4 ms·
I've been very conservative in uses of automations like that. A couple ancedotes: The outside lights on the front of my house have a motion sensor. Alone, they
by gregmac 5y ago
I've been very conservative in uses of automations like that. A couple ancedotes:
The outside lights on the front of my house have a motion sensor. Alone, they turn on to about 50% at dusk, and off at 11:30. If there's any motion between dusk and dawn, they go to 100%, then eventually fade back to 50% or off depending on the time. They also come on (and stay on) at 100% if the garage is open. End result: they are at 100% when useful, and otherwise at 50% don't (annoyingly) shine as much into the front windows.
I also experimented with turning down the kitchen lights when there's no motion. The effective of this was described to me as "What did you do to the kitchen lights?! They just randomly turn off and it's driving me crazy!" -- even not in the room, the lights in an adjoining room turning off unexpectedly was bad. End result: Motion controls removed.
There's also some simple time-based controls. If no lights have been manually adjusted recently, at dawn a couple lights come on (to make it look like someone's home) and likewise turn off sometime later at night. There's also an absolute off at 3am, and again at very early dawn. These have the effect of never coming home to a dark house and never leaving lights on all night.
The best automations blend in so you don't even notice them. But absolutely make sure humans can still control things, and don't do things that interfere with that control or expectations.