Home Automation

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Home automation is the residential extension of building automation.

It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.

Home automation may include centralized control of lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), appliances, security locks of gates and doors and other systems, to provide improved convenience, comfort, energy efficiency and security.

Warning: Working with electricity can result in injury, property damage, or even death if it is not done properly. Please keep this in mind while assisting others. If you are not sure about what you are doing, hire a licensed professional.

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Sound or short-range motion sensor for pets' "night frights" ? (alien.top)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

2 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hi!

Would a sound or motion sensor work better to capture a falling parakeet and trigger lights? I don't think a pressure sensor would be good, they are not only very light, they also poop all night.

Here's the situation: I have a couple rescue parakeets who get what's called a "night-fright", occurs infrequently, maybe every 8-12 weeks. Something spooks them, they'll fall to the bottom of their sleeping cage with a very distinct THUD, then one or both will thrash around trying to find a safe place, hopelessly, because it is dark (top 1/3 of the cage is covered with a blanket for the night). The thrashing could potentially harm them. Nightlights are generally recommended for this by vets and the internet, but they aren't working as well as I'd hoped.

I sleep lightly so the thud wakes me up and I can rush to turn on the lights. Sometimes I travel for work and the house-sitter might sleep through this. The faster I can turn on the lights, the safer they be.

Appreciate any recommendations for an appropriate sensor type! Thank you for reading :)

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I can't think of any sensor that won't give you 8 million false alarms for each time it accurately detects the problem at hand.

If they never go to the bottom of the cage unless they fall, you could potentially but the bottom grate on load cells and tune it to tell the difference between poop falling and the full bird.

Thinking way outside the box, a camera running Frigate could probably be trained to recognize the the night-fright pattern and alert reliably.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Okay, thanks for the feedback. Calibration might be tough, I suppose I could measure poop but that then builds up over night (albeit very very light). I could simulate their fall by finding a ~30g weight I suppose.

I really thought the loud thud and thrashing would be enough to trigger a sound sensor, however, it seems sound sensors don't really exist yet and we need to make them. Seems easy enough and a fun project.