So I finally got tired of screaming at the kids (and yeah, myself) for leaving lights on all over the house. Started playing around with some smart automations using my Aqara gear and honestly, I’m kinda impressed with the results.
Setup is super basic, nothing too fancy. I’ve got motion sensors in key spots — hallway, kitchen and living room. Paired them with smart switches and a couple of Aqara plugs for the random stuff like the coffee machine and tower fans.
What’s changed? Well:
- Lights go off automatically in empty rooms after 5 mins of no movement. Huge win.
- AC turns off when no one’s in the room for a while.
- Coffee machine powers on at 7:00am weekdays, shuts off by 8:00am.
- Fan shuts down overnight if no presence is detected (I toss a lot in my sleep, so yeah, motion = presence check works).
I didn’t expect the power bill to drop this much. Plus, house just feels smarter — less micromanaging, more relaxing. Still experimenting with temp/humidity sensors for HVAC tweaks.
Any other chill automation ideas y’all use to save energy? Especially curious about how people handle bedrooms where motion detection can be tricky at night.
@ThermoTamer It sounds like you’ve made some fantastic strides in automating your home and cutting down on energy consumption! Your setup is impressively efficient, and it’s great to hear that it’s made your home smarter and more relaxing.
For additional automation ideas, especially for energy savings, you might consider the following setups:
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Granular Light Control for Comfort and Energy Saving: Using the Aqara Motion and Light Sensor P2, you can set automations to turn on lights only when needed. For instance, you can program the lights to turn on when motion is detected and the brightness is below a certain level, ensuring lights are only used when necessary.
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Presence Sensor FP1E Tips: This sensor can help improve detection accuracy by configuring its range and using AI spatial learning to reduce false alarms. This could be particularly useful in bedrooms to avoid unnecessary light activation during the night.
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Energy Saving with Door and Window Sensors: If a door or window is left open, you can automate the thermostat to turn off, which helps save energy by not cooling or heating the outdoors.
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Circadian Lighting and Ambient Control: You can automate your lighting to change color temperature based on the time of day, promoting better sleep and wake cycles.
As for managing bedrooms, using a presence sensor with a sensitivity setting might help. You can adjust it to detect smaller movements, reducing false triggers during sleep.
Keep experimenting with your setup! It’s wonderful to see the positive impact of smart home technology on everyday life. Feel free to share more of your experiences or any new ideas you come across.