experience a analog time clock is not very reliable and I have a small tortoises enclosure with lights controlled and automated with a shelly 1pm 16amp the shelly relay is great as I can get daily running costs and it super reliable
Could you explain some more exactly what kind of heaters or lamps you’ve got?
there is one heat lamp and 1 lamp that is for desert animals to give the type of light they need and one storage heater, its what was supplied when I got given them, I will go to the pet shop and buy a couple of books next week to make sure I give them what they need, I know 1 is a African tortoise and I have another massive one but I don't know what it could be the lady that gave it to me said it was only 6 but its bigger then my dog lol
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