Door Contacts

Hi All,

I've a job where the client doesn't want switches anywhere. He wants to be able to control everything via his phone which is quite straight forward although and I have explained really inconvenient walking into a room and having to pull a phone out.

Because of this there's occupancy sensors in all the rooms doing different things depending on the time of day.

However on the top floor there is no place to hide recessed occupancy sensors and he doesn't want surface ones. Is there any way to link door sensors to all the doors on that floor opening into the landing so in daylight nothing would happen but dusk till dawn as soon as they open a circuit could turn on.

I personally don't think this is very practical as it mean every door has to be shut or lights will be on all night but the customers always right!

Thanks
Mike

 

- PIR inside an air vent
- behind a TV
- microphone connected to a raspberry pi hidden in a wall.
- motion capture from CCTV
- motion sensitive light bulb
- radio field disturbance (walk into a room with Wifi and by walking in you change the ambient WiFi pattern)
- ultrasonic sensors (similar to parking sensors)
- laser beam / IR beam
- metal field detector in door frame
- reed switch in door frame
- electric latch with sensors

Even if your customer is right, if the space is commercial, there may be some fundamental OHS obligations the client may have, in which case you decline. Customers are not able to override laws and insurance / occupancy laws.

A classic example is when someone who is extremely cheap installs a beam detector to protect a gate but only installs it on one side of a gate. Then the *client* wants to argue the logic of detecting both sides of the gate, until you point out it cant detect the presence of a child on the outside putting a body part in the way as it closes. Sometimes you just have to send them an email and make sure you dont end up with the liability of failing to make the correct OHS changes.

Under the duress of litigation, the majority of people will look to shift the blame onto someone else.

 

I do this in my house - it is a great feature - but it is used in conjunction with switches.

In my case, I use an alarm panel to monitor all internal door and then configure the panel to send a C-bus command (has a C-bus interface board installed) to the lighting system.

Many way to do this. Use aux inputs to trigger C-bus groups, use a generic I/O module that a PAC can communicate with.

I use timers with all my door triggered lights. That way a door left open wont leave a light on. There are downsides. Take my study, When I open the door the light ramps on if it is night time. If I leave it open, the lights will turn off after 5 mins or so. If I close it the lights turn off. Now If I want to work in there with the door closed the lights go out and I need to turn them on manually (via a switch or from the automation system interface).