Re: pir false alarms

["Bill" <bill190nospam@xxxxxxxxx>]

I used to repair security systems and I'll say that motion detectors have a
long history of having false alarm problems.

The dual techs are a wonderful solution to these false alarm problems. I
have them in my house and have never had a false alarm.

The question is if the salesman advised you to purchase these before you
purchased your system?

If I went to a car lot and was offered a Chevy or a Mercedes, then decided
to buy the Chevy and had problems, I would not expect to be able to return
the Chevy and have them give me a Mercedes!

So in your case, you should certainly pay the difference in cost between the
PIR's (Chevy) and the higher priced dual techs (Mercedes). That is a no
brainer.

And if you were offered the opportunity to purchase these in the first
place, then I think you should pay for the time the repair guy spent
switching out your detectors.

The one year warranty has expired, so that is that.

If you want to argue for any reduction in cost, I would look at it like they
do for a tax situation. (Useful life.) The PIR's have a 5 year life per
warranty. Divide the cost of the PIR's by 5. You used them for two years, so
deduct that. Then ask for a credit for the remaining three years.

So if PIR's cost $50 total. This would be $10 per year. Deduct $20 for the
two years you used them. Ask for a $30 credit.

However your beef is with the manufacturer of the PIR's. They will come back
and say their warranty only covers repair. If the problem was with the
batteries, this may not be covered and they would do nothing. I don't know
if they would cover shipping or not.

So at best I would expect to get 3 repaired PIR's back from the
manufacturer, then sell them as used and get whatever that amount may be.

So far as your alarm company goes. If they did not advise you to get the
better quality detectors before you purchased your system (if they were
available at the time), then they could be nice and give you free labor for
replacement and credit you for the initial cost of the PIR's. (But they
don't have to.)

<joble_5@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> Hi,
>
> we have an alarm for 2,5 years now. It is a Rokonet system. The PIR
> detector's used are Pyronix Magnum Ultra.
>
> It worked fine for more than 2 years, but last summer we had false
> alarms almost once per week. Always on the same sensor. Sensor was
> replaced by the installer, but next night there was again a false
> alarm.
>
> The Pir is now replaced by a dual detector, and this detector seems to
> work well.
>
> The next week we had false alarms with both the two other PIR's. So
> they are also replaces by dual's.
>
> Now it has worked fine for 3 months. But the installer sends us a bill
> for the replacement of the first detector. And i think another bill for
> the two others will follow. Together this is the 25% of the price of
> the system! I do not think this is normal after 2,5 years. (The
> warranty of the system is 1 year, but on the pyronix site i read the
> pir detectors come with 5 years of warranty)
>
>
> I want to argue with the installer but first i want to learn more about
> the problem. So i have some questions:
>
> Is it possible that a fly triggers the pir?
> Can this problem be due to bad adjustment of the pir or the use of the
> wrong lenses?
> Can the reason be in the rokonet system instead of in the PIR's?
> Any other ideas???
>
>
> Thanks in advance...
> Joble
>