Motion sensors in steamy places

[Mark Sanctuary]

I was wondering how the motion sensors have worked for others in steamy situations like bathrooms?

 

Many in our family don't always turn on the fan when in the shower and so the bathroom tends to get quite steamy. Also I noticed the list of places that the instructions recommend against locating a motion sensor and steam is on the list.

 

Thanks,

[Sub-Routine]

Hi Mark,

 

Would it make sense to just watch if the light is on for 3-4 minutes and then set the fan on for ~20 minutes?

 

Before Insteon (and with children) I pulled all the bathroom two switches (light and fan) and connected both the lights and fan to one switch. So anytime they went to the bathroom the fan turned on until they turned off the light.

 

It would make more sense to leave the the fan on for a few more minutes after the light turns off if they have been in the bathroom for more than a few minutes.

 

Rand

[Mark Sanctuary]

I will have to play with that idea Rand. The one thing I will have to work around is when a light gets left on after a short bathroom visit. I think with the motion sensor I can. Thanks for the suggestion, its a good one.

 

Thanks,

[Mark Sanctuary]

Talked to my wife and she did not like the idea of the fan on unless in the shower so the fan coming on a few minutes after the light is turned on may cause this. I guess she does not like the noise, especially the one in our guest bathroom where the fan is a louder unit. Anyways so I have the fan setup with timers and have asked her to make sure she turns it on when in the shower. I may figure out a way around this but I still need to brainstorm some more.

 

Thanks,

[ergodic]

I have two or three 2420Ms in my bathrooms to handle the programs, with one located inside each shower.

 

I do keep the screw tightened in the battery covers (unlike my other inside sensors), and they are located up higher where there is less moisture. One of them is actually inside a glassed-in steam shower where I never really expected it to last long. While it probably doesn't do them any good, I've seen no problems for over a year now.

 

If you're really concerned you could probably fashon something out of a clear j-box cover or something like that but it would be kind of ugly and probably not needed.

[sfhutchi]

Talked to my wife and she did not like the idea of the fan on unless in the shower so the fan coming on a few minutes after the light is turned on may cause this. I guess she does not like the noise, especially the one in our guest bathroom where the fan is a louder unit. Anyways so I have the fan setup with timers and have asked her to make sure she turns it on when in the shower. I may figure out a way around this but I still need to brainstorm some more.

 

Thanks,

 

I implemented a delayed start on a fan in a guest bath that my wife doesn't use... This way it doesn't seem to bother her.

It seems to work well. If the bathroom light is one for 5 minutes or more, then the fan turns on. A separate program will turn the fan off it has been on for 15 minutes. This way if you turn it on manually, it also will get turned off by the same program.

 

If the user turns the light off and leaves before 5 minutes, then the fan never comes on.

[sfhutchi]

I have two or three 2420Ms in my bathrooms to handle the programs, with one located inside each shower.

 

Are you getting good coverage in your bathroom with this setup? I am thinking that we need something more reliable like ultrasonic or some type of rf field disruption to be reliable. Unreliable motion sensing in a bedroom or a bathroom is really a nuisance.

[ergodic]

I have been having no real problems to speak of.

 

I was a little surprised that the IR sensor was able to handle a warm bathroom OK, but really no difficulty I've seen.

 

I will say if the steamer is active in the shower the IR doesn't see anything, but I wouldn't expect it to. I put a little X10 keychain button in there in a plastic bag to use if you really want to control the light under those circumstances. It rarely comes up: the shower motion there triggers off a 15-minute timer which is about as long as any normal human could stand being cooked.

 

My biggest problem with the standard X10/Insteon PIR motion sensors is with the *#@! cats setting them off.

 

I haven't seen any directly-compatible Insteon ultrasonic motion sensors. Possibly someone more knowledgeable here knows of something. You could always use a commercial unit like Leviton in conjunction with an IOLinc, but that would get expensive as well as being a pretty bulked-up collection of hardware. I definitely doubt you would find any battery-powered ultrasonic sensor, so it would be a wired-in solution.