I have a light in my pantry that isn’t super obvious when its on if the door is closed, and I may leave the light on from time to time by accident. The light switch is also partially buried in things hanging from the wall, so why not automate it to make things a bit easier, that is what smart homes are for. My idea is to use a smart door sensor and light switch to automate it and keep things from being left on.
Goal
- Turn on the pantry lights while the door is open
- Close the pantry lights when the door is closed
- Allow lights to be turned on with the door closed
Using:
- Z-Wave Door Sensor
- Z-Wave Light Switch
Hardware Chosen:
- GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Light Switch
- Aeotec Z-Wave Door Sensor 7
Automations
The automations are very straight forward for this. The main difficulty was making sure my very young z-wave network had enough range to reach the pantry for the sensors to connect.
Turn On
Trigger
Action
Turn Off
Trigger
Action
Conclusion
This was very straight forward to setup and get working and has ended up being very nice to have. After getting this setup for the pantry, it made me want to set it up in a few other places, which I’ll be doing once I get that far on my list.