I am hoping to use a cheap PIR to monitor outdoor activity at night, but
the one I have appears to be too sensitive, it doesnt have the usual
adjustments so may try and block some of the lense range.
Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated. Is the LED light necessary for it to operate
as I would prefer it didnt light up if someone is snooping around my
back garden at night.

It is a wirless battery operated cheapo whereby the sensor is in the
garden and the receiver is wireless in the house.

"ss" wrote in message
...
I am hoping to use a cheap PIR to monitor outdoor activity at night, but
the one I have appears to be too sensitive, it doesnt have the usual
adjustments so may try and block some of the lense range.
Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated. Is the LED light necessary for it to operate as
I would prefer it didnt light up if someone is snooping around my back
garden at night.

Dont think it is necessary and easy to try disconnecting it to prove that.

It is a wirless battery operated cheapo whereby the sensor is in the
garden and the receiver is wireless in the house.

Mine are zibgee but do need a base to communicate with.
Mine are the Hue motion sensors. I use them to turn the
lights on and off auto, but they are fine for outdoor
snooping activity too. Not cheap tho. Mine dont have
a let that comes on when movement is detected so
its unlikely that its necessary.

On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 12:37:05 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:


Don¢t think

Yep, you troll, you sleepless, senile troll!

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 85-year-old trolling senile
cretin from Oz:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 01:23:38 +0000, ss wrote:

Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated. Is the LED light necessary for it to operate

Probably not but what does "... there is a sensor and then and LED
'bulb' ..." really mean? I read it that they are in series so simply
sniping a leg of the LED would stop it working.

However I suspect the sensor is connected across +v and gnd with an
out put that goes high for a second or two when triggered. The LED is
between output and ground, possibly via a resistor, sniping a leg in
this case will just disable the LED.

Think I'd have a switch of some sort (twisted wires...) so the LED
can be enabled to facilitate a walk test. Though if the Rx is battery
powered you could just carry that.

--
Cheers
Dave.

I would check your receiver on our wireless alarm the panel illuminates each time a sensor is activated wether armed or not, so a useful way of checking it is working or if the battery is flat. Other than that without the led in the PIR you have no quick way of telling. I only have a PIR in the garage but find it reassuring to see it flash each time I enter the garage. As for intruders seeing it I think few will even notice unless looking directly at it. You are more aware because you know it is there.

Richard

No need for a light unless it has a camera that needs the light. Normally
the leds are infra red.
I think the Ring Door bell uses infra red leds.
Brian

--
----- --
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"ss" wrote in message
...
I am hoping to use a cheap PIR to monitor outdoor activity at night, but
the one I have appears to be too sensitive, it doesnt have the usual
adjustments so may try and block some of the lense range.
Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated. Is the LED light necessary for it to operate as
I would prefer it didnt light up if someone is snooping around my back
garden at night.

It is a wirless battery operated cheapo whereby the sensor is in the
garden and the receiver is wireless in the house.

On 29/11/2019 01:23, ss wrote:
I am hoping to use a cheap PIR to monitor outdoor activity at night, but
the one I have appears to be too sensitive, it doesnt have the usual
adjustments so may try and block some of the lense range.
Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated.Â* Is the LED light necessary for it to operate
as I would prefer it didnt light up if someone is snooping around my
back garden at night.

No the LED is to indicate the thing has triggered. A spot of black paint
will stop it being visible whilst retaining whatever IP rating it has.

Be aware that it will trigger on spider inside or bats flying close to
the sensor as well as rats, cats, foxes and badgers at increasing range.

It is a wirless battery operated cheapo whereby the sensor is in the
garden and the receiver is wireless in the house.

A wildlife PIR triggered camera might be more useful for your
application - that way you have some video of the scrotes.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 08:51:16 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

snip

A wildlife PIR triggered camera might be more useful for your
application - that way you have some video of the scrotes.

