Fiber Optic Spyhole?

[Jay Hanig]

Here's the problem:

I live in a 3 story house with a two car garage and workshop down on the ground floor. The living space begins on the second floor. I am in and out of the garage all day long and generally enter the house through there.

Going downstairs, I often open the door only to find I've left the lights on (sometimes overnight).

I was thinking: is there any sort of fiber optic thing that would mount on the door and allow me to see the light on the other side of the door? The stairwell is dark when I turn off its light from upstairs but I would be able to see I'd forgotten something without having to physically check.

I am open to other ideas... just want the lights out when I leave and I'm too unaware to do it through memory. I've got the dread CRS disease.

Jay

[RicodJour]

Install a motion sensor light switch. Easiest thing to do.

R

[jeff_wisnia]

If the light switch for the garage is on the garage wall just inside the garage near that door you want to "see through" it would likely be a simple job to put in a box and pilot lamp on the house side of that door and wire it so it's lit when the garage lights are on.

That's eggsackly what I did in our home over 20 years ago. I used a neon pilot lamp and it's lasted well all that time.

A couple of tips I use to help overcome the effects of my own CRS are:

If SWMBO asks me to pick up something en route home from work I take my wristwatch off its usual position on my left wrist and move it to my right wrist. Every time I look to see what time it is I'm remided of what it is I have to do.

If I need to take something out of the fridge and bring it into work (or bring something home from the office fridge.) I put my car keys on top of it. No way am I going to start driving until I've been to that fridge.

Jeff

[Jim Elbrecht]

I'm thinking you're right. Added benefit for me would be that after I pause for 'a moment or two' to ponder my next step, the sudden darkness would jolt me back to reality.

Do those things have 15-20 minute timers on them?

Jim

[RicodJour]

They are adjustable. Different ones have time setting ranges and some have adjustable field of view ranges so they're not accidentally triggered by movement outside the area to be lit.. For use in California I believe you have to have one that you have to turn on, but automatically turns off - not sure what's up with that. Most are automatic both ways.

R

[Jay Hanig]

This appeals to me more than motion sensors... the lights are fluorescent. The complication is that they've got more than one switch location. I can turn them on from just inside the front door (between the two garage doors), from inside the workshop (next room in) and finally from inside the stairwell behind that door.

The stairwell door is the only place I'd need an indicator light.

Jay

[David Nebenzahl]

On 8/12/2010 11:05 AM RicodJour spake thus:

Regarding that last thing, what are you talking about? I'm in California, have installed *lots* of motion-activated lights, and none of them work the way you described (at least I don't think so, based on your description)--they all work the conventional way, turned on by motion, turn off automatically, though they *can* be turned on manually by flicking a switch connected to them, which I assume is true of all similar lights sold across the U.S.

Regarding the adjustable on time, almost all of the ones I've installed (Heath-Zenith, the only ones you can get anywhere, it seems) have only

1-2-5 minute choices, nowhere near 15-20 minutes.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 8/12/2010 11:17 AM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

My bad; I just checked a couple of old ones I pulled from service, and they're both 1-5-10 minutes. I think that's the standard.

[David Nebenzahl]

On 8/12/2010 11:14 AM Jay Hanig spake thus:

Sounds like an interesting experiment. Why don't you get a short piece of fiber-optic cable and just try it? Could experiment just on a piece of wood: drill a hole for the cable, get a couple of small plastic caps (maybe from a craft supply place, jewelry pieces, whatever) and epoxy them onto the cable. Might just work. (Though I suspect it'll have to be fairly dark on the other side of the door for you to be able to see if the light is on or not.)

[RicodJour]

I just grabbed this, you can DAGS on your own and see if you've been compliant or not:

"Standalone Motion Detecting Lighting Controls These devices mount in a wallbox and turn your lights on and off based on motion detected in the room. (Occupancy sensing.) Be sure the device you purchase has the mode you want. (For instance: Automatic On, Timed off.) Devices made for California Title 24 do not have an option for "automatic on." That feature is not allowed under Title 24. The motion detector's only function is to turn the light off once the room is vacated."

