Circuit 13 · 20A · Automation
Lighting automation, timers and sensors
Most of what people call smart home is really one question: should this light be on right now, and who decides.
Act 02 — The Detail
Monfett Electric installs and configures lighting automation across western Massachusetts, including motion and occupancy sensors, photocells, astronomic timers, smart switches and app control for indoor lighting, landscape lighting and pool equipment.
Sensors
An occupancy sensor turns a light on when you walk in. A vacancy sensor makes you turn it on and only handles turning it off, which is the one people actually keep, because nothing is more annoying than a basement light that decides you have left. Outdoors, a photocell handles dusk and a motion head handles the rest. Choosing between them is most of the value; installing them is quick.
Timers
An astronomic timer knows the date and the latitude, so it follows sunset through the year instead of firing at a fixed hour and drifting a hour and a half out of step by June. For landscape lighting, pool pumps and permanent roofline lighting, it is the difference between something you set once and something you keep fiddling with.
Switches and app control
Smart switches control the circuit rather than the bulb, so the wall switch still works for anyone who does not want to open an app, and nothing breaks when a guest flips it. That matters more than the brand. We fit them where there is a neutral in the box, and where there is not, we say so rather than working around it badly.
- Motion, occupancy and vacancy sensors, indoor and outdoor
- Photocells and astronomic timers
- Smart switches and dimmers on existing circuits
- Pool and spa equipment scheduling
- Landscape and permanent lighting control
- WiFi and app setup, handed over working, not left for you to configure
Act 03 — The Answers
A smart switch has to stay powered even when the light is off, so it needs a return path, and that is the neutral. Many older switch boxes in this area only have the hot and the switch leg, with no neutral present. There are switches designed to work without one, and there are cases where a neutral can be pulled to the box. We check the box before recommending anything.
Generally both, doing different jobs. A photocell or astronomic timer handles the lighting you want on every evening, following sunset through the year. A motion sensor handles the lighting you only want when someone is there, such as a side door or a driveway. Putting everything on motion is the usual mistake, because a house where every light snaps on and off all night looks unoccupied rather than lit.
Properly installed, nothing important. Smart switches control the circuit rather than the bulb, so the switch on the wall keeps working normally whatever the network is doing. Schedules stored in the switch or the timer keep running. What you lose is app control and remote access until the connection returns.