How to make a smart home wife and guest proof
Expensive smart home sensors often lag and respond slower than a normal switch, leaving partners standing in the dark. This lack of reliability prevents further upgrades because the automations frustrate family members and guests. As a result, many people simply remove the new devices and reinstall traditional manual switches to stop the complaints.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Installing smart relays behind traditional switches so they can still be operated manually without explanationDid this help you?
- 2Ensuring every automated device has a physical manual fallback in case the smart hub crashesDid this help you?
- 3Using fast PIR sensors to turn lights on instantly, and mmWave sensors to keep them on while the room is occupiedDid this help you?
- 4Combining motion sensors with door contact sensors to prevent lights from turning off or blinding people at nightDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“i spent the entire weekend setting up mmWave presence sensors so the bathroom lights would be "perfect." she walked in, the sensor lagged for 2 seconds, and she just stood there in the dark. she gave me that look.”source ↗
“This is the biggest obstacle to any kind of SmartHome upgrade at my place. Everything has to be wife and guest proof before it's smart.”source ↗
“I’m about to just move the sensor out completely and use a switch because the whole thing is frustrating the heck out of me.”source ↗
“I like new toys, but if the new expensive toy works worse than a normal switch id just put it back without my partner complaining first.”source ↗
Where this came up
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