My porch light sometimes gets left on and annoys my very nice neighbor. It’s on a schedule but sometimes someone turns it on after the scheduled off time and forgets to turn it off. Is there a way to give her access to that switch only? I am using Kasa wifi switches and Alexa in the rest of the house. Thanks.
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Tell it every half hour to turn off… except the times it is supposed to be on.
Simplest solution (which I have also used in the past) is to schedule a turn off event at say 4am and 6am.
If it’s already off, then there will no difference.
Don’t over engineer the solution, unless you really have to :)
Give you neighbor a scene switch connected to your Alexa that can control your light.
Have an Alexa routinue that runs at midnight or 10pm or whatever and just turns everything off just in case. I have a few of those routinues set up to turn off my kids room lights, turn off their music, etc. etc. I have a bathroom light routinue that runs every hour all night to turn the lights off in case they get up in the night, use the bathroom and leave the light on.
Kasa switches can be set to turn off automatically X minutes after being turned on.
There are lots of good points here about preventing the annoyance to start with: better fixture/bulb/aiming, timer. Are you willing to cede control at a time when you may be expecting someone or put it on briefly so you can see?
I recommendcthese other approaches first. Why make your neighbor do something to remedy the problem?
Either add another schedule to sweep it off later at night or add a motion sensor for after hours.
If time between X:XX PM and Y:YY AM and light has been on for more than 15m —> turn light off.
my neighbors never complained but i had flood lights on all corners of the house, pendant lighting for the front and back porch, sconce lighting by the overhead garage doors.
pretty shitty with a lot of light pollution in every direction…
swapped everything to dimmable recessed lights. much much better.
“Also, if it’s bothering your neighbor, you may want to revisit the fixtures you’re using”
THIS - big time
light trespass is a major issue and illegal in most jurisdictions worldwide. In the UK it’s classified as a “statutory nuisance” and dealt with under the Environmental Protection Act 1990
OP needs to fix the throw of the light or risk his local authority (council) issuing an order which gets extremely expensive to ignore
Huh… wish I’d known that 5 years ago…
The only way to let her into your wifi switches is to let her into your wifi. Its too complicated to get them to learn it. Id say you rather just create 2-3 extra scheduled turn off times, so if it ever misses one turn off command, it will catch the next one.
Isn’t there some sort of way you could create an alias of your email address that could be connected to triggering a light?
The only way to let her into your wifi switches is to let her into your wifi
Totally incorrect. My father controls my lights from across the country using the Kasa app. He is just signed in under my name
Well … that does mean youre giving them access to any device connected to that account. There is no restrictive view that lets them control only 1 light
Attach a shade on the side of the light which directly effects your neighbor. Large plant/statue/tree to reduce/eliminate problem. You can also add another schedule as others suggested to turn off after it’s been on for a specified amount of minutes. Still I would rather see if I can block the light to my neighbor so that I can use my smart light whenever and however I want :)
Giving access for your smart switch to your neighbor is no-no for me.
Unfortunately the light is mounted high up near the roof. It isn’t so much the light itself as the brightness reflecting off my white siding.
Use webhooks. In Alexa, add a webhook as a trigger and a routine to turn off the lamp, and your neighbor just needs to go to this specific url and turn off the light. Simple and fast.
https://trigger.esp8266-server.de/
https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Dworkin-Webhook-Routine-Trigger/dp/B09RGPYHLL
I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist posting this here
lol I thought that link was going to be
If Reddit still had coins I would absolutely give you some kind of award.
Lol. Exactly what I’m trying to avoid.
I think you missed the point. You are overcomplicating something with a much easier solution.
You already have a “smart” switch. Make your programming smarter to avoid the problem instead of a using a complicated workaround.
Not to mention that telling your neighbor “you turn it off” is not exactly the courtesy that OP might think it is.
Microphone on porch that triggers on hey asehole, get another light!
Why is your light shining into his house anyway
She doesn’t have curtains?
If your porch light is annoying your neighbour then you need to fix the LIGHT (ie: its throw) so it doesn’t shine (or reflect) into their windows before playing with any automation or remote controls
“Light Trespass” is a major issue and the kind of thing that local authorities (councils) tend to take seriously
A Google search on that term will underscore that message
ie: deal with the problem “at root cause” rather than trying to patch a poor setup by adding complexity
Agreed. Something as simple as changing the fixture to one that points down would benefit from unwanted light spill.
From your descriptions, I have the same Kasa switch set up (with bulbs that are three stories high thanks to a walkout basement). I have them set to go off 15 min after turning on so as to 1) not waste the bulb and 2) not cause issues for neighbors. So the dog can go outside and all is good without me having to worry.
This is a 30 second solution.
Under no circumstances would I give access to my smart devices to a neighbor.
