Wondering if any old school tech have a schematic/instruction sheet for the controls/outputs on an old Contronic MD-45DC motion detector? There's a thumbwheel POT on one side that appears to control sensitivity and another sealed POT just below it that I can't determine the function of. Also, an LED at the "top" of the board that never lights up.
Now, the meat of the message:
Any suggestions for motion sensors with controls for both sensitivity AND latch duration? Cheap is a key factor. Numbers for outdated models I might find on flEBay would be ideal.
This is for a scratchbuilt 12V DC motion only siren system for a remote garage that I have no plans to install a phone line or any other amenities. I need to tweak it carefully so the neighbor who will call me if it goes off steady doesn't end up waking up 3 times a week for false alarms.
I plan to set a sensor near entry points that just "chirps" every time motion is detected, very short latch delay, to warn off the idiots that broke in once so far. Further inside, in places less likely to generate false alarms from animals/birds, I'll set some with 60+ second latch delays.
There are plenty of affordable new motion sensors that perform well and cost a reasonable amount. Why in the world would you go through all this extra effort to save a dollar just to inflict pain and suffering on yourself and those who have to live around you?
Aleph XP40. Retail $17.95 brand new. Good basic motion for a clean environment
Aleph XP5PI. Retail $32.00 brand new. Similar to XP40, but with good better discrimination circuitry to prevent false alarms from pets.
If you are so cheap as to need to save that little then you are deluded, and if you are so poor that you can not afford one then you have nothing to protect anyway.
Go ahead now and flame me for not sharing your perspective. We all wait with baited breath for your witty and insightful repartee, extolling the virtues of my checkered passed, interesting mental status, and prestigious ancestry. LOL.
Bob La Londe Alarm Company Owner Former DIY Supplier Disillusioned Member of the Human Race
Uhhh, you never asked my definition of cheap. Browsing the group posts I've seen mention of motion sensors in the "well above $100" range. I'm not spending $1000+ on this, I can't afford that right now. $20 - $40 per sensor is acceptable if they have the adjustments I need. I suspect I'm not going to find sensors that actually have adjustable latch delays so I'm going to have to scratchbuild something like a quick 555 or R/C+relay circuit to handle the latching.
I'm not having a full blown system installed because this particular piece of property will "go away" in the next couple of years because there's a new power transmission line coming through the area. When the power company buys it from me I'll use the $$$ to set up a new building with proper security on my other land.
No, only 4 of my cars, motorcycle, a few tools, and a lifetime of "sentimental junk" that I'll go through "some day soon" to toss the stuff that's "not important". 2400 square feet of crap.
"Clean" would not be the way to describe it so the XP40 is probably out. I'll google for a data sheet on the XP5PI.
Besides the above bits, I like to tinker. Maybe this isn't a good group for tinkerers to be asking questions but it seemed my best choice for the questions I asked.
There's no need for a full system right now. The garage is out in the sticks and the thieves that broke in a couple of months ago were most likely local kids/hoods. They grabbed a few random things that were easy to carry while completely missing items that are worth quite a bit of cash. I just need a noisemaker to warn them off. And a louder noisemaker to wake the neighbor so she can call me if they don't heed the warning. I have a handful of siren drivers and horns in one of my junk boxes, I just need the motion detectors to hook them up to.
The whole rig will be attached to about $1000 worth of deep cycle batteries that I have installed in my VW camper. those are attached to an
80 amp RV battery maintainer that stays plugged in to keep them in good shape. Even if the little hooligans get cute and cut my electric service those batteries will run the sirens and sensors for a week or two. They push my 2000 watt stereo at reasonable (not kid loud ear splitting stupid) volume for 2 or 3 days. When I take the camper out I have a couple of spare batteries and a smaller charger.
You mean you couldn't infer all kinds of horrific things based on my grammar and spelling??? Many folks in this group seem to be able to guess things I didn't even know were possible based on such minimal evidence.
OP: P.S. Variable latching relays on motion sensors? No, but it can be done with external timers, relays, and some of your desired operations may be do-able with a programmable relay board attached to an alarm panel such as the RB3008 and P1632 from Napco. I suspect you can do most of what you want with new off the shelf components for around or under a grand. Truly outdoor operation however, I would go with multiple Crow D&D Daredevil motions each on individual zones of a P1632 and then program them as an "anding group." Retail on the Crows would approach your $100 mark though. I would actually prefer to go with item specific detection such as magna pulls looped through the frame of your items. An alternative with lower false alarms would be dual beam photo beam detectors, but these would certainly exceed your.
Want to do it right use area detection to a voice driver with a verbal warning, and then item specific detection with a loud siren and strobe.
Bob La Londe Alarm Company Owner Former DIY Supplier Disillusioned Member of the Human Race
How does the Crow compare to the Optex regarding performance? Will the Crow run on 9v batteries? Is there room inside for a wireless transmitter (e.g. Powermax Visonix transmitter)?
I have two Optex PIRs placed outdoors that are exposed to the sun (the required placements pretty much dictate some direct exposure to the sun). I get several false alarms a day as the sun moves across the sky. Currently the motion sensors are set to chime to let me know someone is in my yard, so a false alarm does not cause the alarm to trigger, but still, I'd like to minimize the false alarms. Would you expect the Crow to perform better is such an environment?
With outdoor detection, you can pretty much expect to have false alarms. There's hardly an inexpensive way that you can stop animals, bugs, leaves, birds, newspapers, branches, snow and rain, etc, etc, etc ...... from causing you an occasional problem.
Your goal is to detect something moving in your yard and that's what motion detectors do, regardless of what technology you choose. They have yet to discover how to manufacture a "human" detector.
There are automobile detectors but that's about as discerning as you are going to find. Other than that, you can add multiple detectors looking at slightly different locations and set them up in parallel, so that both must trip within a perscribed period of time. That will take some type of delay circuitry and will reduce the false alarm rate but probably reduce the reliablity of detecting certain kinds of movement.
Personally, I think that outdoor motion detectors are more prone to false alarms than the tower type sets of multiple photo beams. But, of course the photo beams of this caliber are quite costly.
Outdoor motion sensing and false alarms go hand in hand.
OK, thanks. An occasional false alarm is OK, because the final goal is to use the PIR to trigger an Axis 223M camera. Athlough the 223M has motion detection, the settings vary greatly from mid day to night, and it's proving difficult to define motion detection parameters that are good for all lighting conditions. The plan is to use the PIR to assist with that. I was also looking at the Crow IR beams as well. I expect the false alarms from those are even less than the Crow PIR, is that correct?
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