Help: Auto light ON with motion EXCEPT when TV is ON

#1

I’m using this piston from the samples and it works great… Motion Based Light EXCEPT when Manually turned On

But I’m having a problem… one of the sensors covers the living room and works as expected but… I’d like to “disable” the turning on of the light when watching TV.

Turns out the sensor also covers the couch and if you slightly move while watching TV with all lights off the living room light will turn on (obviously as expected).

I haven’t found a way to detect the TV being on (don’t have Harmony controller, nor the TV can communicate with ST as far as I know (Vizio ) The living room motion sensor is a Fibaro sensor and I just remember that is has a lux sensor.

What can you guys suggest in order to incorporate the lux sensor into the current piston so that it won’t run when TV is on?

I was thinking on measuring lux at 3 stages: all ights off at night, living room light on and tn on with all lights off and restrict the running of the piston when luminescence is close to the TV on measure.

#2

If you are going to try and use LUX as condition it might prove difficult because the TV will have some highs and lows. So your lux reading might be bouncing around a lot.

You could monitor the power usage with a smart outlet.

A virtual switch that you activate is a free solution.

#3

I use the Movie Time routine to pause the piston for 2 hours or if I change to I’m Back routine to resume. It requires you to activate through ST app though.

#4

Here is the piston I use:

Movie Time
Movie Time.png1178×805 107 KB

#5

I ended up moving the sensor a bit up… the couch is directly beneath the sensor… now the sensor doesn’t “see” the couch.

Played a while with the lux option but discovered that the sensor doesn’t update as frequently as I tought… and altough theres a setting to lower the freq I’m afraid it’ll suck my battery life.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

#6

I was ready to deal with the difference in lux but I was thinking that lux reports would be realtime… upon reading a bit more about ST and ZWave in general I know now thats not the case. I could make the sensor report more frequently but I think that’ll kill battery life.

Ended up aiming the sensor bit highre so it doesnt see the couch.

Interesting about the smart outlet… I did’t knew they have power monitoring capabilities. Do you think they’ll work to know when the washing machine stops? :slight_smile:

#7

Some do and some don’t. The SmartThings outlet does. The GE in wall ones do not. Just have to make sure you find one that does.

There are several examples of people using them to monitor washer and or dryer.

#8

Thanks

#9

Im considering building a piston to replace a Smart lighting automation I have that turns on a set of lights when motion is detected. This works as-is but often times my family and I are sitting down to watch a movie and either one of the kids cant sit still (imagine that), or my dog begins to wander, turning on the light.

My setup:
3-way switch that turns on a ceiling fan and separate ceiling light fixture
2 Smart bulbs in a seperate fixture
Iris button on 3 way switchplate that controls the bulbs
Motion sensor in corner of room, facing couch’s.
Smart lighting rule that only triggers “lights on motion” between 6AM and 745PM

My plan is to eventually rebuild this Smart lighting automation, in WebCore, but how would I disable the lights from turning on (for 2 hours) if a Aeon remote button was pushed. This would also help when the kids are taking naps during the day. Right now, I have to tell the Amazon dot to turn the lights off, which we have to pause the movie so it can hear us(located directly under TV).

Does this look correct?

Landing Light Motion Pause
Landing Light Motion Pause.png1178×822 79.3 KB

#10

I have something similar to what you want.
I used a Smart Plug Adapter that senses the TV current. Using that info I can determine if the TV is on or OFF. I use a SmartApp called Energy Meter Routine, this app will run a Smartthings Routine based on the consuption of the TV.

I created 2 routines:

  • Movie Time On: Turns off Living Room Lights (the ones controlled by the motion sensor) and turns ON a virtual switch named MovieTime
  • Movie Time Off: Turns the virtual switch MovieTime OFF

The logic for my motion light control checks for motion at the sensor AND the virtual switch status. If the virtual switch is ON (meaning the TV is ON) then execution of the light control stops.

As soon as I turn OFF the TV the virtual switch is turned OFF and upon the next motion sensed the lights will turn ON.

Hope that makes sense.

I’ve been thinking of moving everything to WC but it works so well as it is that I’m afraid to touch it :blush: