Regulate temperature in dog house only if dog is present?

Community Playground Getting Started & Initial Setup
#1

Hi all,
I currently have the Vera3, and I want to know if it’s possible to determine if my dog is in his dog house, if he is, then turn on an outlet if the temperature is below 60 degrees and then off at 70.

I know, I’ll need a temperature sensor and a outdoor lighting switch but I don’t know how to detect if the dog is in the dog house. I was thinking a weight sensor, but I don’t think there are any zwave devices. So then I considered using a non-zwave weight sensor, but I don’t know how I’d connect the whole system together. A motion sensor wouldn’t work either because he wouldn’t move while asleep and it would keep turning off.

Thoughts?

#2

Why not use a 4-in-1 sensor? This will detect movement and tell you the temperature,humidity and light level. So long as it points into the kennel it will only detect the dog moving. Then it’s easy to control an appliance module to control the fan or whatever. I do this in two stages - one turns on a light in the hallway at night if there is movement, the other tuns on a heater if the temperature from the same sensor is too low. You would just be merging my heater and light effectively.

#3

Prior art with a bed occupancy sensor: http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=12465.0

#4

And don’t mess up … in many homes you might end up sleeping in the Dog house and the Dog will have your bed!

#5

[quote=“eb510, post:1, topic:177966”]Hi all,
I currently have the Vera3, and I want to know if it’s possible to determine if my dog is in his dog house, if he is, then turn on an outlet if the temperature is below 60 degrees and then off at 70.

I know, I’ll need a temperature sensor and a outdoor lighting switch but I don’t know how to detect if the dog is in the dog house. I was thinking a weight sensor, but I don’t think there are any zwave devices. So then I considered using a non-zwave weight sensor, but I don’t know how I’d connect the whole system together. A motion sensor wouldn’t work either because he wouldn’t move while asleep and it would keep turning off.[/quote]
My thought is: does Vera or home automation add any value to this? I don’t see that it does. I’d avoid motion sensors as they will turn the heat off even if the dog is still present and simply not moving, as in sleeping.

I’d opt for a thermostat(cheap) and a pressure pad switch to control power to the heater/thermostat(also cheap). The actual implementation would depend on the chosen heat source, but it should be simple, reliable, and inexpensive until you add home automation.

Edit: If using Z-Wave, be conscious of the distance between the dog house and the rest of the Z-Wave network. I would expect most dog houses to be outside the signal range of the Z-wave network.