Discrete PIR Mounting

[hucker]

I'm about a month away from needing to get everything in and I'm working on getting all of my PIR's. I would like to place a few around the interior for security/automation purposes. I've looked at many houses (and images online) and note that invariably they are hung up high in a corner. Being an engineer I appreciate the pragmatism of this approach ... but by the time I get security key pads, light switches, room controllers, audio controllers, temp sensors, smoke alarms, sprinklers (don't ask), glass break sensors all setup it's going to look pretty ugly...

Is there a clean way to do PIR's? Hide them behind some flush white plastic? Maybe a flush mount kit?

I've found these but they aren't that discrete...

http://tinyurl.com/2vr4x8
http://tinyurl.com/34gvzx

Chuck

 

[RonX]

What about these:

http://homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DT...?productID=1250
http://homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DT...p?productID=491
http://homesecuritystore.com/ezStore123/DT...p?productID=706

 

[hucker]

Those are in first place. They still are 'obvious' just less so. I'm hoping I can find something that would be hard to find even if you knew there was a PIR in the room.

Chuck

 

[jlehnert]

I have the 6250FM units mounted on the ceiling, and they are pretty unobtrusive. Unlike the unit mentioned above, the 6250 are truly flush mount, not surface mounted.

If ceiling mounting is not an option, you can also try the Visonic Spy2. The exposed portion is 3/4 of an inch across, so it's very inconspicuous. IIRC there is also a Spy3 and Spy4, which are basically the same unit, with different lenses.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

I have a couple Visonic CLIP Motion detectors and like their small size.

 

[pkoslow]

I can second the Visonic "Spy" line of PIR's that jlehnert linked.

They're the only units I've found that can be recessed into the wall and are really quite small. The downside is that none are pet immune if that's an issue for you? The different models provide different coverage (the wide angle version actually sticks out of the wall a bit and is larger in diameter).

From a functional standpoint a standard (ugly) PIR mounted in the corner will provide the best performance... to duplicate this with the Visonic Spy PIRs will take some better planning and even trial & error placement to get the best coverage.

The Spy's will work well enough for security, but if you're trying to determine occupancy in the room for automation they won't work as well as a standard PIR. The "curtain" Spy PIR does a great job to track movement as you enter hallways, etc... but I've been dissapointed with larger "room" coverage compared to standard PIR's.

Cheers,
Paul