Mounting PIR's outside

Anyone have any suggestions about mounting PIR's outside the house at about waist level in a secure enclosure? I'd like something that couldn't be popped off the brickwork with a screwdriver in 5 seconds or less and perhaps had a keylock to facilitate easy *legitimate* access to the device. I'm thinking of X-10 "Eye" series of PIRs. I have about 15 of them and I would like to use them to monitor very specific, very low traffic areas like the electric meter, the motorcycle stand, the hose bib, the crawl space, etc.

I've read about the various mods and I'd also like to modify the photocell

+1 circuit so that each odd unit code would be a sensor and the +1 even would be a tamper alert that would send the +1 signal if a switch mounted behind the PIR suddenly changed state, as in being pried away from the wall.

I've searched on the words "industrial locking thermostat enclosures" but came up dry. I recall seeing wire-cage locking thermostats in office buildings but don't see anything like that on the net. I assume chicken wire isn't going to massively inhibit the detection function of the PIR but that plastic enclosures might.

Thanks!

-- Bobby G.

Reply to
Robert Green
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yeah, seconded. granted i've yet to try a few of the things people suggested, and they work fine indoors, but my outdoor sensor falses like crazy during the day. I had hoped to use it to track visitors while i was gone.

Reply to
random735

One device that comes to mind is an STI enclosure. They're tough enough to slow but not stop an attacker. They make a couple of "Motion Detector Damage Stoppers" which you could use but they're kind of ugly for a residential app. These cost about $16-17 retail. Here's a URL for one of them.

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There are some vandal resistant motion detectors on the market. Napco makes one they call vandal resistant but the lens can easily be destroyed with a sharp object, exposing the circuitry to attack. The weakness is common with PIRs since the lens is almost invariably made of thin plastic.

Every X10 type motion detector I've tried falsed repeatedly. Numerous others have indicated nothing but trouble from them. It seems there's insufficient attention to QC for anything X10 to be used for security.

Those were probably from STI. They make tons of them. I used one in a public area of my old church in CT years ago to cover a dummy thermostat (the real one was hidden from view). Almost every week someone would "adjust the temperature", presumably using a screw driver or coat hangar. :)

Chicken wire would be useless -- too flexible. Plastic enclosures would likely block the PIR completely.

Regards, Robert L Bass

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Reply to
Robert L Bass

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