R

[RicodJour]

Fluorescent bulbs doesn't change things - they're switches, not dimmers, and they make them in three way switches. They're not budget busters.

Doing the fiber optic thing, or an indicator on the other side of the door will cost you more money and time, and you'll still have to go into the garage to turn off the light.

R

[David Nebenzahl]

On 8/12/2010 11:37 AM RicodJour spake thus:

Hmm, I wasn't aware of Title XXIV; thanks for that. Have to look into it.

It looks like this is for lights installed in a room, not outdoor lights, to which I was referring. My apologies for any confusion there.

(I've never installed any of these lights indoors, so I guess I don't have to worry about the Compliance Police coming after me ...)

[Cindy Hamilton]

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only person who does that.

I always have a little concern that I'll forget I put my keys in the fridge and have some kind of panicky meltdown in front of my co-workers, but it has never happened (yet).

Cindy Hamilton

[RicodJour]

I guess the reasoning behind the no-automatic-on thing is so lights aren't unnecessarily turned on during the day if somebody walks into the room, but then the sensor should have a 'dawn-to-dusk' sensor over- ride. My hands are always full when I walk into a room, sometimes with packages, sometimes with just fingers, but they're always full and it's soooo much work to turn on the light. I'm tired just thinking about it!

R

[Jay Hanig]

I had another thought: does anybody make a four way wall switch that would have an indicator light on it that might light when the circuit is hot? Knowing the power is going to the light would be the same as knowing the light was left on.

I've still preferring to steer clear of motion sensors. They always seem to click off in the middle of things. I've used one (for another purpose) in the garage in the last place I lived and wasn't satisfied with it. That one turned on a floodlight within the garage when anybody moved in there but it wasn't suitable for general lighting. I have banks of 8' fluorescent tubes on both sides of my garage as well as in the workshop in the next room. I need to control all of the tubes; not just a single bulb.

The idea is not to leave the lights on when I'm not in the garage. But with the machinery I have within my workshop, it'd be dangerous for the lights to go out during the middle of an operation. Table saw, etc...

Jay

[Grumpy]

Install a motion sensor light switch. Easiest thing to do.

Or add another light in parallel on other side of door you don't need rocket scientist for that

R

[RicodJour]

No, a motion sensor switch does not make sense in a workshop with dangerous tools running. It's important to at least try to ask a question and give sufficient information so you don't waste people's time...including yours.

Just buy the standard door peep hole. Cheap and installs in five minutes.

R

[The Daring Dufas]

I despise motion activated lights in restrooms. When I'm dropping a load of ready-mix, the light always goes out when I'm half done. That's why I always have a flashlight or two in my possession at all times. 8-)

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

It seems silly to me to not have automatic turn on, it's a good deterrent to burglars. I had a friend who was having problems with nightly trespassers dressed in black to match their skin. I setup a motion detecting floodlight with a 120vac fire horn attached. It went off one night and the next morning my friend found blood and bits of bloody cloth on the barbwire sections of the back fence. Automatic lights have their uses.

TDD

[Jay Hanig]

I'm sorry if I've wasted your time. I want to be able to stand at the top of the stairs and see that I've forgotten the garage lights are on, without having to walk down those stairs to see it. If I have to walk downstairs, I don't need a peephole: I can just open the door. I want to know from the top of the stairs.

At night, it's a dark hole looking down into that stairwell unless I either flip on its light or have the garage lit up and that door between them open. So any sort of indicator light would be obvious. I am still pondering some sort of fiber optic device inserted into the door just like a peephole. I can't seem to find a source on the web unless I'm willing to buy a huge supply of it. Plus the fact if such a device already exists, I don't want to reinvent the wheel.

I've even considered a security camera/monitor setup but dismissed it as way too elaborate and expensive. I'm looking for a cheap solution. I find it hard to believe one doesn't exist.

Jay