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Disabling motion detector (PIR) in thermostats in hotels

Old Feb 4, 2015, 11:54 pm
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Last edit by: jackal
Originally Posted by toyoman
We all suffered with the same issue at a meeting a couple of years ago at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago. The "VIP override" procedure I was able to get out of the maintenance personnel is as follows. I recall it was for an Inncom thermostat, it did work.

- While holding down "display"
- Press "off", then
- Press "Up" arrow
- Release "display" button

This enters the VIP mode which turns off the motion sensor, and allows a lower range of the thermostat so you can get the room really cold.
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Disabling motion detector (PIR) in thermostats in hotels

Old Apr 8, 2008, 2:35 pm
  #16  
tjl
 
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Originally Posted by TMOliver
That's almost as offensive as the European hotels with their "key slots" on the wall, in which, unless you insert your room's keycard, there's no 'lectrifizzle, lights, fans, and maybe not telephone.
"Almost"? Functionally, the motion detector method is worse because when you are sleeping, you are likely to lose heating / cooling, whereas the key slot method would keep the heating / cooling activated whenever you are in the room, even when sleeping.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 2:43 pm
  #17  
 
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Originally Posted by TA
you know, you can just keep any plastic card in there and it will work, it doesn't have to be the room card...
This sounds like a good use for those credit card sized plastic cards that AmEX and Discover send with offers to sign up for their cards. Just toss these in your suitcase as soon as you get 'em and you'll have one for the next hotel stay.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 3:41 pm
  #18  
 
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Originally Posted by tjl
"Almost"? Functionally, the motion detector method is worse because when you are sleeping, you are likely to lose heating / cooling, whereas the key slot method would keep the heating / cooling activated whenever you are in the room, even when sleeping.
Exactly! I really don't get it. What is so complicated for you people to put the key into the slot? Are you running around with your key in the room? Actually the slot is very useful thing. You never have to search the room for the key.

I also don't get it. Why do you people think you need to keep the TV and all lights on in the room when you are not in the room.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 3:55 pm
  #19  
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Originally Posted by caspritz78
Exactly! I really don't get it. What is so complicated for you people to put the key into the slot? Are you running around with your key in the room? Actually the slot is very useful thing. You never have to search the room for the key.

I also don't get it. Why do you people think you need to keep the TV and all lights on in the room when you are not in the room.
It isn't the TV or the lights -- although my dad always believed that leaving the TV on in a hotel room reduced the probability that a burglar would choose his room.

It's because the keyslot also turns off the HVAC as well as any in-room fridge (which I used to keep my stuff). I just don't want to come back to a room which has a horrible temperature and also find all my stuff in the fridge ruined.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 4:06 pm
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by dll
The keycard in the slot sometimes IS required as I've encountered. Something about the magnetic stripe and coding and what not...in one hotel in Singapore (Raffles The Plaza, I think but may be mistaken), I tried every card in my wallet as well as paper folded up and nothing worked except the key card. Smart system!
Credit cards sometimes don't work but try other cards like discount cards of some big store chains... I have found experimentally that discount card issued by one of local building materials store chain ("Depo") is good for quite a lot of different hotels, including for example Hilton in Warsaw, Poland. Maybe this built-in card reader just checks if the card has one of popular credit card (Visa, MC, AmEx etc.) identifiers on it's magnetic strip and then rejects such cards. So probably it's better to try some card format plastic with magnetic strip on it but _not_ credit/debit card.

Anyway definitely worth further experimenting
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 4:10 pm
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by caspritz78
I also don't get it. Why do you people think you need to keep the TV and all lights on in the room when you are not in the room.
I don't need TV on but I definitely need my laptop to stay on power while recharging (while I'm recharging myself in the lounge ) or while it is sending my current digital photos home, just in case...
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 5:01 pm
  #22  
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"That's almost as offensive as the European hotels with their "key slots" on the wall, in which, unless you insert your room's keycard, there's no 'lectrifizzle, lights, fans, and maybe not telephone."

I liked these when I was in Asia. It was such a non-American, non-consumerist forward thinking option. It's far too easy to leave everything turned on in a room. The card might be a surprise at first, but it does what it's meant to. Does the bathroom light and AC need to be on while you're gone all day?

In terms of the OP, it does seem like they made the wrong decision in their choice. They likely didn't go with the key card as every American staying there would get an extra just for this. Many would probably do so with the goal of the AC running all day so things would be cool when they got back. They have the right idea, but they should disable the requirement for motion at night. It makes sense in the daytime.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 5:29 pm
  #23  
 
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Live and let live

What I don't get is why tree-huggers think that everybody else MUST live the way they do. Sounds way too Pat Robertson and that ilk to me. If I pay the ridiculous prices for those rooms, they had better be comfortable EVERY SECOND I am there, which includes when I return from a jaunt outside. The price is built into the cost of the stay - if the greenies want to be green, then they should either compensate the normal people for the inconvienence or make the greenies pay the additional cost. Of course, I would transfer this requirement to other areas where one set of "people" insist on telling everyone else how to live.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 5:30 pm
  #24  
 
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Originally Posted by thegeneral
... It makes sense in the daytime.
I don't think so. The AC has to run for a long time after the room temperature goes up 10 degrees. That tends to cancel out the savings when it was off. Plus the fact that rooms tend to be hottest in the afternoon, and when everybody comes in for the evening all the AC's in all the rooms are suddenly running full blast for hours rather than cycling on and off.

