Re: 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>

> I use the black weather-proofed versions (Eagleyes) mounted high just
under
> the eaves.  We have a double garage and they are mounted on either side of
> the doors pointing more-or-less towards each other but more out and down.

That's probably a limited enough zone that you don't catch squirrels and
street traffic.  When I first mounted my outdoor X-10 PIRs I found they
would pick up cars on the street over 60' away and if I looked at the
activation sequence, I could even tell which way the car was going!

Pointing the PIRs downward to restrict them seems to be a good idea.  I'll
have to get out the mitre saw and cut some mounting blocks.  What worries me
is that I had a DS10 - the kind that comes with the RoboDog - mounted under
the front porch soffet loking directly downward over the front door mat but
it reacted to squirrels and to the birds that roosted under the soffet.

We get at least 10 visits a day from the local squirrels.  I'm worried that
even if I set up a polling system like yours that the little critters would
manage to activate all three PIRs.  I had the best results from taping up
the window of the PIR to leave just a single narrow slit.  The unit never
falsed after that, but it would often NOT detect legitimate traffic.  I'm
not sure which condition is worse.

All in all, I'd sure like a better way to detect outside motion near the
house that's not plagued by falsing and doesn't fail to detect motion when
the ambient temperature gets too high.

--
Bobby G.