Like many of you, I use X-10 and HF motion detectors outdoors because
they're cheap, mostly waterproof, run a long time on a set of batteries and
have fairly decent range and they work. I find them very useful in helping
me get to the front door in time to keep a "signatured required" delivery
from turning into an "Attempted Delivery" sticker on my storm door. (-:

As those who own them probably know, they sometimes trigger at mysterious
times for reasons that are difficult to explain. I bought the HF outside
detectors on half price sale (under $10) just to test them, and they are
pretty damn good. But like the X10 units, I was finding that they still
went off in the middle of the night. To overcome this, I was hoping to
incorporate the HF into my HomeVision home automation system so that I could
"poll" both the X-10 and HF detectors to signal only but before I did that,
I wanted to make SURE that the units were falsing and not actually seeing
some sort of legit motion.

Recently, I was having false triggering so I bought a motion detector still
camera like they use for nature photography for about $80 and - you guessed
it - when set up to "see" what the motion detector saw I saw a frikkin'
critter jamboree!

There was a leashless dog methodically making the rounds, running against
the wall very stealthily by the side door where the kitchen is located. A
big pile of dog crap and the strange behavior of my dog near the door should
have alerted me that one of the culprits was canine. There's a pair of
raccoons that make their way straight to the garbage cans and climb. There
are birds that even swoop near the porch roof and right by the detector that
set it off, although they never seem to stop on the porch - they use it as a
pylon of sorts.

You can use a number of methods. A baby monitor connected to a VCR or DVR
works nicely, too. When I had mice in the kitchen, I set out bait and left a
DVR running all night connected to an IR bullet cam. One mouse amazed me by
how deftly he snatched the prize - a pistachio nut - time and time again
without setting off the trap. His string of luck ran out when I began to
glue the nuts down with peanut butter. Fortunately, in proof that some good
can come out of bad, the dog's finally had enough accidents all around the
house that no more mice have come in. I'll bet they're not really
accidents, but instinct telling her that her territory should smell like she
does.

The videocam system is useful for precisely defining range. I have a little
wireless job I got for about $30 that runs off a 9V battery and is much
smaller than the battery(!) - I can set up the camera on a little clamp
tripod to see what the MD sees, put the MD receiver near the camera's
built-in mic and then just walk around. When you play back the video, you
can see exactly where you begin tripping the MD by the sound of the buzzer.
I've got it pointed to the street right now to map its activation zone -
people at 75 feet but not (speeding) cars. I'm waiting for the garbage men
to arrive - that should be a good test of sensor discrimination. HF
occasionally gets some things very right. Hurrah! Slow moving school bus
trips it . . . Whoops, it's the day after MLK's bday. All collections will
be one day behind.

The treecam is really the best though - it's waterproof, self-contained, has
IR lights, movie modes, runs on either 6AA's or DC - back when I did nature
photography a similar setup would be huge, cost thousands of dollars and
have nowhere near the capacity of a sub $100 unit. I just bought a 32GB
card to see if it runs on one. I There's nothing like being able to sit at
you PC, load the SDHC card into the reader and watching a high-speed movie
of what happened last night. I'm betting you could make a pretty decent
Indie film pointing it at the right places . . .

--
Bobby G.

On Jan 19, 11:09*am, "Robert Green"
wrote:
Like many of you, I use X-10 and HF motion detectors outdoors because
they're cheap, mostly waterproof, run a long time on a set of batteries and
have fairly decent range and they work. *I find them very useful in helping
me get to the front door in time to keep a "signatured required" delivery
from turning into an "Attempted Delivery" sticker on my storm door. *(-:

As those who own them probably know, they sometimes trigger at mysterious
times for reasons that are difficult to explain. *I bought the HF outside
detectors on half price sale (under $10) just to test them, and they are
pretty damn good. *But like the X10 units, I was finding that they still
went off in the middle of the night. *To overcome this, I was hoping to
incorporate the HF into my HomeVision home automation system so that I could
"poll" both the X-10 and HF detectors to signal only but before I did that,
I wanted to make SURE that the units were falsing and not actually seeing
some sort of legit motion.

Recently, I was having false triggering so I bought a motion detector still
camera like they use for nature photography for about $80 and - you guessed
it - when set up to "see" what the motion detector saw I saw a frikkin'
critter jamboree!

There was a leashless dog methodically making the rounds, running against
the wall very stealthily by the side door where the kitchen is located. *A
big pile of dog crap and the strange behavior of my dog near the door should
have alerted me that one of the culprits was canine. *There's a pair of
raccoons that make their way straight to the garbage cans and climb. *There
are birds that even swoop near the porch roof and right by the detector that
set it off, although they never seem to stop on the porch - they use it as a
pylon of sorts.

