Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

I couldn't see any obvious trimming screws on it anywhere (got up right next
to it on a stepladder). No branding that I could see either.

It appears to be angled correctly (not pointing at anyone else's garden
where they may have cats, etc.).

Any ideas on how to reduce the sensitivity? I can obviously go out and get
another one if needs be but would rather avoid it if possible.

John.

"JM" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

I couldn't see any obvious trimming screws on it anywhere (got up right
next
to it on a stepladder). No branding that I could see either.

It appears to be angled correctly (not pointing at anyone else's garden
where they may have cats, etc.).

Any ideas on how to reduce the sensitivity? I can obviously go out and
get
another one if needs be but would rather avoid it if possible.

John.



Most PIR security lights don't have a sensitivity control, just light level
and on time settings. Small birds flying across the beam, insects on the
lens or foxes running in and out of the garden will activate them, so this
could be what you're seeing. The only reasonable advice I can give, is for
you to change the fitting for a more expensive one that contains something
called double knock circuitry. This controls the light by only allowing two
detections within a set time period on the sensor before the light is
switched on.

You could try masking the top part of the sensor lens with a piece of
insulating tape. Just a thin strip across the top of the lens. This
reduces the range of the sensor slightly without closing it down completely
to any intrusions.

JM wrote:
Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

I couldn't see any obvious trimming screws on it anywhere (got up right next
to it on a stepladder). No branding that I could see either.

It appears to be angled correctly (not pointing at anyone else's garden
where they may have cats, etc.).

Any ideas on how to reduce the sensitivity? I can obviously go out and get
another one if needs be but would rather avoid it if possible.

First, put a bit of foil over the sensor.
Does it still go on and off?
If so, then it's faulty.

Do you own a camcorder?
If so, pointing it at the lighted area to see if anything is triggering
it may work.
Any gas flues nearby?

In message , JM writes
Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

John.

John,
if all obvious avenues that are being suggested fail then
consider local radio transmitters, taxis CB police etc. A lot of the
cheaper PIR's are RF (radio frequency) sensitive and can be triggered by
quite low amounts of power. There is no easy cure for this
unfortunately except maybe buying a better quality one with adequate
filtering. Hopefully it will be something like a cat or central heating
flue that is your problem.



--
Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
In message , JM writes
Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

John.

John,
if all obvious avenues that are being suggested fail then
consider local radio transmitters, taxis CB police etc. A lot of the



--
Bill

Heat wafting from under the bonnet of my parked car seems to do it as well.

--


Regards

John

BigWallop wrote:

Most PIR security lights don't have a sensitivity control, just light level
and on time settings. Small birds flying across the beam, insects on the
lens or foxes running in and out of the garden will activate them, so this
could be what you're seeing. The only reasonable advice I can give, is for
you to change the fitting for a more expensive one that contains something
called double knock circuitry. This controls the light by only allowing two
detections within a set time period on the sensor before the light is
switched on.

What about bats?
a bat crossing the beam/field at close range would surely be enough to
trigger the light? and I am guessing the bright light at night would
attract further flying insects to the vicinity which would provide even
better hunting for more bats?

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"JM" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My security light in the back garden is a bit on the sensitive side - it
keeps coming on seemingly randomly throughout the evening and night.

I couldn't see any obvious trimming screws on it anywhere (got up right
next to it on a stepladder). No branding that I could see either.

It appears to be angled correctly (not pointing at anyone else's garden
where they may have cats, etc.).

Any ideas on how to reduce the sensitivity? I can obviously go out and
get another one if needs be but would rather avoid it if possible.

John.


Just apply some black pvc tape to mask-off parts of the sensor - they can
have a wide angle of detection and you may need to experiment a bit.

Dave

logized wrote:
snip

Just apply some black pvc tape to mask-off parts of the sensor - they can
have a wide angle of detection and you may need to experiment a bit.

Depending on the tape, black insulation tape can be pretty transparent
in the thermal IR - you may be better off using it to stick down
aluminium foil.

Chris

--
Spamtrap in use
To email replace 127.0.0.1 with blueyonder dot co dot uk

"Chris Hodges" wrote in message
...
logized wrote:
snip

Just apply some black pvc tape to mask-off parts of the sensor - they
can
have a wide angle of detection and you may need to experiment a bit.

Depending on the tape, black insulation tape can be pretty transparent
in the thermal IR - you may be better off using it to stick down
aluminium foil.

Chris



Insulating tape should be OK though, as it's only to try to reduce the
sensitivity of, or deflect it slightly off, the IR detector.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions - sorry I didn't reply sooner.

Looks like the insulation tape (possibly with foil) solution is the best
choice to start with - I'll give it a go.

John.