Keep home assistant from trying to kill me

No, it doesn’t solve the problem. Evidently I’ve still after all this time not made myself clear… The problem isn’t that I can’t the automations from firing, the problem is that sheer human (or maybe just my laziness) means that I might miss, forget, think its not a big deal, and it won’t get done. The goal is to fix a potential (although unlikely) scenario using a bit of forethought at a time when I’m not in a hurry, trying to get stuff done. The time you’re most likely to have an accident is when you are in a hurry and taking shortcuts, not when you’re moving methodically. The solution isn’t just to say ‘well always work methodically’ the solution is to think ahead and build safety in to the system.

Smart switch failure is trivial to engineer around - have a visual or auditory confirmation when automations are successfully disabled…

True, but then so if isolating the power to the fan…

Don’t add more points of failure than you need to.

Also - what is stopping you from forgetting to press the smart switch before changing the bulb?

Mate, its clear.

You came to the forums with a silly question, got the correct answers, didn’t like it because it showed how silly your idea was and have then basically trolled yourself all the way to the bank whilst the rest of us have had a bit of a chuckle at your expense.

Tomorrow, unless you specifically want it to be you, someone else will be the butt of the joke.

It happens, don’t worry about it.

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I like it!

Now do one to stop my wife from flipping switches on while I’m working on stuff! :upside_down_face:

That’s easy.

You say “Alexa, contain my Doris!”

Input boolean flips.

Drones are released, shepherding your good lady into the cupboard under the stairs.

The door locks.

You complete your maintenance.

You say “Alexa, release the Doris!”

The input_boolean flips back, the door to the cupboard under the stairs is unlocked and a link to a Google search for “Divorce lawyers near me” is dispatched to you via your preferred notification service.

No worries :slightly_smiling_face:

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Fun thread.

When I was young I had a ceiling fan.
I don’t know how many times I have stopped the fan from full speed with my hand, obviously not like an idiot, but gradually adding more friction between my hand and the blades as they spin by my hand.
I’m still alive today. No visual scars.

Secondly.
When the fan starts, it doesn’t go from 0 to 1000 rpm in a second.
The first revolution probably takes 3-4 seconds which gives most people enough time to react.
You could duck, or raise one hand and stop the fan, or worst case, close your eyes and take the hit on the forehead.
None of those is in any way dangerous, high impact, or has enough force to injure/kill/knock anyone of their balance unless you are so drunk that you are about to die from alcohol poisoning soon anyways.

Lastly.
The bulbs are usually about 1 foot below the blades.
It is possible to change a light bulb from above, sure… But I think most will agree that it’s easier to be in such a position that you can see what you are doing.
So that means your head (assuming the eyes are in a standard position) is below the blades by more than one foot.

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Effective solution: disconnect from mains and make sure mains cannot be connected back during working.

Effective alternatives: none

When trying to automate something, redundancy comes into play and then you are pretty deep and you end up home automation comparable to some nuclear plant or similar and then you can say that it is almost as safe as disconnecting the mains.

50V is the safe level for AC that shouldn’t be dangerous. Anything above that is risky. Just as a reminder.

Thank you for the reminder but you chose to reply to my post when you should have replied to the OP’s post.

… and your ‘safe level’ is highly misleading because it depends on the path of the current flow. Between two fingers of the same hand is one thing, through the heart or brain is another.

No, I could engineer a situation where 50v could kill you.
It would be intensely contrived but…

The point is that if you need to prevent any prime Actuator from moving then the industry accepted and legally indemnified way is to isolate. Anyone relying on software would just be thrown in jail.

Edit: (to the OP) Say your wife or your kid saw what you did and copied you when the bulb next went and you were out. Say they fell. Say that the fall caused a dibilitating injury or even death. YOU would be liable. And don’t forget all that guilt you’d carry for the rest of your life.

No, you are missing a trick here.
Put strain guages on the steps (all the steps/ladders in the house) and tag them for room presence detection. The user has to tag release the steps from a locked in bay so you know who the user is (and their normal weight)
Then when weight above a threshold is detected, you can carry out your safety measures.
You can additionally send an email to to user suggesting improvements to dietary intake to reduce calorific intake (this assumes you tared the steps with the work item before you start)

:rofl:

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There is a lot of chatter about voltages, we all know 110 is a bit safer than 240 but personally I prefer not to get stung by either.
I will admit I don’t turn off a breaker to change a bulb but I do make sure it is turned off at the switch. What I do is stand below said light and reach up, touching bulb to remove and replace with no desire to touch exposed terminals. Equally when there is a fan in play I tend to avoid putting myself in the line of fire. I do not put my head in the path of rotation. Maybe try just to keep yourself away from the fan while changing the bulb.
Either way please set up a webcam so we can all learn from your mistakes

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Easier to have one distance sensor on each blade of the fan.
And as a backup, you add a super sensitive humidity sensor that detects breaths as someone climbs closer.

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We want audio too!

… and blood on the floor to call an ambulance !

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Hmmm could we set up a binary sensor with scream detection ?

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Possibly…
But it would require some sampling before it only reacts to the correct voice (if that is part of the project).
Then there is the issue with illness. I mean a sour throat could easily make the pitch, frequency and amplitude change.
Not to mention early morning and refreshing drinks.
Not saying it’s impossible but perhaps a DNA reader and a robot mop to sweep up the samples is easier to detect who made all that noise.

Automate the ladder…

You mean the ladder reads the persons height and adjusts it’s maximum height to make sure it’s safe…
Nice one!