Some smart home automations can really seem like magic. Setting up these automations often requires a lot of effort, but there are some projects that you can set up in less than an hour that can have a big impact on your smart home.
Smart lighting that follows your lead
An automation that seems magical
one of the first smart home automation that people establish is a smart bulb that turns on when a motion detector is activated. This automation seems like magic the first time you get it working. The problem is that this automation quickly breaks down as soon as you try to turn off the lights again when leaving the room. If you sit still, the motion sensor won’t be able to see you and you’ll be left in the dark.
The idea of presence-based lighting is still a good one. This is a perfect example of what true smart home automation should be. Instead of having to control your lights with an app or a switch or via touching a boardYour lights should act on their own, turning on when you need them and turning off again when you don’t need them.
If you set up presence-based lighting in multiple rooms, you may even find yourself living in the future, like something out of the hit Apple TV show. Rupture. The lights can turn on and off as you walk through your house, turning on when you enter a room and turning off in the room you just left.
Picking up the equipment
Two sensors are better than one
Setting up this type of automated lighting with a motion sensor can be a real challenge, since motion sensors cannot know when you are in a room; They can only know when you are moving. However, with the right hardware, things become much easier.
Presence sensors It can detect not only when you enter a room but also if you are still in it. A mmWave sensor It uses high-frequency radar to detect much smaller movements than a traditional PIR motion sensor can detect. Some sensors can detect movements as small as the rise and fall of the chest while you breathe, allowing them to track when a room is occupied and even how many people are in it.
The disadvantage of presence sensors is that they do not react as quickly as PIR motion sensors. If you are using a occupancy sensor to turn on the lights, there may be a short delay between entering the room and turning on the light.
The solution is to use both types of sensors. A PIR motion sensor can quickly detect when you enter a room and turn on the lights almost immediately, whenever it is been positioned correctly. The presence sensor can then take control and keep track of whether you’re in the room or not, and keep the lights on until you leave, even if you’re sitting still.
Some sensors offer the best of both worlds and include a PIR motion sensor and a mmWave presence sensor in the same device. For example, the All Presence One, Aqara FP300and Groupers MS605 all contain mmWave and PIR sensors. You can then use a single sensor for your presence-based lighting.
Don’t leave yourself in the dark
Leave room for sensors to fail
With the right sensors, creating an automation to turn the lights on when you enter a room and turn them off again when you leave is fairly trivial. When the PIR sensor detects motion, the automation turn on the light. When the presence sensor detects that the room is no longer occupied, the automation turns off the light.
For the most part, this automation should work fine. The PIR motion sensor will react quickly, so the lights should turn on as soon as you enter the room. mmWave sensor should continue detect your presence in the room, so the lights will stay on. Only when you leave the room and your presence is no longer detected do the lights go off again.
However, in practice, this automation may not always work perfectly. Sometimes mmWave sensors can lose sight of you for a moment or two, and if you don’t take this into account, the lights may suddenly turn off while you’re still in the room.
One solution is to incorporate a short cooldown into your automation. Instead of having the lights turn off as soon as the presence disappears, change the trigger so that the lights turn off once the presence has disappeared for a set period of time, such as 30 seconds. If you temporarily lose it from the sensor, your lights will stay on as long as the sensor detects it again within that 30-second period; The lights will turn off 30 seconds after leaving the room.
True automation should work on its own
If set up correctly, presence-based lighting truly looks magical. You can add improvements like detecting light levels so the lights don’t come on when you don’t need them or use smooth transitions to have the lights fade in and out. Ultimately, you’ll end up with lighting that’s always on when you need it and always off when you don’t, and you’ll be able to set it all up in less than an hour.
