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OT-- remote lighting help
Ive been looking for a lighting solution for a couple days and cant seem to locate what i want. I figured someone here might have an idea that will help. I have a driveway about 250' long and live in a remote area with no street lighting so it can get pretty dark around the house. Myself or my wife come home at varying times in the dark often and would like to be able to turn my exterior house lights on by remote from our vehicles. The lights i want control of are all on one switch inside. I have found numerous ways to accomplish this through wi-fi switches, but i do not have good wi-fi signal on this side of my house. Also i dont like the idea of turning my wi-fi on, opening an app and then turning them on. What I would like is a one button remote that works similar to a garage door opener. My garage opener (detached) works great from 100' away easily. Also there are times when I won't want the lights to come on, so a drive through sensor isnt what i want either. Any ideas?
Comments
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I would think proximity sensors would accomplish this ...maybe
Visalia, Ca @lkapigian -
No Odd Job and No Proximity Mines. Rules are rules. Sorry, I'm getting off topic here....
"The pig is an amazing animal. You feed a pig an apple and it makes bacon. Let's see Michael Phelps do that" - Jim Gaffigan
Minnesota -
Cheap solar powered yard lights. They at least line up the drive way. They are on both sides of my car.
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Anyone use a z-wave switch? Can these be used without wi-fi at least?
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Ya, i usually mow over or weed wack a half dozen every spring before the wife gives up. I also get a lot of snow in my area
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Chamberlin garage door openers sell a plug in module that’s toggled from their remote. It plugs into an outlet, then you connect your lighting load to it.
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I have a lot of zwave equipment; light switches, motion sensors, garage doors controller, door locks, etc...
Zwave can be used without wifi, but unless you are committed to going down the home automation rabbit hole I would not recommend zwave for a one-off solution. Zwave does need a hub and there distance limitations (that are overcome with a mesh of many zwave devices).
In your scenario, my first cut would be to look into if the wifi switch has IFTTT (https://ifttt.com) integration. Then you can setup a geofence with the IFTTT that will turn on the lights as you approach the house.
You could also look into having an "assistant" (Alexa, Google, Siri) on your phone integrate with IFTTT and turn on the lights that way. "Alexa, turn on the outside side lights" on the phone.
The next step would be to get some Sonos speakers and have some "walk-up" music play when you arrive home :)
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.
-smak
smak
Leesburg, VA -
this maybe sideways on thinking but you could upgrade your router to send stronger signal. By upgrade I mean new. It doesn’t even have to be connected to a server just have your own intranet so to speak. Then you could turn on smart lights/garage door/etc all through an application. It’s an idea I have considered at my own home.
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The IFTTT requires location and wifi to be on correct? Also alexa etc. would also need wifi? Can any of these switches work with regular data vs wifi? I guess the only issue there is accidentally turning the lights on from afar, unless of course there is some kind of indication of on/off position
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Ya that would be good for a lamp etc i would think. I have 3-50W led floods hardwired to one switch that im hoping to activate
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Ya,i may be stuck going this route. I wish there was a simple RF switch with remote, just like the older garage door openers
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Would this help?
The lights would turn on when the garage door opens. You control the garage door with it's remote. On a night when you don't want the lights to turn on, maybe don't park in the garage?
I have some Insteon stuff running the pool pump, yard lights, etc.
#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX. -
Look at Lutron Caseta, you can replace the switch and then turn on a geofence.
XLBGE, LBGE, Charbroil Gas Grill, Weber Q2000, Old Weber Kettle, Rectec RT-B380, Yeti 65, Yeti Hopper 20, RTIC 20, RTIC 20 Soft Side - Too many drinkware vessels to mention.
Not quite in Austin, TX City Limits
Just Vote- What if you could choose "none of the above" on an election ballot? Millions of Americans do just that, in effect, by not voting. The result in 2016: "Nobody" won more counties, more states, and more electoral votes than either candidate for president. -
Smart Home has some remote switches. I think there is a remote control key fob for their Insteon switches. Haven't looked at their stuff in a while.
And if your Wi-Fi is weak on one side of the house, switch to a mesh system. No more dead spots.
Aledo, Texas
Large BGE
KJ Jr.
Exodus 12:9 KJV
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. -
When I read your thread of “remote lighting help,” I imagined you were looking to find a way to light the fire on your Egg while away from home.
