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Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:27 pm
by Noel
Anyone here who can suggest an outside movement sensor, or an inside movement sensor that will work through a window.

I would like to use it in combination of RFXcom and HomeSeer.

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:19 pm
by Herbus
Wifi,
What are you planning to use it for?
In stead of inside motion detectors, outside detectors aren't very reliable. Wind, rain, animals (cats, birds) can cause an alarm.
Most reliable are IR beams with a sender and a receiver. You can make a virtual fence with them. Interruption of at least two beams can cause an alarm.
If you still want to use regular movement detectors try dual detectors (Radar + IR). Only if both sensors are interrupted the detector will give an alarm trigger.
Normal IR inside detectors don't get through the windows, only radar will.

Jos

Homeseer 2.2.66
ACT TI203, DooNetwork

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:35 pm
by Noel
Hi Jos,

I have a big balcony that is easy to access from the house next door.
Today I needed to do some work on the balcony and saw some footsteps on it coming from the house next door.

All I want to do when someone accesses the balcony (by climbing over the railing) is to turn on a 'small' alarm or light.
The sensor will only need to cover the railing (a small part of the balcony), and no moving parts will be in the way.

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:56 am
by Henk
You may use a standard outdoor light fixture including a moving sensor in it (just many models available from any Praxis,Gamma etc.)
You may modified this lamp by either adding a 230V relais so the output of this relay can be connected to yr home controller and trigger any additional action.

Also you should consider to switch off the lamp in case you are using the balcony late evening .... either by timing of when the door of the balcony is open ....

Yes there is a risk of false alarms .. special cats - but also spiders on the sensor may trigger it ....

Another option is to connect the metal railing with a "schrikdraad" device ...... or 230V

Or you may build an electronic device what will sense if a human hand will touch the metal railing - or in case of wood add a metal wire -
This system may be also cat sensitive .... In the porfessional fence business they are using this technique (Herras). Also big IR beam system check any Office-center building

Finally you may consider to use a pressure mat sensor - Conrad has them ... if a person stands on it it will make contact ... you may camouflage it with a natural floor cover on the balcony .... like plastic grass ...:-)

Ok good luck to protect your home ..... and let us know what you will select ...

Henk

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:18 am
by drmacchi
Hi Wifi, what i used for my balcony (without cats or other animals, except spiders (are we sure that they may trigger an ir alarm? , they have small mass and have low body temperature):
some MS13A along the balcony, when someone triggers them , they send an alert to HS, in HS i use blade security plugin that can :
turn on lights
send email
send sms (i have still a topic where we didn't find the solution, but i'm waiting for Blade support too!)
send voice messages: i'm planning to buy some wireless outdoor speakers: it will playing "Hey fuck.... man you'll be fired! police is coming...."

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:28 pm
by Noel
Thank you Henk and drmacchi,

Henk. I'll try the MS13A 1st (I did not know that it was also for outside use). If this does not work I might consider using one of your options.
It does not really need to be a loud alarm. All I really need is a light to go on (on the balcony), make a log of it in Homeseer, and maybe take a picture with a 'web'cam of the person on the balcony.

The house inside is really good protected, and if someone decides to come in that way, the real alarm will sound!

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:08 am
by Barlow
I use a battery/solar powered Visonic PIR that is specifically designed for outside use. This device features two sensors that can be used separately or combined to trigger an alarm event on the Powermax+.

I have it configured, such that it creates a "bell" event when someone enters my garden. When used in conjunction with a RFXCOM Visonic receiver and something like Homeseer you can configure it to record off the webcam, which is the next thing on my list of things to do.

http://novodome.nl/powermax-buitenmelde ... -2419.html
Image

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:54 am
by Sooty
That outdoor Visonic sensor looks interesting. It it new? I have not seen that one here in the UK and a quick search of visonic.com did not find it either.

For outdoor sensing, I am using these http://www.gjd.co.uk/opalrfx.htm

They operate at 433MHZ but they can't be received directly by the RFXCOM receiver, so I use the GJD receiver connected to Visonic MCT-100 to get Homeseer integration via the RFXCOM plug-in.

These sensors are user configurable for pulse count and range and they are pretty good as far as false alarms go. Cats and birds do not trigger my sensors, but larger animals like a dog or a fox will trigger them.

I also use some of these IR beams http://www.optexeurope.com/Site/temPW3_ ... intLevel=6 at various locations in the garden and so far they have also been very reliable. The main problem with the beams is that they require hard wiring which can be awkward in some situations.

Paul..

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 8:58 am
by Barlow
I can see that the supplier (Novodome) pulled the product from its website. I now understand why. My battery/solar powered Visonic PIR died on me. The battery is soldered to the PCB. I tried replacing it (having little soldering experience) and failed miserably. I did some web research and found an interesting product from a supplier in New Zealand. http://www.jnstar.co.nz/index.html

The product is fitted with a Visonic PowerCode 433Mhz module. It would be great if a European distributor could bring the product to market with an 868Mhz module. They're looking for Int'l distributors. Perhaps waakzaamwonen.nl can be found interested to carry the product?

Outside movement sensor.

Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 10:19 am
by Sooty
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Barlow</i>
<br />I can see that the supplier (Novodome) pulled the product from its website. I now understand why. My battery/solar powered Visonic PIR died on me. The battery is soldered to the PCB. I tried replacing it (having little soldering experience) and failed miserably. I did some web research and found an interesting product from a supplier in New Zealand. http://www.jnstar.co.nz/index.html

The product is fitted with a Visonic PowerCode 433Mhz module. It would be great if a European distributor could bring the product to market with an 868Mhz module. They're looking for Int'l distributors. Perhaps waakzaamwonen.nl can be found interested to carry the product?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

The solar powered IR beams look like a nice product. As you say, it would be good to have them in Europe with Visonic 868 MHz.

Good external PIR's with direct support via the RFXCOM receivers would be a real advantage for me and solar power would be the icing on the cake.

Paul..