Motion Activated?

[jsharpphoto]

My apologies if this has been covered, i did a search but didn't find what i was looking for.

Has anyone installed motion-activated switches for their INTERIOR garage lighting? Not driveway stuff, but my overhead fluorescents banks. I'm considering it. Most of them that i've seen have a selectable time limit, like 5-10 minutes. The only situation where I can see not moving in the garage for 10 minutes, is if i was sitting at a workbench doing a complicated soldering job. In that case, i'd have a close proximity work light anyways.

Anyone else do something similar? Is this old news and I just didn't search hard enough?

 

[Imcrazy]

I havent done it in the garage yet but I have done other rooms in the house.

The only downside is that with the sensors I had if you get engrossed in something and sit still for a few minutes the lights will go off on you while you are still sitting there. Then you have to stand up or wave your hands over your head. Other than that little quirk it saved me a lot of money on electric since the wife or kids never ever felt compelled to turn a light off.

I did get some cool looks from guests who didnt know about it when the lights would go off or on all on their own and I told them the house was haunted.

 

[BJR]

I have one and the auto on and off it's awesome. I like having the light on when getting into the car and not having to worry about shutting it off before leaving. Make sure you get one with a forced on so it doesn't go off if you're under a car or something.

There was a recent thread on this:
http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=183434&highlight=occupancy

 

[jsharpphoto]

That's kind of what i'm thinking. If i was working underneath a car on a creeper or something, but I don't work on my cars. They're too smart for me. I work on things like building one-off motorcycle parts out of fiberglass or build wooden furniture. I move around too much. I don't even have a stool out there. I'm going to sleep on it a bit, but I think the motion detectors would work well.

This saves me from needing to relocate my wall switch anyways. It's currently in what will be a "wet area".

 

[schmelpboy]

I have one, they are selectable. Even though they are on a timer, if you know you're going to be still for awhile, you can select from, "On, OFF, AUTO" on the switch.

 

[rlitman]

I wouldn't do it in a room with a workbench. Most of the sensors are line of sight and cannot see around corners (ultrasonic is an exception, but has its own issues), and unless you set the timeout to a really long time, there is a reasonable chance they may shut the lights while you are running a saw, and I'm not taking that sort of chance.

I have a "occupancy sensor" switch (auto on/off) in my downstairs bathroom. It's great. I can walk in and wash my shop greasy hands and don't have to mess up the switch. My little one who can't reach the switch can still wash his hands and face when he wants to (there's a step stool so he can reach the sink). I had issues with people going in there and turning off the lights, so I pulled out the slider from the switch to leave it in auto mode.
The room is small, and the switch would see anyone in there unless you're behind the shower curtain, but the shower has a light/fan on a separate timer switch anyway.

I have a "vacancy sensor" (turns lights off, but not on) in my living room. That's one of the few rooms I have that I can really only light with incandescent bulbs, so a $50 switch (it's 3 way and dimming too) will still break even in a year or two (electric costs a lot by me, and its a room where the lights would get left on a lot).

 

[sberry]

I got a couple cfl's that run 24/7, so nice to be able to walk thru without having to switch lighting until I need to.

 

[67carl]

I was one of the posters in that other thread who had the same question. I went ahead and bought a Leutron Maestro occupancy sensor switch and installed it in my garage, then wired up a test light to see how it would perform. After a week of testing it never failed to do what I wanted it to do:

1) come on when the garage door opened
2) come on when the man door into the house opens
3) shuts off automatically after a set time.

My garage door opener lights have a mind of their own. Sometimes they would come on, sometimes they would not come on. Sometimes they would turn off by themselves, other times they would stay on all night long. Bulbs burned out fast and the light is weak. I have an attached laundry room with no natural light so I figured it would be nice to have some light auto on when I came out with an arm load of laundry.

Highly recommend this setup if it's what you need. First pic is the point of view from the censor. You can see the man door to the left and garage door straight ahead. Pardon the mess as I scramble to get the remodel done.

*Note - This switch is only connected to 4 can lights that are meant to replace the GDO lights, so when I pull in at night or take a load of laundry out I have decent light. For full garage lights it could work but you'd have to position the censor strategically.

 

[67carl]

Pic of switch...

 

[67carl]

Lastly the range of the censor...

 

[BJR]

Pic of switch...

That's the one I have but I recommend getting the one like schmelpboy has with a forced On setting.

 

[schmelpboy]

That's the one I have but I recommend getting the one like schmelpboy has with a forced On setting.

If I remember correctly, all mine is is a Menards special.

 

[jkwilson]

I have one, but not my main lighting. Really nice for walking in to grab something or having light while you are taking a vehicle out and not having to go to the switch.

 

[jonathan75]

I was thinking about getting this one that will attach right to the end of the florescent strip.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia...d-White-Motion-Sensor-Fixture-MSX12/203995562

My light switch is in the house which I hate. Always forget and leave it on or have to go in the house to turn it on.

 

[LEVE]

I had in my last garage, and will in my new garage, a motion activated light that was aimed to trip when ever anyone entered the man door. I could walk in, have light at night for a quick recon trip and exit. For controlling all the lights, I wouldn't have them motion activated.

 

[Milton Shaw]

Bathroom ones can get you if you sit and read very much. I have one in a downstairs room that is really just a hall to another room, wife would leave it on all the time now its off all the time except when she walks through it.

 

[rlitman]

Bathroom ones can get you if you sit and read very much. I have one in a downstairs room that is really just a hall to another room, wife would leave it on all the time now its off all the time except when she walks through it.

I've had that at work. The one I have at home is only three feet from your right shoulder (the width of the vanity), aimed right at you. There's no way you wouldn't trigger it at least every 5 minutes.

 

[Jack Olsen]

My whole garage interior is on motion sensors. It's one of the things I've done to the place that I like the most. I never have to give a thought to turning a light on or turning one off or stopping what I'm doing to hit a switch I didn't think of. (Just yesterday I was carrying a big ceiling fan out of the garage that I'd fixed for some friends and it hit me again that I would have to set the thing down to turn off the lights if I didn't have the motion detectors.)

I have four different motion detectors in the place. The two key ones are kind of expensive, but they use two different types of technology to detect movement and have a 360° range. They're made by RAB. I've never had one go off because I was sitting too still.

 

[67carl]

My whole garage interior is on motion sensors. It's one of the things I've done to the place that I like the most. I never have to give a thought to turning a light on or turning one off or stopping what I'm doing to hit a switch I didn't think of. (Just yesterday I was carrying a big ceiling fan out of the garage that I'd fixed for some friends and it hit me again that I would have to set the thing down to turn off the lights if I didn't have the motion detectors.)

I have four different motion detectors in the place. The two key ones are kind of expensive, but they use two different types of technology to detect movement and have a 360° range. They're made by RAB. I've never had one go off because I was sitting too still.

I've been thinking about multiple sensors and wondered if you could connect several sensors to one lighting circuit? Similar to having several light switches controlling one light. Is this what you've done?

 

[Gary S]

The motion sensors I've owned don't work like you expect. Mine would activate the lights when they sensed motion, but they didn't stay activated with additional motion. They timed out under constant motion, turned off, and needed additional motion after turning off to turn back on again.

I have a motion sensor light in my garage that automatically turns itself on when someone enters the garage. I have it set as short as it allows because that is enough time for me to manually turn on the permanent lights.

Motion sensor lights frustrate me too much to have any more of them around.