I’ve eyeballed various Z-Wave switches, smart bulbs, PIR Z-Wave sensors, and Zigbee/Z-Wave contact sensors while looking for options to get my closet light to automatically turn off when the light gets accidentally left on. I’m not married to any specific idea or way to do this, but getting the light to turn off automatically at some point would be a win. I thought about getting one of those timer switches, but I keep falling into the territory of price (~$20-$25 on the low end) where I might as well go a few dollars more for a solution that integrates with my home automation running HA on a Pine64 and also uses a SmartThings Hub <-> MQTT, and then I put the project off another month
So, here I am wondering if others have found low cost (less than $20 ish) methods for automating closet lights?
One caveat to doing this way too, if you forget to turn the light off, and HA turns it off. The next time you go to manually turn it on you will have to flip the switch/pull the string twice to turn the light back on.
Oh yeah, good point. Which might make a case to stick a motion sensor inside the closet, but then I’m back at the higher price territory. Hmmmm… Definitely getting me closer though, thank you!
When I start to approach $30, it feels like diminishing reasons to use a smart bulb + some kind of smart sensor (Z-Wave PIR, Contact, etc.) With a smart bulb ~$20, and the cheapest Z-Wave PIR I can find ~$15 (depending on how you breakdown the package deal cost per item): https://www.lowes.com/pd/Iris-Home-Automation-Pack/999929892
True. Yeah, that’s one bad thing about this hobby, it’s not cheap. I know there are lots of cheap diy solutions out there to do some of the same things but I have a wife and most of those solutions are not always pretty, even talking about home automation gets her eyes rolling!
Good luck man, hope you come up with a good solution. Maybe someone else will jump in with some ideas. Post back what you end up doing.
Don’t you think it’s a bit overkill, a cheap toggle switch attached to the door (hinge side) would be enough and probably only cost a couple of quid/dollars and needs no programming or computers/wifi etc to work.
Yes you would need an additional wire to either the switch or the light, but you could use external conduit or run it thru’ the wall depends how your wall is built, it would still be more WAF than any automation. Also there is probably still going to be wiring at the switch or batteries for sensors, I suppose it depends what zwave equipment you have or can afford to buy, personally I find zwave very expensive. If you can find something that replaces the ceiling rose or a zwave/wifi bulb that would be easiest coupled with a motion sensor.
Thanks! I saw something similar to this that I was about to grab when I saw the Z-Wave paddle switch on sale for $28. The timer switch makes a lot of sense, but since I was already at $20 for the timer switch, $8 more to add it to HA via Z-Wave made enough sense to go ahead with that option. Normally those paddle switches are ~$38, in which case I would have grabbed the timer switch because almost double the cost for a closet switch is difficult for me to accept.
Thanks for the follow up! I’m intrigued by this setup, but I think the external wires would have less WAF than an automation solution. In the case of the Z-Wave paddle switch swapping out the existing “dumb” paddle switch, I think it’s a win since she can just tap the switch without knowing/caring that if she doesn’t tap it to shut it off that it will automatically turn off.
I suppose determining optimal situations for shutoff might increase WAF, a 10 minute timer might annoy someone who plans on spending 30 minutes in the closet (organizing files, etc). I’m probably in a more unique situation with this particular closet as well since it has spring hinges that automatically close the door, so a solution that involves turning on the light when the door is open and off when it is closed wouldn’t work without some additional timer involved. In HA I could create something that does:
"if bedroom light = on (if closet light = on, continue; else closet light = timer_off)"
and have timer_off as an automation script that starts a timer to shut the light off. This would work if it wasn’t light outside since the bedroom light would be turned on/off. So then maybe for daytime:
"if sun = above horizon AND bedroom_motion = inactive (if closet light = on, closet_light = timer_off)"
