PaulD
Active Member
I mounted an ms13 motion sensor ( if that's the dark grey waterproof one with a screw on battery lid) inside the lid of our green bin (organic waste) and have an event that runs only on Wed to say it's been emptied.
I used a small piece of wood on the outside to make sure the sensor had a firm base.
The first one wouldn't hold just screwed into the plastic and the sensor disappeared with the garbage ! Expensive lesson - it was an old sensor though.
I had to put a "do not retrigger" in the event as the waste technicians leave the lid open and the sensor also picks up the cars driving by.
Blue box and green bin go into the same truck here.
This has been working fine since last summer.
I like the approach of attaching a wireless PIR to the container. I had consider that approach earlier but felt like the rough handeling on an expensive PIR would be too risky. However, in your case, it looks like you used an X-10 motion sensor. Those are cheap compared to most and would not be a major expense if lost or damaged. This would also mean that I would not need to run a long wire to the trash pick up location.
In my case, I would not want it to pick up local traffic. However, I could put it on the back side of my container so it looks at a blank wall and would only be triggered when the container is moved.
We also have a recycle bin picked up by a seperate pick up vehicle. The pick-up-guy manually separates out the contents into paper/glass/metal bins in his truck and then he tosses the bin aside. No PIR would survive on this container.
I do not have any X-10 components in my HA setup now but it would be easy to add. I will look at this option closely.