Stairs

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  • Andrew Millne
    Automated Home Ninja
    • Nov 2007
    • 269

    Stairs

    I'm playing around with a Cortex trial at the moment before my first modules arrive and I am unsure how the stairs object comes into play. In plan view I have two floors with a hallway room on the ground floor and landing room on the first floor. The staircase is in two parts with a small landing in the middle (I have attached a couple of photos to show you what I mean). Presumably I add the stairs object at house level and link hall to upstairs landing? Doing this pops up an alert saying stairs are usually added to a room, in which case the upstairs or downstairs room?
    Attached Files
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  • Paul_B
    Automated Home Legend
    • Jul 2006
    • 608

    #2
    Andrew,

    Can't help as I haven't "automated" my stairs yet. But I have exactly the same layout.

    From what I have read the Stairs object is much the same as a door so they link two rooms from within the room. From this I assume stairs exist in the hall and lead to the landing.

    I'm sure Karam or Viv will correct me.

    Paul

    Comment

    • Karam
      Automated Home Legend
      • Mar 2005
      • 863

      #3
      Yes you would set up your hall as a room within the ground floor and the landing as a room in the top floor. The stairs object can then be placed in the Hall (not house level) and its connections would be to Hall and Landing

      Comment

      • Viv
        Automated Home Ninja
        • Dec 2004
        • 284

        #4
        It will work if the stairs is placed anywhere. But like a door, you would expect to place it in the room where it physically is. Its purpose like a door is to link two rooms together i.e. the Hall and Landing. But unlike a sensed door it is always open. So it could be placed in the Hall or Landing. It is the connections that define the bottom and top of the stairs i.e. which rooms are linked. It means if movement is seen on the Landing and motion was last seen in the Hall it will transfer presence from the Hall to the Landing and visa-versa.

        Your half Landing I think has the opertunity to provide more acurate tracking. If a PIR sensor could look at the half Landing area and not see movement in the Hall or Landing then the half Landing could be considered a room. You would add a stairs object between the Hall and half Landing and between the half Landing and Landing. This would mean the tracking goes from Hall to half Landing to Landing.

        Viv

        Comment

        • Paul_B
          Automated Home Legend
          • Jul 2006
          • 608

          #5
          The half-landing idea seems like a good one. I guess the PIR would be best low down on the wall so as not to get to my straying. Either that or look for a non-Idratek IR beam to act as a proximity sensor that could feed into Cortex?

          Comment

          • chris_j_hunter
            Automated Home Legend
            • Dec 2007
            • 1713

            #6
            interesting thread ... and the comment about stairs being similar to always-open doors is a helpful one ... eg: our place is very open-plan, with many such situations, involving stairs & passage-ways & vestibules, etc ... so the tricks being thought of here, for the half-landing, could be quite handy !

            Presumably, the half-landing sensor wouldn't haver to be a PIR' - maybe a floor pad-switch, or a beam-breaker would do, or ...

            Wonder if a Maxbotix (perhaps with a Picaxe to provide / improve the interface) would be an option ?
            Our self-build - going further with HA...

            Comment

            • Andrew Millne
              Automated Home Ninja
              • Nov 2007
              • 269

              #7
              Thanks, the replies have definately helped my understanding of the stairs object. The top of the second picture I have uploaded shows a good location for a PIR I think. Mounted on the edge of the first floor looking low down towards the window will work quite nicely I feel.
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              Comment

              • toscal
                Moderator
                • Oct 2005
                • 2061

                #8
                What about a ceiling mount PIR. These look down and normally cover a circular area of about 10 to 15m or so. Some can be adjusted for sensitivity to help prevent false alarms. http://www.thecrowgroup.com/products...ly=4&prod=1450
                manual here http://www.thecrowgroup.com/files/support/TLC_360.pdf
                IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER, YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM.
                Renovation Spain Blog

                Comment

                • Viv
                  Automated Home Ninja
                  • Dec 2004
                  • 284

                  #9
                  [QUOTE=... and the comment about stairs being similar to always-open doors is a helpful one

                  Don't foget that if you have rooms with doorways or openings between them you can add a door from the:
                  Tools | Design Network | Add Cortex Logic object | Door option
                  That is if you physically don't have it sensed or their is no actual door.

                  Later if you do automate it it can be re-assigned to a physical input.

                  The seperate linked rooms however need to be motion sensed to maintain tracking.

                  Viv

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