Creative ideas for scenes or triggers

[Customtech]

I would love to hear ideas or projects you have done or thought would be cool to do with automation.

For example:
-Tripping the alarm making the all the lights blink rapidly and then shotgun noises on the audio.
-After a good night scene is activated if you get out of bed and activate a sensor it automatically lights up the lights leading to the bathroom.

*interested to hear everybody's ideas or work they have done*

 

[apostolakisl]

shotgun noises, now that is a good one. Perhaps you could have Mr. T's voice screaming obscenities followed by the barks of 20 rabid dogs consuming a deer carcus.

I thought this would be fun but never did it. If someone pulls on the toilet paper dispensor twice in less than 30 seconds it turns the fan on.

 

[Customtech]

shotgun noises, now that is a good one. Perhaps you could have Mr. T's voice screaming obscenities followed by the barks of 20 rabid dogs consuming a deer carcus.

I thought this would be fun but never did it. If someone pulls on the toilet paper dispensor twice in less than 30 seconds it turns the fan on.

HAHA Did you make the audio file yourself j/k. Not a bad idea on the toilet paper.

 

[Desert_AIP]

Get an inexpensive digital scale.
Hook up the button from an RF transmitter (hidden inside the scale) to the scale weight sensing button.
Place the scale in the guest bathroom.
When your guest steps on the scale, the RF transmitter transmits.
Play an audio file over the whole house system, "I'm not fat I'm big boned," or the like.

Hilarity ensues...

 

[kertofer]

Using a Cartman sound clip no less!

Carrying on that line of thinking, you could put pressure mats under the mattress and have an audio file play an exasperated groan whenever someone lies down...

In reality, I have a few scene controllers that I am going to put in, and I plan to use the different buttons to trigger events in Homeseer. For example, in my theater room when you hit the top button it will send IR commands to turn on the TV, Receiver and PS3, turn the fan on and turn on the lights with a 3 minute delayed event to dim them to 50% and a 5 minute delayed event to take them to 0. Another button does the opposite.

In the Master Bedroom I have no lights in the ceiling, so I have a lamp on each bedside table on a plugin Z-wave dimmer. When you hit Button 1 it turns them both on to 100%, Button 2 Turns one on and the other off, Button 3 does Vice Versa and Button 4 turns them both off. Dim should Dim whichever is on.

Just a couple of suggestions, but very interested in how others are using these!

 

[Desert_AIP]

A while ago I sketched out the details for an automatic garage door opener.

Concept:
Drive up in your car and the door automatically opens without touching a button.

Rough Idea:
When alarm is armed and garage door closes power is secured to GDO.

Vehicle sensor starts a timer and turns on the power to the GDO for several minutes.

Use a retrofit GDO RF receiver and transmitter.
These plug in to 120VAC, but inside the thing operates on 12VDC.
You can hook it up to the car's electrical system with minimal work.

The vehicle sensor closes a relay that sends an RF signal to the car.

The receiver in the car closes the contacts when it receives the signal.

The contacts are hooked to another RF transmitter. When the contacts close it transmits an RF signal to the, now powered on, GDO and the door opens.

Operates as a challenge and reply system with authentication.


Goods:
Security, no one can steal the opener out of your car and then go to your house and open the door.
No one can send an RF open code to the GDO without driving onto the driveway first in order to power up the GDO (where they are recorded by the camera).
The door will only open when YOUR car drives onto the driveway.
Coolness, hands off opening. Could use a timer after arming the alarm to close the door hands free too. Or use two driveway sensors to determine direction.

Pitfalls:
If one of the RF signals gets missed, you need a way to manually trigger. Maybe through a smart phone app to keep having to have a hand held RF transmitter.
Inadvertent triggering. Your car is parked in the garage and another car drives on the driveway and starts the cycle. Your car receives and transmits the RF signals and opens the door. Could do an occupancy sensor/flag for the car.

Could work for a gate too, and wouldn't require opening an alarm zone or door.

Just spitballing some ideas... B)

 

[tmbrown97]

Much of my automation is practical stuff:

1. When you arm away, after the countdown expires, everything in the house turns off
2. When the alarm is armed, depending on the door you open, a path is lit from the door you entered via to the kitchen
3. The front lights are on specific times (from sunset until set times; different fri/sat than the rest of the week)
4. if someone opens the front door or rings the doorbell outside these times while it's dark out, the lights turn on anyways
5. Closet lights turn on/off automatically thanks to a contact sensor in the door
6. For the bathrooms, since my kid can't reach the light switches, there's an X10 motion sensor tied to a W800RF32 that turns the lights on when she enters (She absolutely loved this when I showed it to her the first time)
7. Opening any garage door turns on the big lights - no need to screw with those lights in the opener
8. On alarm while armed stay - whole house lights up so you can see what's going on
9. On alarm while armed away - flashing lights all around to disorient.
10. All the bathrooms turn the lights off automatically after a period of time
11. Soon - adding a dehumidistat tied to a wireless contact - to automatically turn bathroom fans on/off based on humidity
12. If the kids open their bedroom door at night, a the bathroom lights come on at 40% for them and in their little foyer.
13. Opening the gate or the back doors turns on the back yard lights.

