In the contextual smart home, door contact sensors provide a huge amount of useful occupancy information. Nearly ever door in our is connected using a door contact sensor and those that are not connected, will be very soon. Each one is also part of the security alarm system depending on the mode. They are also critical to our zone models, to enable our Home Control System to know if a zone is closed or not.
We use common models for all the sensors and all the types of sensors connected to our Home Control System. Combined with technology abstraction this means that any sensor added inherits all the capabilities supported by each model and our smart home. Essentially, every sensor connected becomes instantly very smart. They can all generate based on values, timers, etc. They can all generate voice announcements if required or trigger an alarm.
Because we use technology abstraction we can use many types of door contact sensor in our smart home.
For the best possible reliability and performance, our preference is to use wired sensors where ever possible. They require no batteries and also have very low latency. Low latency results in the best possible user experience.
This usually involves a reed switch mounted invisibly in the door frame and a magnet fixed into the top of each door. Wires then run up through the frame into a floor or loft space, for connection to our contextual smart home. This approach is much cheaper than using wireless sensors.
It is not always possible to install wiring for wired sensors and so we also use wireless technologies such as Z-Wave.
Firstly, every door can provide occupancy and presence information into the pool of whole home context. Door contact sensors can also be easily configured as part of the home security system, and this is adaptive to the current mode, home occupancy, etc.
It is very easy to configure a timeout period so that are generated if a door is left open (and/or closed) for more than a defined period of time.
This is particularly useful for things like garage doors and shed doors, where we often forget to close them.
Sometimes it is nice (for peace of mind) to receive notifications when doors, gates, etc. are opened and this too is easily configurable for any mode.
This video shows how wired door contact sensors can enable zero-touch user experience lighting with really fast response times (very low latency), to enable a great user experience.