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They make wall switches as well. If you have a compaitble remote you can program one of the extra buttons to the switch.
Which came first the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg. -
I have Insteon stuff. You could definitely make that work, you can add the light switch in the house and the light switch in the garage. The light switch in the garage could turn on the scene in the house. All the communication is done through the white wire! They also sell a small remote. It is addicting, I have automated my whole house. All products are available through smarthome
In the bush just East of Cambridge,Ontario -
I thought this was the ticket then I realized my opener isn't campatible
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My garaged is detached (about 80' away), and I don't park in it either. Basically I park on the side of the house in front of the garage. There is about a 80-100' square parking area here. I will take a look at the rest of their products though
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The wi-fi is ok inside the house, its out in the driveway that's dead. I'm assuming I would need to connect to my home wi-fi to activate these switches? or am I all wrong and only need the wi-fi inside the house to activate the switch and a web browser via normal cell phone towers outside?
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I have come across something that may be cheap & easy.
I have an RF remote that is used to turn on outdoor lights - primarily Christmas lights. It has a remote similar to a garage door opener and a short, weather proof (resistant?) power strip with 3 or 4 AC receptacles in it and a short pigtail for plugging it in.
Amazon has a few,
Lowes has them for $10 bucks.
Hope this helps!
Largo, FL
1 LG BGE
1 Med BGE -
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Largo, FL
1 LG BGE
1 Med BGE -
I use Phillips Hue. It uses the locating services on my phone and turn the lights, I select, on/off as I enter or leave the driveway.
Adding a simple access point will fix your WiFi issue
~ John - https://www.instagram.com/hoosier_egger
XL BGE, LG BGE, KJ Jr, PK Original, Ardore Pizza Oven, King Disc
Bloomington, IN - Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers! -
It might be over kill but have you looked into Control4 or Crestron Lutron? I have a Control4 sytem at my house and love it. Lights come on automatically based on sun set time. Plus they can be controlled from anywhere in the world via their app. These systems can control a lot more than just lights, they are a whole home automation system.
Large and Small BGECentral, IL -
Ok this might be a dumb question, but do any of these wi-fi switches work from a phone that is not connected to the homes wi-fi? What im getting at is the wifi controls the switch so the switch must be in range of the wi-fi signal, but what about the controller (phone android in my case)? What I was originally thinking was that I would have to connect my phone to my homes Wi-Fi before I could activate the switch. Can I simply just use my phone anywhere where there is 3g,4g, or LTE signal? basically meaning I can turn on/off from anywhere?
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If you use an app to control, it can be operated from anywhere. I use the My Q app from Chamberlin to operate and monitor my 3 garage doors. You can buy the built in wall switch for $50, or the plug in module for $40 to operate lights.
The garage door controls and optional modules do need to be on your house WiFi though.
Just takes a few seconds to open the app, which uses my fingerprint to sign in. Then operate a door or light module!
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The Insteon switches don't use wifi. They communicate with each other over the power lines (older X10 technology) and they send a radio single that gets related through all the Insteon switches. I use Insteon switches and X10 relays for my driveway lights.
There is a post I saw on a hunting forum about an easy way to increase Wi-Fi range by a LOT. They took a 6' antenna, plugged the antenna cable into the router, replacing one of the 3 short antennas, and ran the antenna up on the roof. The Wi-Fi range outside becomes huge. You can also go with a directional antenna if you want to go longer distance in one direction.
Aledo, Texas
Large BGE
KJ Jr.
Exodus 12:9 KJV
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. -
Ok, that's not so bad then. I was under the impression the app itself had to be running of the same wi-fi as the switches. Which would be a pain for me. Now to find a digital type switch so that it can be manually and remotely controlled on/off in any switch position
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This is why I was suggesting the IFTTT route.
The wall switch would be connected to the home WiFi. If it supports IFTTT integration it would talk over the home WiFi to the IFTTT service. NOTE: not all WiFi switches support IFTTT or require some additional components.
Your phone would use its connection to the internet (3g,4g, WiFi if available, whatever) to the IFTTT services.
If you don't mind sharing... what wifi switch do you have?
examples of what you can do with a wifi switch and IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/wemo_light_switch (note: I do not personal use this but wemo is a popular brand)
You basically want the opposite of the "Turn your lights off as you leave home"
smak
Leesburg, VA
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