You can use a number of methods. A baby monitor connected to a VCR or DVR
works nicely, too. When I had mice in the kitchen, I set out bait and left a
DVR running all night connected to an IR bullet cam. *One mouse amazed me by
how deftly he snatched the prize - a pistachio nut - time and time again
without setting off the trap. *His string of luck ran out when I began to
glue the nuts down with peanut butter. *Fortunately, in proof that some good
can come out of bad, the dog's finally had enough accidents all around the
house that no more mice have come in. *I'll bet they're not really
accidents, but instinct telling her that her territory should smell like she
does.

The videocam system is useful for precisely defining range. *I have a little
wireless job I got for about $30 that runs off a 9V battery and is much
smaller than the battery(!) - I can set up the camera on a little clamp
tripod to see what the MD sees, put the MD receiver near the camera's
built-in mic and then just walk around. *When you play back the video, you
can see exactly where you begin tripping the MD by the sound of the buzzer.

On Jan 19, 11:09*am, "Robert Green"
wrote:
Like many of you, I use X-10 and HF motion detectors outdoors because
they're cheap, mostly waterproof, run a long time on a set of batteries and
have fairly decent range and they work. *I find them very useful in helping
me get to the front door in time to keep a "signatured required" delivery
from turning into an "Attempted Delivery" sticker on my storm door. *(-:

As those who own them probably know, they sometimes trigger at mysterious
times for reasons that are difficult to explain. *I bought the HF outside
detectors on half price sale (under $10) just to test them, and they are
pretty damn good. *But like the X10 units, I was finding that they still
went off in the middle of the night. *To overcome this, I was hoping to
incorporate the HF into my HomeVision home automation system so that I could
"poll" both the X-10 and HF detectors to signal only but before I did that,
I wanted to make SURE that the units were falsing and not actually seeing
some sort of legit motion.

Recently, I was having false triggering so I bought a motion detector still
camera like they use for nature photography for about $80 and - you guessed
it - when set up to "see" what the motion detector saw I saw a frikkin'
critter jamboree!

There was a leashless dog methodically making the rounds, running against
the wall very stealthily by the side door where the kitchen is located. *A
big pile of dog crap and the strange behavior of my dog near the door should
have alerted me that one of the culprits was canine. *There's a pair of
raccoons that make their way straight to the garbage cans and climb. *There
are birds that even swoop near the porch roof and right by the detector that
set it off, although they never seem to stop on the porch - they use it as a
pylon of sorts.

You can use a number of methods. A baby monitor connected to a VCR or DVR
works nicely, too. When I had mice in the kitchen, I set out bait and left a
DVR running all night connected to an IR bullet cam. *One mouse amazed me by
how deftly he snatched the prize - a pistachio nut - time and time again
without setting off the trap. *His string of luck ran out when I began to
glue the nuts down with peanut butter. *Fortunately, in proof that some good
can come out of bad, the dog's finally had enough accidents all around the
house that no more mice have come in. *I'll bet they're not really
accidents, but instinct telling her that her territory should smell like she
does.

The videocam system is useful for precisely defining range. *I have a little
wireless job I got for about $30 that runs off a 9V battery and is much
smaller than the battery(!) - I can set up the camera on a little clamp
tripod to see what the MD sees, put the MD receiver near the camera's
built-in mic and then just walk around. *When you play back the video, you
can see exactly where you begin tripping the MD by the sound of the buzzer.

"Andy" wrote in message
...
On Jan 19, 11:09 am, "Robert Green"
wrote:
Like many of you, I use X-10 and HF motion detectors outdoors because
they're cheap, mostly waterproof, run a long time on a set of batteries
and
have fairly decent range and they work. I find them very useful in helping
me get to the front door in time to keep a "signatured required" delivery
from turning into an "Attempted Delivery" sticker on my storm door. (-:

stuff snipped

Wouldn't a doorbell be a lot simpler ? :-)

I can't quite get the squirrels and raccoons to use one. The Fedex guy is
long gone if I am in the basement when rings the doorbell. Getting even a
few seconds advance warning is the difference between getting my package or
waving goodbye to the Fedex truck as he pulls away. Besides, a year or two
ago my CCTV/motion detector helped the police catch a night burglar who was
going around to houses in the neighbor to see if any side or basement doors
were unlocked. I suspect he wouldn't have rung the bell, either.

--
Bobby G.