I’m violently opposed to any kind of cameras in the bathroom, unless we’re talking a serious safety issue. But we’ve got to know if and be alerted if Calvin is causing trouble. Our goal is for him to use his own bathroom appropriately without fear that he’s going to flood the house.
We can do this with just the motion sensor.
We have a single non-camera motion sensor in the bathroom that is tucked away in the corner facing the toilet and the sink. When Calvin is in the bathroom, the motion detector sends an alert every minute or so. So how can we use this? I’ve been looking at the motion sensor data in a few different ways and think we I have a solid plan.
This chart shows the number of motion events every minute. Looking at the data in this chart, he’s peeing just after 3 and pooping around 3:45. When he pees, he triggers around 2 motion events. But pooping triggers at least 3 times as many.
If we look at the same time frame, but the number of motion events every five minutes, the time difference is much clearer to see.
This data is super-helpful.
Based on this, we should be able to easily trend Calvin’s time in the bathroom to figure out how long he should in there, roughly what he is doing in there and most importantly, send us alerts if he’s spending more time than expected.
As we start tracking meals, drinks, etc., this will be crucial in trying to understand his elimination schedule as we continue to optimize his daily routine.
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