I'm curious to know if the mylar trick would work. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a balloon. Just a piece of mylar that is allowed to move by air currents. That way the PIR would see both a heat source and movement. Hopefully, the maids would not pay any attention to the mylar, not even knowing what it's there for.
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Old Apr 8, 2008, 6:03 pm
  #25  
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[QUOTE=farenthold;9533175]Last year the family and I were at Disney World and
Does anyone know the sequence to do this? Forget green I wannabe cool! [QUOTE]

Oh horrid anti greenie. You burn 1000 gallons of jet fuel to get to MCO, then think it's OK to burn 1 gallon of bunker oil to run your air conditioner?

Hotel in TPE had one of those room key slots, but the room key had holes punched in it. Probably had at least one LED sensor lined up with a hole, as a credit card or cardboard would not work. So I hear. It did however work either side up, and only about half the holes were symmetrical, the rest might be the door key. There were only about 12 symetrical holes, and a cardboard replacement could have been made if TSA had not banned my little sharp pointed scissors. Of course, when they embed an RFID in the hotel card, we are all SOL.

Back to OT: You went to WDW and are not aware of my second Home on the Internet after FT: disboards.com, the people's Disney version of Flyertalk.

Search "Motion bypass" and several articles over the years say:

"Here are the directions to overiding the a/c system:

On the thermostat push the power button and the down arrow (that adjusts the temp) at the exact same time. If you do this correctly there will be the letters "bp" where the temp numbers usually are. You are now bypassing the sensors in the room. You can then set the temp to whatever you want and it keeps the room that cold whether you are in it or not. The maintenance man said that you might have to do this once a day as the thermostat tends to go back to sensor mode after 24 hours. We found that it stayed on bypass for a couple of days at a time. It was great to come back to a cold room or not wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat again."

A high up Disney facilities chief told me that all AC bypasses by maintenance (like when they turn down the AC in a crowded conference room) get reset every night by Mickey's Master Computer.

Several also say the mylar balloon tied to the AC grill works. Except at the Animal Kingdom Lodge where they ban balloons for the animal's safety, so you cannot buy one in the park and carry it through the lobby, you will have to bring one from home and blow it up yourself. Don't forget the string. ^

Last edited by Flaflyer; Apr 8, 2008 at 6:11 pm
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Old Apr 9, 2008, 12:03 am
  #26  
 
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I don't know if this will work with motion sensors in hotel rooms, but this works on those darn toilets that flush by motion sensors while you're still sitting down. (or while changing and talking on cell phone like OP)

I HATE getting a shower that I didn't ask for from those airport toilets, so I came up with an easy plan to outsmart them.

I rip off the top 10 or so papers from a post-it pad and stick them in the front pocket of my carryon bag. When in a toilet I grab one and stick it over the motion sensor behind the toilet. Peace until I'm done. When I'm ready to leave the stall I rip the post it off the sensor, and the toilet flushes.

Never get an unplanned shower or bidet from an airport toilet again!

[SIZE="2"]If caught without preplanned post-its, you can wet a piece of paper towel or TP (in the SINK people!) and get it to stick to the wall over the sensor.[/SIZE]
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Old Apr 9, 2008, 3:44 am
  #27  
 
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Originally Posted by markwtaylor
If I pay the ridiculous prices for those rooms, they had better be comfortable EVERY SECOND I am there, which includes when I return from a jaunt outside. The price is built into the cost of the stay - if the greenies want to be green, then they should either compensate the normal people for the inconvienence or make the greenies pay the additional cost.
No actually, every room should have electricity meter and water meter. So the mean greenies like I am don't need to pay as much as people who still think electricity and water magically somehow appears in the outlet or faucet. At least in Europe energy costs are high and on the rise.

By the way most hotels only control the lights and TV with the key and not the normal outlets or the AC.
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Old Apr 9, 2008, 5:14 am
  #28  
 
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I have stoppped in dozens and dozens of rooms with the key card system in Europe and Asia. With the exception of the Sofitel in Hua Hin, which did turn the AC off, removing the card has never
Turned the AC and minibar off. In my experience the card will only turn off the lights and TV.

The AC will sometimes go off if you leave a balcony door open, but on most occaisions there will be a notice to this effect.
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Old Apr 9, 2008, 5:36 am
  #29  
 
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Originally Posted by caspritz78
No actually, every room should have electricity meter and water meter. So the mean greenies like I am don't need to pay as much as people who still think electricity and water magically somehow appears in the outlet or faucet. At least in Europe energy costs are high and on the rise.

By the way most hotels only control the lights and TV with the key and not the normal outlets or the AC.
I would be supportive of separate billing for the utilities during a hotel stay, so long as the customer opted for it. Example: Flat rate stay $100/day all inclusive, or $90/day plus your power/water usage. This would reward the thrifty, while letting those who don't wish to worry about it pay a little extra for their usage. I don't know if it would pay to install individual room power/water meters, but it is an idea.

On the other hand, I don't know how much nickel and diming the hotel industry should get into. The airlines are trying this now, and I don't like the idea of having to pay extra for your seat assignment.
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Old Apr 9, 2008, 9:11 am
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by caspritz78
Exactly! I really don't get it. What is so complicated for you people to put the key into the slot? Are you running around with your key in the room?
My problem with it is not leaving the lights or TV on but simply forgetting to take the key out of the slot when I leave the room. Since it's not something that happens everywhere, I not only didn't know I had to do this, I then forgot to take it out when leaving the room.
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