Outdoor PIRs (was Re: Suggestions wanted for Motion Detector delay/time-out)

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"John W" <Don't_Spam_Me@xxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

[re: Outdoor X-10 PIRS]

> I do get some X10 "splash" on occasion and would prefer to use hardwired
> PIR's like I do indoors.  The problem is outdoor-rated PIR's are MUCH more
> expensive than my $12 indoor Texecoms!  I have a SECU16 and a SECU16I with
> several open inputs so that's not a problem.

I was never able to get acceptable results with the X-10 PIRs.  I suspect
that our installations are different.  I had a lot of problems with
collisions and all sorts of ghost triggerings until I abandoned the X-10
PIRS everywhere except between storm doors and main doors.   They've never
falsed on me in those locations and they don't appear to block other X-10
commands - they fire only when someone's passing between the doors.

Are you using the specially-made outdoor PIRs from X-10 with the extra
gasketing or did you adapt the indoor ones?  Are the mounted high or low?
I'd really like to get mine to work because the outdoor ones are so
expensive.  So far, the X-10 outdoor PIR experience has been bad for me but
it may be that I still haven't properly debugged the issues or located the
sensors I've found that the driveway alarm that cries wolf too often
eventually gets ignored or turned off.

What I'd really like would be a Speakeasy system like yours that produced a
friendly sound or tone for someone it recognized and a less friendly one for
those that it didn't.   Exactly how a home automation system would do that
isn't exactly clear.  As you noted elsewhere, directional occupancy sensors
aren't quite available from RadioShack's used parts bin.

Eventually, though, enough people will carry cellphones that you can
probably determine location, ID and direction pretty easily by triangulating
on the cellphone signal inside the house.  Of course, once they put those
units in the charger they'll have to carry around RFID tokens, but that
could be a benefit because the system would remind you to trade your token
for the phone before you left!

Seriously, though, this is very interesting stuff.  Mom and Dad are getting
on in years and really need something like this to make sure certain
routines are completed.  I'll follow up in a new thread.

--
Bobby G.