Automatic room lights

[fred]

What controls are used for these increasingly popular lighting systems. Onl= y one I can find is Hafele @ =A3200 which seems very steep.

I notice some are much more responsive than others. Light come on immediate= ly someone enters the area so there must be difference between manufacturer= s.

Any recommendations ?

[Dave Liquorice]

I've used an normal standalone PIR as one would have for external "security" lighting. Pick one that can be latched on by flicking the normal switch on/off/on quickly.

quite a choice. The trick to comming on quickly is making sure the detector can see the entrance area(s) clearly. Or fit a switch to the door(s) but that requires the door(s) to be always closed and opened on entry.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Would be easy to knock up something using a couple of alarm PIRs.

[tim.....]

I've used an normal standalone PIR as one would have for external "security" lighting. Pick one that can be latched on by flicking the normal switch on/off/on quickly.

quite a choice. The trick to comming on quickly is making sure the detector can see the entrance area(s) clearly. Or fit a switch to the door(s) but that requires the door(s) to be always closed and opened on entry.

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Don't you also need a method of keeping the light(s) switched on whilst sitting on the sofa not moving. Perhaps this is why commercial systems cost so much.

Or is this not the application required?

tim

[Chris J Dixon]

one I can find is Hafele @ £200 which seems very steep.

someone enters the area so there must be difference between manufacturers.

If all you are looking for is an occupancy detector, I have been using

my kitchen for the last 4 years. Easy to fit and set up.

I have it switching 8 x 50 W mains halogen down lighters, and, despite their bad reputation, am getting good life out of the bulbs, even with frequent operation.

Chris

[Andrew Gabriel]

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Long time delay, but even they do switch off if you're very still.

No, it's simply that all commercial lighting systems cost a lot.

[Dave Liquorice]

Setting of the delay for the use of the room will help but it's no great problem to wave an arm about if the lights go out.

[Harry Bloomfield]

fred was thinking very hard :

Yes, be careful where you plan to use them. They are great for rooms which are not normally occupied, less so for rooms which you may spend time sitting about in without much movement. We have one in a downstairs toilet, another in the utility room, neither of which tend to motionless in for long (sorry, puns not intentional) and then tend to spend hours unused.

For a living room, a single occupancy office, kitchen etc. they can be an absolute pain. No movement means the lights will go off. Best used in irregularly used rooms, where lights might accidently be left on and forgotten about.

You can buy direct replacements for wall switches for £10 / £15, either with or without a manual override.

[Harry Bloomfield]

tim..... explained on 16/08/2012 :

There is simply no way around that issue. There is no difference between the cheap solutions and the commercial ones, other than cost. Offices tend to have more occupants and more movement, it is the movement which retriggers the timing.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I have a few cases. They're all driven by a home automation system.

On the landing, the burlar alarm sensor also acts as an occupancy sensor, switching on the landing light for 15 minutes if it's dark outside. I keep meaning to shorten this timer.

I have an outlet in my living room which is controlled by occupancy (again uses the burglar alarm sensor). It's powered-up on detection, and powers off 20 minutes after last motion detection. It's there for plugging christmas tree lights into, so unused most of the year. If one or two people are sedentary watching the TV, the tree lights do occasionally switch off. I work in the room too, and if the tree lights go off, it's a good reminder that I'm not getting up from my desk often enough.

Also in the kitchen, the sensor doesn't switch the lights on (you need to flick the switch, which is actually connected into the home automation control), but 10 minutes after last motion detected, it switches 75% of the lights off. Since no one ever sits in the kitchen, there's always movement detected when it's occupied and a shorter timer works fine. On my to-do list is to change this so that during daylight, instead of 75%, it will switch off all the kitchen lights.

[docholliday93]

I came across a complaint about this a while ago, from someone living in some kind of hall of residence with communal washrooms. Turned out that the sensors could not see anyone inside the shower cubicles...

[Andrew Gabriel]

kind of hall of residence with communal washrooms. Turned out that the sensors could not see anyone inside the shower cubicles...

Maybe they decided that when you've been in the shower for an hour, that's the best way to get you out...

[Owain]

I just have to explain to the neighbours why I'm stood in the close doing Nazi salutes at the ceiling.

Owain

[fred]

could you give me some details on these replacement wall switch versions

Thanks

[Toby]

I am not harry, but I think this is what you are after

- doesn't need a neutral wire, but that may mean if the circuit ONLY has CFL's on it, they may flash occasionally when off!

(This one needs a neutral wire)

[Harry Bloomfield]

You got the neutral, no neutral required links crossed, but those are the type of thing. I have seen them much very cheaper in electrical wholesalers.

[Lobster]

I now have a vision of the Gabriel household keeping an Xmas tree up 12 months of the year as a means of avoiding work-related injury... :)

David