Question

Hello everyone.  I'm new, thank you for adding me.Hello everyone. I'm new, thank you for adding me. :) I have a small project I'm looking for some advice on. A little background first. We have a bit of an unreliable internet issue in our area and while we love our smart home features, we want as many of those features as possible to work offline through the home network or Hubitat/Zigbee/Z-Wave hubs or whatever. Our Nest Thermostat and Nest Yale Lock both still maintain their basic functionality offline when we lose our internet and I try to model every other smart solution in our home around that same philosophy. But it is often difficult to find much for Google Home based solutions that do what I want both online and offline (through the home network or Hubitat/Zigbee/Z-Wave hubs or whatever). In this case, we're looking for a humidity sensor that will automatically turn our bathroom ventilation fan on and off with these features in order of importance. A manual on/off switch. Automatically turns the fan on and off (without an internet connection through the home network or Hubitat/Zigbee/Z-Wave hubs or whatever) at a specified humidity threshold. (A timer might be ok but really prefer min threshold settings. ) Google Home compatibility so it can be monitored and turned on/off remotely. A display panel would be nice. Even better if it fit in a standard Decora switch plate. A display panel would be nice. Even better if it fit in a standard Decora switch plate. Here's an offline solution we found. Obviously it doesn't work with Google Home but it's automated. Unfortunately it just starts a timer when triggered via a sensitivity setting. It would be nicer to have minimum humidity threshold. Here's what I found with a display panel but it is only timer based. Here's what I found with a display panel but it is only timer based.  I found this which I thought might be the best of all my favorite elements but it doesn't look like the humidity sensor will trigger the fan on and off if we lose our internet connection since it has to be paired with a smart switch (and both probably require an internet connected protocol for that). https://www. amazon. com/dp/B07L4QNZVF/ Anyone tried anything like this or have any advice? I can't seem to find the perfect solution for our limiting criteria. P. S. Posting this to a few different groups. I hope that's ok.  
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...DI9VM

Answer 1

Your offline solution is a good one. i have 4. they are great. in 3 bathrooms and another room i need very dry.  

Answer 2

I have these in 3 baths, just cracked one open and its atinty inside. Half tempted to desolder and replace with esp8266 to get wifi on/off. Arduino will operate offline and will read analog sensors in this dewstop unit. Downside is you need to program it; plenty of github projects to copy.  

Comments

One last thing. These units are not as good as ceiling sensors. My switches are on furthest wall from showers and humidity rises and fills half the room before turning on. If I did it again i would get bath fan with built in sensor.  

Answer 3

I just use a zwave switch for fan control and then an iris V3 motion sensor for humidity. I make a rule in Hubitat to turn the switch on/off based on the humidity.  

Comments

@costotomy453 The Iris V3 motion sensor also has a humidity sensor and temp

Answer 4

Home automation: why use a simple, low-cost solution that is extremely effective when you can spend 50x more on something that is more complex, unnoticeably more efficient, and less reliable? I feel you, brother.  FWIW, I use the DewStop and it’s perfect. Not hub automated and I have not once wished it were. Btw it has a dial setting that lets you specify the trigger humidity and another for the length of the timer. I think in “triggered” mode it turns off once the humidity falls below the set point. The timer is only if you hit the switch to turn the fan on manually.  

Answer 5

I have a multisensor with humidity and motion. When the sensor reads motion it notes the current humidity. Then when humidity raises 10 percent (shower on) the fan kicks on. I was running until the humidity went back down to start, but it took forever because the fan is small so I changed it to run 2 hrs. I have it set where it can be in auto or manual. Parts are just a zwave switch for the fan which can be used by itself and the sensor. Programmed using homeseer