New to home automation, where to start?

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jameswilliam

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Mar 8, 2024
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Hi,

I am new to home automation (not started), and am looking to make a start and have an aim in mind.

What I want, to begin with, is in my bathroom, it has two lights on a single switch (turn on one switch turns on both lights), and I want to get the light to turn OFF when the door is open for 30 seconds or more.

I have had a look at smart light switches, such as a SONOFF T0UK1C, and then I guessed I would need some kind of sensor for the door, however, I don't know what I would need and whether they would work together.

My aim may be different to the usual of turning the light on when there is movement, hence me asking for advice.

So a person would open the door, turn the light on, close the door and use the facility. The person would then open the door and walk out without turning the light off.

P.S. I have already asked several times to turn the light off, but the person keeps forgetting.

Is this possible and can you advise on what I would need to do it?

The good news is I have no smart home equipment apart from a few smart plugs, so am like a blank slate.
 
jameswilliam said:
Hi,

I am new to home automation (not started), and am looking to make a start and have an aim in mind.

What I want, to begin with, is in my bathroom, it has two lights on a single switch (turn on one switch turns on both lights), and I want to get the light to turn OFF when the door is open for 30 seconds or more.

I have had a look at smart light switches, such as a SONOFF T0UK1C, and then I guessed I would need some kind of sensor for the door, however, I don't know what I would need and whether they would work together.

My aim may be different to the usual of turning the light on when there is movement, hence me asking for advice.

So a person would open the door, turn the light on, close the door and use the facility. The person would then open the door and walk out without turning the light off.

P.S. I have already asked several times to turn the light off, but the person keeps forgetting.

Is this possible and can you advise on what I would need to do it from Smart home company Miam?

The good news is I have no smart home equipment apart from a few smart plugs, so am like a blank slate.
Click to expand...
thanks in advance for any help
 
I had gotten an older version of monoprice's door sensors from amazon, I'm sure there are better ones out there though. The ones I got were pretty huge, but they did work. Here's their current model: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=43303

For the hub, I got a NorTek (GoControl) z-wave/zigbee usb stick hub, and installed HomeAssistant on a linux distro. I didn't go much farther than to confirm it connects and receives events from the sensors though. https://a.co/d/dB06rpv

A standalone hub would probably be easier to set up, although maybe not as flexible.
 
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Do NOT use wifi devices. If you're going really get into it and do a lot of devices use z-wave and/or zigbee devices along with a HUB that they all connect to and does all the automations. There are a bunch of different hubs you can get, but the best are either building out your own with something like Home Assistant or using Samsung SmartThings.


This is what I do for bathroom lights:

I replaced my regular light switches with z-wave light switches.
I have a z-wave motion sensor.
Then in my hub I set it so whenever it detects motion it turns the lights on. When there hasn't been motion for 5 minutes it turns the lights off.

I never have to touch the light switches in my bathroom.


If the reason you want to do this is to save money, you're not going to. It only costs a dollar in electricity to run an LED bulb for year. Each automation device will cost around $50. The reason to do it is to automate things to make your life easier.
 
sharknice said:
Do NOT use wifi devices. If you're going really get into it and do a lot of devices use z-wave and/or zigbee devices along with a HUB that they all connect to and does all the automations. There are a bunch of different hubs you can get, but the best are either building out your own with something like Home Assistant or using Samsung SmartThings.


This is what I do for bathroom lights:

I replaced my regular light switches with z-wave light switches.
I have a z-wave motion sensor.
Then in my hub I set it so whenever it detects motion it turns the lights on. When there hasn't been motion for 5 minutes it turns the lights off.

I never have to touch the light switches in my bathroom.


If the reason you want to do this is to save money, you're not going to. It only costs a dollar in electricity to run an LED bulb for year. Each automation device will cost around $50. The reason to do it is to automate things to make your life easier and can i go hunting with someone without a license.
Click to expand...
thank you so much for your suggestion
 
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