Room Management System – Some considerations and setting it up

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial on building this little self sufficient room management system. I call it self sufficient because it is running all by it self without being connected to a network or a computer. I am sure, there is plenty of space for improvement and still, if you have any additional ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment. As said before, creative critic is always welcome and kindly appreciated.

Now for everybody trying to build one of this, please act responsible.

You may use the code as is or modify it to your needs as you wish but what ever you do with it, you do it at your own risk and responsibility. On implementing the Room Management System in your light system you are dealing with high power electrical systems (240 V in Europe, 110 V in USA). If you are not familiar with at least basic electrical installations, please ask for professional advice. Failour to do so may cause injury or death or damage to buildings or equipment.

If you have been following the tutorial from the beginning I guess you now how to handle the Room Management System and how to adjust timers and sensitivity settings. However, I through it in anyway:

Going back to our code right on top where it says “//Timer and Sensitivity Settings to be changed to individual needs//”:

unsigned int sensitivity = 500;

This variable is a time value in milliseconds on the end of the code to adjust for how responsive the system reacts to inputs. You may lower the value for the system to react faster but you may get problems with the priority buttons, getting the effect that the lights switch off an on again by one button press. Raising the value will lower the response of the system. Specially on manual input. Buttons have to be pressed a little longer to react to the input.

unsigned int photoCellCutOff = 280;

The photocell is giving back a reading between 0 and 1024 depending on the light input. As more light, as higher the reading. As lower you set the value as darker it will be until the light come on in the selected rooms.

long int dBed1 = 60000;

to

long int dMaster = 240000;

All the variables between this two statements representing the times between the last detection of movement and the delay until the system is switching off the lights. Since Arduino is calculating everything in milliseconds, this number are quite high. 1000 milliseconds stands for 1 second and 1minute makes up 60.000 milliseconds. If you would like to have a delay of 10 minutes you need to put the value up to 600000.

To set this values depends a little on your set up. However, a corridor, where usually nobody is getting comfortable and where you do not have to consider inactivity for a period of time while a movie is being watched or a book is been read, a short delay time of just 2 minutes (120000 milliseconds) will do the job. In living areas where people do sit down and read a book etc. you also have to check how sensitive the PIR's are you are using. If the PIR's are very sensitive and you didn't pull up the systems sensitivity setting to a value of 1000, a 5 minutes (300000 milliseconds) delay in living areas is sufficient. A kitchen again is a busy area and a 2 minutes delay will do the job. A little more careful considerations are needed in bath and shower rooms. If you have a all in one bathroom with bath, shower and toilet together, there is no problem, just make sure that the used PIR is suitable for a bathroom (humidity). If you have a separated shower area with its own light but to small to install a PIR in a save way, the delay has to be long enough to take a shower without the lights switching off.