50 Occupancy Sensors???
- Thread starter DotNetDog
- Start date
I can speak for the Spy4 sensors, I have been bench testing 8 of them for the last three weeks, and I gotta say that I am impressed!!
btw, FIRST POST WITH NEW HANDLE!!
Ohhhh! Details please. I was told by someone at Visonic that they are definitely not "occupancy" sensors but are strictly motion sensors. I am using them where people would walk past/through. Like at the bottom of stairs where you would walk past. The SPY4 would be used to turn on lights in the basement as you walk down the stairs.
What do you like and not like about them?
ddennerline
Active Member
The Elk does have the capacity to power 50 of these sensors at 4ma each. If you wanted an extra measure of protection against shorts, then an Elk power distribution unit would provide up to nine fuse protected outputs. With this many devices, separate fuses probably makes good sense because it would only take one malfunctioned/shorted device to cause permanent hair follicle loss. You would have to troubleshoot 50 devices to find the one that went south. If one went bad using a PDU, then you would only have to diagnose ~5 devices.
Does your Elk system already have automated lighting system (UPB, ZWave, etc..). If yes, why not save ~$30 per-sensor and use a motion sensor, but increase the sensitivity. Yes, motion sensors are not the same as occupancy sensors. The SensorSwitch detectors have a number of nice capabilities that are friendly to environments without HA controller or lights. The SensorSwitch’s solid state relay can be used to control 120v lighting circuit. In addition, it appears multiple SensorSwitches can be chained together. The daylight/photocell sensor could be emulated using Elk rules.
I have a motion sensor controlled light in garage and when I am sorting through stuff for a long period of time, the lights do turn off. I have to sort of do the hokey-pokey to keep the sensor happy. It would be interesting to see if these SensorSwitch work reliably for, “Watching TV,†scenario. Does the sensor require some motion during the timeout period for it to extend the timer’s window?
Sorry not trying to discourage anyone. I was a bit taken back by the $80 price. I only paid $158 for WatchOUT Outdoor Motion Detector which is pretty technically sophisticated. Hopefully, device lives up to claim about being an occupancy detector.
Does your Elk system already have automated lighting system (UPB, ZWave, etc..). If yes, why not save ~$30 per-sensor and use a motion sensor, but increase the sensitivity. Yes, motion sensors are not the same as occupancy sensors. The SensorSwitch detectors have a number of nice capabilities that are friendly to environments without HA controller or lights. The SensorSwitch’s solid state relay can be used to control 120v lighting circuit. In addition, it appears multiple SensorSwitches can be chained together. The daylight/photocell sensor could be emulated using Elk rules.
I have a motion sensor controlled light in garage and when I am sorting through stuff for a long period of time, the lights do turn off. I have to sort of do the hokey-pokey to keep the sensor happy. It would be interesting to see if these SensorSwitch work reliably for, “Watching TV,†scenario. Does the sensor require some motion during the timeout period for it to extend the timer’s window?
Sorry not trying to discourage anyone. I was a bit taken back by the $80 price. I only paid $158 for WatchOUT Outdoor Motion Detector which is pretty technically sophisticated. Hopefully, device lives up to claim about being an occupancy detector.
