Dual ones are great when you can use them, and I have a few, but unfortunately they don't make wireless dual sensors, at least from what I have seen.
Motion Decector False Alarms
- Thread starter Jrock
- Start date
Dual ones are great when you can use them, and I have a few, but unfortunately they don't make wireless dual sensors, at least from what I have seen.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
Basildane,
I won't doubt your statistic at all... motions trip too easily and those are the only falses I've had, but I know others have them due to excessive wind, etc on doors/windows.
That said, what would you suggest for interior protection? Say someone breaks a window without opening the frame to trip the contact (I know, glassbreaks - but play along)... or they use a ladder and come in an upstairs window into a bathroom (nobody puts a glassbreak in a bathroom!) - and then they walk through the house freely... how would you catch them then?
Keep in mind at least cats; if you have dogs, they should be handling the interior protection anyway IMHO.
I won't doubt your statistic at all... motions trip too easily and those are the only falses I've had, but I know others have them due to excessive wind, etc on doors/windows.
That said, what would you suggest for interior protection? Say someone breaks a window without opening the frame to trip the contact (I know, glassbreaks - but play along)... or they use a ladder and come in an upstairs window into a bathroom (nobody puts a glassbreak in a bathroom!) - and then they walk through the house freely... how would you catch them then?
Keep in mind at least cats; if you have dogs, they should be handling the interior protection anyway IMHO.
You guessed it, this is my interior protection:
But you are right, some homes need interior detectors. Dual-tecs are better, but I've still seen falses from them too.
Another thing to do is cross-zoning, where the PIR only alarms if another zone is tripped within 2 minutes...
I do have one high-profile customer who gets hit (burglarized) an average of once every 2 years. We've put EVERYTHING into that house, the motions were dual-tec.
In one case, the thieves still ransacked the house even with all the sirens howling and the voice board screaming BURGLARY BURGLARY!!!
But I am convinced that the alarm made them spend much less time in the house...
Another recommendation, put PIR's on local alarm only, no police response.
tmbrown97
Senior Member
I have had about 6 falses over 3 years with my rokonet dual-tech pet-immune motions... 5 were related to the cats jumping on something more than 5ft up in the field of vision of the sensor, and the last was a mylar balloon in front of a heater vent only 2ft from the sensor.
I like the cross-zoning idea; that just requires many more motions in a home for really good coverage; in this house I can easily get 2 motions to cover basically the entire downstairs by placing them just-right; but I'll likely go with 4-5 so I can do cross-zoning instead; and I've also had my eye on the new quad-tech pet-immune sensors;
If I were getting hit every 2 years, I'd be looking into something like http://www.rollashield.com/ ; a few of your interior protection devices (the dogs), and even consider a hidden room inside for the valuables. Then I'd probably get really annoyed and put a screamer in every room to at least hopefully make their ears bleed while they're in there; and make sure people around know. Then again, all probably easier said than done.
I like the cross-zoning idea; that just requires many more motions in a home for really good coverage; in this house I can easily get 2 motions to cover basically the entire downstairs by placing them just-right; but I'll likely go with 4-5 so I can do cross-zoning instead; and I've also had my eye on the new quad-tech pet-immune sensors;
If I were getting hit every 2 years, I'd be looking into something like http://www.rollashield.com/ ; a few of your interior protection devices (the dogs), and even consider a hidden room inside for the valuables. Then I'd probably get really annoyed and put a screamer in every room to at least hopefully make their ears bleed while they're in there; and make sure people around know. Then again, all probably easier said than done.
It's probably good to have at least three motion detectors per floor if you are using cross-zoning, but if you are like me, adding many motion detectors for home automation purposes, cross-zoning fits in great. Also, you'd be surprised how much burglars run around a house when they break it. They definitely want to scope out what you have quickly and use their limited time wisely. This makes it even more likely that a burglar would trip multiple zones in a very short period. For the most part, they don't care, they are attempting to get in and out before the police make it to your house.
When you do have a false alarm, this tends to make you question if that motion detector works, and you may not believe it if the police call telling you that the sensor went off. That is bad, because the burglar might be there. With cross-zoning, you have pretty good assurance that there is a problem if your alarm goes off. Even if you have to add a few motion detectors to make it work effectively, in the long run, its worth the extra cost.
When you do have a false alarm, this tends to make you question if that motion detector works, and you may not believe it if the police call telling you that the sensor went off. That is bad, because the burglar might be there. With cross-zoning, you have pretty good assurance that there is a problem if your alarm goes off. Even if you have to add a few motion detectors to make it work effectively, in the long run, its worth the extra cost.
I decided that any motion detector, even in a cross-zoned setup, was a waste for my situation with 3 cats and furniture within close distances to any mounting location. I'm going to be adding the Sure Action Pulsors instead. Going with a 3-zone board that can handle 12 sensors for ~$140 and $~30 for each sensor made more sense. Once I install and adust them I'll determine if I need to cross-zone or not. Best of all, no motion detectors to look at on my walls.
For some reason I don't feel my pets provide the same level of protection as Basildane :unsure:
For some reason I don't feel my pets provide the same level of protection as Basildane :unsure:
When installed correctly (this can be a little tricky), the pulsors will make you very happy. I haven't had any issues with them, in fact, I even have one under my bath tub (access via floor below) to detect when someone is in the shower allowing me to turn the fan on 
Lagerhead
Active Member
Ditto. Several of these have been in service here for 15 years and still going. Never been triggered by the dogs.
It's important to recognize their limitations, however. The Pulsors are triggered by weight on the floor, so they have a more limited detection area, generally just a radius of 2-3 feet (more or less, depending on how the floor flexes). This is not the same as an IR eye that can cover the whole room from a corner. When placed properly, such as at doorways, hallways, stairs, etc. where people must pass, Pulsors are a good solution.
Also unfortunately, if you have a single-story house built on a cement slab without a basement, they aren't very helpful. I have played with them, and at one time I attempted to use them to detect when someone was in bed, but they can only detect someone getting on or off the bed, not someone on the bed. I tried to get around this by building a very sensitive bridge circuit, but unfortunately they are very temperature sensitive, so there was no way I could ever calibrate it.
Thanks for the vote of confidence with the pulsors. I'm looking to put them at some strategic locations where I know someone would pass for the sole purpose of backing up the perimeter contacts and glassbreaks incase they don't go off (more concerned about glassbreaks really.)
tmbrown97
Senior Member
ano - your comment reminded me of a thread from a while back about monitoring people in/out of bed - but I just looked back and it you were active in that thread... it seemed like there were a lot of creative ideas in there - did you never find one that worked?
For others to follow: http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15623
For others to follow: http://www.cocoontech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15623
Yes, and as usual the simple solution was the best. Our queen bedframe has a wheel in the center that I removed. In its place I built this device out of wood with some springs from Home Depot, a lever switch, and a GE wireless alarm transmitter. Basically a piece of wood maybe 2 x 4 slides up and down on two large nails and sets on two springs. The bed sits on that. The switch sits ABOVE the wood, and triggers when the wood presses down. So basically a simple scale. Works perfectly. I did have to adjust it for a week or two initially but not since.
When someone is in bed, it controls the room heat/ac, controls ceiling fans, won't let motion turn on the lights, and lowers the speaker announcement volume. Getting up at the right time turns on the lights, turns off sleep sounds, turns off the ceiling fan, turns on the hot water recirc. pump, increases announcement volume, etc.
