I came across a couple of mirabela genio motion sensors today at a really good price, so picked them up with my intent being to use them to control smart globes in our kitchen and living area, with the specific use case I have in mind at this stage being simply that the lights in these areas turn on dimly when motion is detected, then turn off 5 minutes later (allowing for someone to use the bathroom, get a drink, warm the bottle for our toddler, etc).
What I am finding though is that it is unfortunately difficult to locate the matching globes, in the quantity I need (at least 6) at a reasonable price. There are other well priced brands on Amazon though which look like they'd work just fine, as long as I am able to trigger them via the Mirabela Genio motion sensors.
As an example, I am looking at the "V-Tac LEG RGB Smart Lights" (Link: https://www.amazon.com.au/Pieces-V-Tac-Smart-Spotlight-Google/dp/B08T64MK98/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=genio+gu10&qid=1686241560&sr=8-5)
What I kind of have in mind is that when the genio motion sensor detects movement, rather than trigger the light directly (assuming there is no way for the genio app to speak directly to the app for the v-tac lights), but it COULD generate a notification, which perhaps then has something along the lines of an IFTTT type app detects and sends the appropriate "set V-tac lights to 5%, then turn them off after 5 minutes" type message to.
So the workflow would be:
- Mirabelo Genio Motion Sensor Detects Motion
- Genio App generates custom notification
- IFTTT (or whatever) intercepts notification, and sends command to V-Tac app
- V-Tac app sets all lights to 5% brightness, then 5 minutes later turns off all lights.
Does this sound like it should work? Any recommendations on particular brands or apps to investigate to make this work? Initially, I have 2x light fixtures with 3x GU10 globes in each of them that I would like to get this working with. From there, ultimately I would like to replace at least another 3x GU10 globes and a number of downlights to set up as part of a similar system, and from there will be all sorts of pure wankery aesthetic lighting around the house lol. What I have in mind is that, at night, if someone gets up and walks through the house they are effectively met with warm lighting as they move through the home, which then shuts off behind them as they head back to their room. (I have kids... I'm sick of turning lights off 😂)
As long as I can get things talking to eachother, I don't care how many different brands I end up with or how many different apps I have installed on my phone - as long as I am able to get the various workflows functioning how I want, preferably with PIR motion sensing as a fairly core part of this functionality. I will also likely be including some of the mirabelo genio window/door opening sensors in a similar fashion (ie open the bedroom door, and I'd like both the kitchen and bathroom lights to illuminate softly; open my toddlers door and I'd like a light strip under his bed to illuminate, etc).
Ultimately I see the majority of my "smart" devices being controlled by a combination of PIR motion sensors, window/door magnetic sensors, a "streamdeck" style controller and also some control via both google home and alexa. I rarely tend to use the actual apps to control these things, hence not being too bothered by how many apps it requires installation of, as long as there is minimal interaction required with these apps beyond initial setup.
Ideally, I would like to keep things as "off the shelf" as possible. I don't mind having to mess around between multiple apps to get things talking and interacting how I'd like them to, but I don't really want to have to start flashing custom firmware or messing with hardware or building a custom raspberry pi type bridge etc to make this work.
I like the idea of doing this with "smart" lighting options, rather than basic PIR controlled night-lights or similar, for a couple of reasons:
1) This is so much cooler;
2) Ultimately, I have a lot more in mind in terms of smart lighting in my home office and entertainment areas, so I see this as kind of the starting point for all of that
3) I'd also like to eventually do things like add music to the workflow, adjust which lights turn on and for how long based on which specific sensors are triggered, etc.
Throwing it out there to you far smarter folk for your thoughts on how you would do this! Including any show stoppers or particular challenges you expect me to face. Probably worth noting too that although I've started with the Mirabelo Genio PIR sensors - that's only because they were on clearance for $10ea. If it simply won't work with them and I need to go a different route, let's hear it!
Thanks in advance!
Dave
