Pitchforks on Standby

Alex (0:00)

The great clear out continues. This is in fact going to be the very last thing that I record in this studio, give or take, for ever. And as part of that, I've been clearing out closets and cupboards and drawers and stuff, and I found an old Innovelli switch, which, Geoff, you are now the benefactor of.

Jeff (0:20)

I am, and I wouldn't actually call this one old. This was actually one of their newer millimeter wave ones that was, they kind of were working on ever since. You guys remember that video Linus did about the whole GE switches he put in his house, and they didn't really work. And he was like, I really want millimeter wave in all my switches. And Innovelli came to the rescue. Yeah, so it was one of these. So it's the Innovelli millimeter blue is that you sent me.

Alex (0:43)

So how does that differ from just a normal Innovelli blue switch, which is like Zigbee?

Jeff (0:50)

So they have a Zigbee and they have a Z-Wave model. The difference is it has built into the actual switch a millimeter wave presence sensor. So you're all familiar with like the FP1, the FP2, Apollo's got one, everything, Presence has got one.

Basically, they're really good at detecting still objects, or at least more still objects. I mean, you're still moving every bit, but it can detect like a person sitting there and breathing. Right.

Alex (1:15)

And I remember reading somewhere that people use them to detect when they're in bed, when they're awake versus when they're asleep, because they're that sensitive at like, just when you breathe, it's crazy.

Jeff (1:26)

They're also really good because they can go through walls, which is a problem we'll talk about in a minute. So I don't really find a switch to be the best spot to put one of these generally, because if you think about it, a switch is not always in the spot or it's going to be looking at a room and have the best detection area. You kind of want to be able to like, you know, more closely attune where they're going to be pointing.

But I do have one spot where it made a lot of sense in my powder room, because my wife is like, the only room in the house that didn't have smart switches was the powder room. My kids always left the lights and the fan going. And my wife is like, I am sick of this. I want a switch in there that is smart so you can turn it off.

Alex (2:06)

Hold on. First row problems. Your wife asked you for more smart home stuff? Dude.

Jeff (2:13)

Oh, my wife is all over the smart home. Marry that woman. Like she, when things don't work, she gets really mad at me. She's like, she hasn't turned a light switch on for like four years, because she walks into a room and the lights turn on.

Adam (2:26)

This is what instantly popped in my head. I've got a golden ticket.

Alex (2:31)

Yeah.

Stephen (2:33)

I'm still blown away by the fact you have a powder room.

Alex (2:37)

I thought you were going to say wife for a second, which would have been rude.

Jeff (2:40)

Bathroom.

Stephen (2:40)

No, he seems like a nice fellow.

Jeff (2:43)

So anyway, I have a great spot for it because I had tried one of the usual IR motion switchers, switch things, and they worked pretty well. But every now and then, you're sitting there for a while, for whatever reason, the light turns off. Little annoying. So I put these millimeter wave switch in, and two things immediately jumped out to me. One, it's really cool because I can actually have the switch turn on based on the switch detecting motion. I don't have to go through Home Assistant. It can figure out, okay, there's a person in here, I'm going to turn the light on, and then when the person has gone, it turns the light off. No automations required.

Kind of nice.

Alex (3:21)

Built into the switch. That is nice.

Jeff (3:23)

Built into the switch itself, yeah. And then secondly, obviously being, as I said, it can go through drywall.

So I realized when I went on to my garage, the light was still turning on when I was next to my refrigerator in the garage. I'm like, well, that's a small problem.

Alex (3:37)

It can see through drywall?

Jeff (3:39)

It can see. They can see through drywall.

Alex (3:41)

Wow.

Adam (3:42)

Not creepy at all.

Jeff (3:43)

No.

No. Which I've actually used in my events in certain spots. Like I've got another bathroom down here in the basement looking at where I've actually positioned one of them to point through the wall so there's nothing in the bathroom showing there's a motion sensor, but the lights turn on automatically.