I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort of device
that could be set higher than most ground dwelling creatures and below
the typical flight line of a bird. That connected to a GSM SMS dialler
so that I can 1) remotely view the CCTV then 2) potentially call the
Police.

Nothing the Police like to know better than the scrotes are still on
the scene. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

T i m wrote:

I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort of device
that could be set higher than most ground dwelling creatures and below
the typical flight line of a bird.

dual (modulated) beams are supposed to be best for least false triggering.

On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 10:34:48 +0000, Andy Burns
wrote:

T i m wrote:

I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort of device
that could be set higher than most ground dwelling creatures and below
the typical flight line of a bird.

dual (modulated) beams are supposed to be best for least false triggering.

Funnily enough, that's the sort of thing I built for BIL's
Arduino-automated Model Railway project, the sort that wouldn't be
'confused' if the were in view of another transmitter etc.

It's just that they were for very short distances, not sure if they
would cope over 5m or so (especially if reflecting from the other
end)?

I have seen such used across driveways where people might regularly
use them to turn round (near a school possibly) where they make an
audible alarm to indicate to people 'I know what you are doing'.

Cheers, T i m

"T i m" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 08:51:16 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

snip

A wildlife PIR triggered camera might be more useful for your
application - that way you have some video of the scrotes.

I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort
of device that could be set higher than most ground
dwelling creatures and below the typical flight line of a bird.

Wouldn't work here, lots of birds zoom thru my trees at well
below human head height. Amazing how well the manage
to avoid crashing into anything at the speed the zoom thru.

That connected to a GSM SMS dialler so that I can
1) remotely view the CCTV then 2) potentially call the Police.

Yeah, that's what I'd have.

Nothing the Police like to know better
than the scrotes are still on the scene. ;-)

Yep.

On Sat, 30 Nov 2019 03:09:19 +1100, cantankerous trolling geezer Rodent
Speed, the auto-contradicting senile sociopath, blabbered, again:

FLUSH troll****

03:09? And you've been up and trolling for AN HOUR, YET AGAIN! Just what the
**** is WRONG with you, you abnormal senile pest?

--
Website (from 2007) dedicated to the 85-year-old trolling senile
cretin from Oz:
https://www.pcreview.co.uk/threads/r...d-faq.2973853/

On 29/11/2019 16:09, Rod Speed wrote:
I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort
of device that could be set higher than most ground
dwelling creatures

Thats sort of what I am trying to achieve using the PIR.
In the back yard a want to cover the area if someone gets close to my
patio or widows and at the front when someone comes down the path I get
a ding dong from the receiver in house. So narrow cover would be ideal.

At the moment I have tried blocking areas of the lense with strips of
insulating tape but I keep getting random soundings and I know nothing
is out there to set it off.

I have no electronic knowledge which is not helping. There are more
expensive `systems` on the market but I dont want to invest if it aint
going to work.

In article ,
says...


Thats sort of what I am trying to achieve using the PIR.
In the back yard a want to cover the area if someone gets close to my
patio or widows and at the front when someone comes down the path I get
a ding dong from the receiver in house. So narrow cover would be ideal.

At the moment I have tried blocking areas of the lense with strips of
insulating tape but I keep getting random soundings and I know nothing
is out there to set it off.

If the detector lens uniformly sdcatters the field of view you
would have to blank off all of it! So obviously not a valid
option.

The detector should have a wide horizontal field of view and a
narrow vertical one, so while not rotate it 90 degrees?

Another possible method is to fit parallel deflector plates
protruding forward from the detector. Only the area 'visible'
to the director will be covered. Adjust how far in front the
plates need to project to get the required field of view
(which doesn't have to be symetrical).

--

Terry

On 29/11/2019 20:54, ss wrote:
On 29/11/2019 16:09, Rod Speed wrote:
I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort
of device that could be set higher than most ground
dwelling creatures

Thats sort of what I amÂ* trying to achieve using the PIR.
In the back yard a want to cover the area if someone gets close to my
patio or widows and at the front when someone comes down the path I get
a ding dong from the receiver in house. So narrow cover would be ideal.