I do have some fun stuff... thanks to an Elk124 Recordable Voice Module tied inline with the elk to the keypad speakers, I have 8 channels of random sounds I can do on any trigger. So, for a while it was the Jetson's doorbell; and during every halloween, I set it up so that the doorbell is some creepy halloween sound with cackling witch and breaking windows; and during every door opening it flips between two creeps sounds as the door opens. Also VERY handy when people house-sit and I can screw with them from my phone remotely.

There's a lot you can do based on knowing where someone is... like after a certain time, if no motion is detected downstairs, set the temp back; if there's no evidence of kids in the house, turn off the chimes; etc. Lots of great options. Also adding the W800RF32 into the mix has been awesome; combined with BSR's improved antenna - I use cheap X10RF controls for lights; and motions for some automation.

 

[apostolakisl]

Just got my chicken coup door automated and it has passed it's first official sunrise/sunset. It closes 30 minutes after sunset and opens 10 minutes after sunrise. It uses the wireless relays I discussed in another thread connected to my Elk.

 

[drozwood90]

Lou, how do you make sure all the birds are in before you close the door?

 

[apostolakisl]

Lou, how do you make sure all the birds are in before you close the door?

Yes, good question. I have observed them for the last 4 weeks. They have always entered the henhouse no later than 20 minutes after sunset. So, I'm predicting the future based on the past.

However, past performance is not a gaurantee of future results (my stock broker has always managed to invoke that truth).

I have considered putting rfid tags on them. However, I don't know how to tell if they are just near the coup, or in the coup. Plus, chickens are a lot cheaper than long range rfid system, so putting such a system in would be solely for my own personal indulgance.

I might indulge myself anyway. The purpose would be, however, to close the door during the day when the chickens are wandering about. I would like to keep other animals out of the chicken feed, eggs, and water.

Perhaps there is some sort of optical scanner that "sees" a reflector and only closes the door when it sees all of them. If you have any ideas I would love to hear them.

 

[drozwood90]

Not really, I was just trying to see if you had a way of actually telling they are all in or not. I suppose a message over speakers or something to remind you to take a look outside??

--Dan

 

[tmbrown97]

can you pull off one of those handy cat doors that only opens for your animals, then put a tag on each one? That would allow free passage of your birds while keeping animals out.

RFID can be pretty precise... think about modern cars - our nissan knows if the keyfob is on the outside of the door or the inside... on the outside it has a 3ft range - on the inside it can be anywhere... and if it's in the trunk, it knows that too (and doesn't let you close the trunk).

 

[apostolakisl]

I just googled the automatic pet door. I found an ultrasonic model and an rfid model. I can't really use them for a few reasons. First, they are way to big. Second, the rfid model doesn't seem to be able to tell inside/outside and the ultrasonic one has a collar that would be a tad rediculous to try to put on a chicken. Third, the rfid one was $800! And finally, I already built a pretty cool device that opens the door the chicken coup came with and it would bumb me out not to use it. :mellow:

I built my home made job for $2.75 of new parts, and the rest was random scraps of stuff I had sitting around (most notably, a motor from a broken power window regulator).

I have seen rfid readers on ebay that work up to a few feet away and they cost about $150 to $400. I could see maybe spending $150. I don't think what I saw on ebay has any way of telling inside from outside. I don't know how the Lexus knows where the rfid tag is. Perhaps it has 3 receivers and triangulates the signal?

 

[tmbrown97]

I'm not sure - but when we reach in the door to start the car, the key has to be a few inches past the threshold inside the door - it's amazing how accurate it is..

If you've got something that works, go with it - it was a creative solution that seems to work!

 

[apostolakisl]

Here is a demo of my chicken coup closer. The chickens are creatures of habit and we have trained them to go into the coup at night. They usually go in about 10 or 15 minutes after sunset and I set the door to close 30 minutes after sunset. It opens again in the morning. I used the wireless relay in the "press and hold" mode and soldered the rf remote button to wires which connect to my Elk panel. The Elk "presses and holds" for 10 seconds which is about 1/2 second longer than needed. I am now a solid week into this without a hitch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xduiHN6NtOw&feature=player_detailpage

Next I will be automating the water and feed.