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Re:The smart home is flailing as a concept by kwhitefoot on Friday August 06, 2021 @12:59PM (#28089895)
> I wonder, though. Most folks now have LED bulbs, so being diligent about turning off lights isn't as much of a savings as when I grew up and everything was incandescent.

It's very convenient to have the light come on automatically in stairwells and lavatories. But you are right about it taking much longer to pay back. My calculation is that compared to having the LED bulb on continuously it pays back in about two years.

I have several infra red motion detector bulbs in stair wells and in the pantry as well as 'radar' bulbs in several other places (these detect movement by the disturbance in a low level high frequency radio signal).

Re:The smart home is flailing as a concept by mynameisash on Friday August 06, 2021 @02:07PM (#28090856)
> (these detect movement by the disturbance in a low level high frequency radio signal).

I'd never heard of this before. One of my former managers is really into Home Assistant and has done a lot with his setup, but I think all of his motion detection was IR. How's your 'radar' setup? Do you get a lot of false positives/negatives? How's the distance on its detection?

Re:The smart home is flailing as a concept by throwaway0a5e on Friday August 06, 2021 @04:48PM (#28092575)
He's talking about the motion detector things that are a drop in replacement for switches. You see them often in rooms in commercial buildings.

Something like this https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/nvAAAOSwEK5fmkrH/s-l1600.jpg

Re:The smart home is flailing as a concept by kwhitefoot on Saturday August 07, 2021 @04:11AM (#28096806)
> He's talking about the motion detector things that are a drop in replacement for switches.

No I'm not, but those work too.

This is what I bought: https://www.ebay.com/itm/153285261299

It is described as a radar sensor because it uses a high frequency oscillator and monitors the change in the signal due to things moving in the electromagnetic field. Imagine the effect of waving your hand near the aerial of a radio receiver when the signal is weak.

Re:The smart home is flailing as a concept by throwaway0a5e on Friday August 06, 2021 @04:47PM (#28092567)
>It's very convenient to have the light come on automatically in stairwells and lavatories.

Until you're drunk AF and trying to take a piss (or whatever it is you're doing) at 1am and then the "smart" light blinds you.

Here's my solution: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265164805260