At the moment I have tried blocking areas of the lense with strips of
insulating tape but I keep getting random soundings and I know nothing
is out there to set it off.

I have no electronic knowledge which is not helping.Â* There are more
expensive `systems` on the market but I dont want to invest if it aint
going to work.

Some years ago, I found that black insulation tape was transparent to
infra-red and so it will likely have no effect.

We had two Sky boxes that were piped around the house, but they had to
be physically in the same room. The boxes could not be set to different
codes (although the remotes could) and the solution was to blank off the
IR receiver of one and connect a translating "eye" to it's aerial
socket. The eye received the alternate code set from the second remote
and translated them to the ones the box could receive, but sent in via
the aerial socket.

To block the IR signal, I had to wrap the sensor inside the box, behind
a window, in aluminium foil, held on with tape, as tape alone had no effect.

SteveW

On 29/11/2019 20:54, ss wrote:
On 29/11/2019 16:09, Rod Speed wrote:
I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort
of device that could be set higher than most ground
dwelling creatures

Thats sort of what I amÂ* trying to achieve using the PIR.
In the back yard a want to cover the area if someone gets close to my
patio or widows and at the front when someone comes down the path I get
a ding dong from the receiver in house. So narrow cover would be ideal.

At the moment I have tried blocking areas of the lense with strips of
insulating tape but I keep getting random soundings and I know nothing
is out there to set it off.

Plastic tape is no use. Try foil tape that will stop thermal IR.

A small cone of foil small end facing outwards will allow you to limit
the sensitive field of view, but limit it too much and the differential
motion detection will probably fail.

I have no electronic knowledge which is not helping.Â* There are more
expensive `systems` on the market but I dont want to invest if it aint
going to work.


--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Friday, 29 November 2019 16:09:29 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
"T i m" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 29 Nov 2019 08:51:16 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:

snip

A wildlife PIR triggered camera might be more useful for your
application - that way you have some video of the scrotes.

I was going to investigate a(n invisible?) break-beam sort
of device that could be set higher than most ground
dwelling creatures and below the typical flight line of a bird.

Wouldn't work here, lots of birds zoom thru my trees at well
below human head height. Amazing how well the manage
to avoid crashing into anything at the speed the zoom thru.

As I found with my cat came many critters can cross such beams I had quite a few months, perhaps attracted by the dull red glow of the IR LEDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32lQ_FGwdQ


There was even a programme on TV about some strange 'invisible' creatures
that some explorer found, strange long creatures that were filmed at night in some far flung country, I had them in walthamstow too. They claimed they were up to 9ft long, but I think that was because they were close to the lens and just looked larger. I even had a spider make a web over the lens.

Leaves blowing from trees could also set such a thing off.
Bats too, I'm betting there;s a posibility that T i m has plenty of bats in his belfry ;-)






That connected to a GSM SMS dialler so that I can
1) remotely view the CCTV then 2) potentially call the Police.

Yeah, that's what I'd have.

Nothing the Police like to know better
than the scrotes are still on the scene. ;-)

Yep.

On Friday, 29 November 2019 01:23:48 UTC, ss wrote:
I am hoping to use a cheap PIR to monitor outdoor activity at night, but
the one I have appears to be too sensitive, it doesnt have the usual
adjustments so may try and block some of the lense range.
Anyhow I opened it up and there is a sensor and then an LED `bulb` which
comes on when activated. Is the LED light necessary for it to operate
as I would prefer it didnt light up if someone is snooping around my
back garden at night.

I'd just stick a bit of blu-tak over it and try it out.

The sensor might be triggering via daylight, as xmas is coming you'll probbly have plenty of quality st./roses semi-transparent sweet wrappers you can use to cover the sensor to make it less sensative.


It is a wirless battery operated cheapo whereby the sensor is in the
garden and the receiver is wireless in the house.