Quite often I have an armload of stuff when I'm going downstairs to the utility room in my basement - tools, material, whatever. I recently changed the standard doorknob to a lever passage set - makes it quite a bit easier to get the door open, now I've installed the
Insteon Wireless Hidden Door Sensor to automatically switch the lights on whenever the door is opened.
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| Insteon Wireless Hidden Door Sensor |
This is a slick little device - 3/4" in diameter, battery powered with a standard AAA battery, and a small plunger switch to detect when the door is open or closed.
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| You need a 3/4 hole drilled in the hinge side of the jamb - about 3" deep. A spade bit works well for this. |
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| Once you have the Sensor linked in to your automation network, you are ready to install it in the hole with the screw to hold it in place. |
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| Switchlinc On/Off Relay to control the utility room lights |
When I originally linked and programmed the Hidden Door Sensor, I decided against creating a scene because I only wanted the lights to switch on when the door was opened, and remain on even with the door closed. So I created a short program in my ISY-994i controller - whenever the door is opened, it switches on the light. When the door is closed, there is no action taken. The delay with having the program perform this control was about 1 to 2 seconds - quite noticeable and a bit annoying. I received a good suggestion from Eric in the comments below, and changed the hidden door sensor mode to "Two Nodes" in the ISY options menu for the hidden door sensor as follows:
That gives you one node in the ISY for the door opening, and a separate node in the ISY for the door closing. I linked the door open node as a controller for the Switchlinc relay. It works perfectly - only turning the light on when the door is opened, with an almost instantaneous response, much quicker than the ISY program control. Many thanks to Eric for the suggestion.
You can set up the hidden door sensor with two nodes, one for open and one for closed. Add the door open node to a scene as a controller with the lights as a responder. This way the lights will come on when the door is opened, but will not turn off when the door is closed. This will have a faster response vs using a scene.
ReplyDeleteI just changed the hidden door sensor mode in the ISY options menu for the hidden door sensor, and linked the open node as a controller for the Switchlinc relay. You're absolutely correct, it works perfectly - only turning the light on when the door is opened, and no action when the door is closed. Instantaneous response, much quicker than the ISY program control. Thanks for the suggestion, and I'll update this post.
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