Neato Botvac vs DSC BV-500 PIR

dw886

Member
My system (going on 5 years?) has been installed and working great.  I've been slowly adding in things to my Elk M1G and tweaking things, but only because I like to do it.
 
About 4-5 months ago, we got a Neato Botvac Connected (think: "Laser-guided Roomba that vacuums in straight lines instead of haphazardly bouncing around").  I'm an anal freak about vacuuming and lines, and I love this thing.
 
Here's the problem:  The Botvac sets off my PIRs (DSC Bravo 5's - BV500's), so while we have it scheduled to run two days a week when we're gone for work, each time it runs my alarm company is calling me.  Since we don't have any pets, I never thought I'd have to deal with this. :-)
 
I've been toying with a few ideas in my head, but I'd rather get some ideas from the experts.
 
If the vac is running at a scheduled time, write rule(s) on the M1 that bypasses the zone(s) that have PIRs that might see the vac.
 
I guess I hadn't thought of using rules.  Any thoughts on how I'd do this?  I'm trying to think of the trigger event - I can't use the system state (like if system becomes armed) because it may or may not be on the same day that they're scheduled to run, so the trigger would have to be if that PIR becomes not secure?
 
Would a rule supersede the reporting of the zone violation to the central station?
RAL said:
If the vac is running at a scheduled time, write rule(s) on the M1 that bypasses the zone(s) that have PIRs that might see the vac.
 
A fixed schedule would be the easiest to deal with.  If the vac is going to run, say from 10am to 11am, you can simply write a rule to bypass the PIR zone at 10am and unbypass it at 11am.  While the zone is bypassed, no alarms will be generated as a result of that zone being violated, whether it is just the vac causing it, or if someone really broke in. In the case of a real burglar, hopefully some other sensor that isn't bypassed (e.g.  a door or window contact) would trigger an alarm.
 
If the vac doesn't run on a fixed schedule, another way to detect when it is running would be to place a magnetic contact on the charging base and the magnet on the vac and connect the contact up to the M1.  Then, write rules so that when the zone on the charging base becomes non-secure, meaning the vac has undocked, then bypass the PIR zone.  When the vac re-docks and the zone becomes becomes secure again, then un-bypass the PIR.
 
One question is whether it is the body of the vac itself that triggers the PIR, or whether it is the laser light it projects.  The DSC-500 has a sensitivity adjustment. Have you tried changing it to make it less sensitive?
 
If it is the body of vac that's triggering the PIR, then a pet-immune PIR might solve the problem.
 
RAL said:
A fixed schedule would be the easiest to deal with.  If the vac is going to run, say from 10am to 11am, you can simply write a rule to bypass the PIR zone at 10am and unbypass it at 11am.  While the zone is bypassed, no alarms will be generated as a result of that zone being violated, whether it is just the vac causing it, or if someone really broke in. In the case of a real burglar, hopefully some other sensor that isn't bypassed (e.g.  a door or window contact) would trigger an alarm.
 
If the vac doesn't run on a fixed schedule, another way to detect when it is running would be to place a magnetic contact on the charging base and the magnet on the vac and connect the contact up to the M1.  Then, write rules so that when the zone on the charging base becomes non-secure, meaning the vac has undocked, then bypass the PIR zone.  When the vac re-docks and the zone becomes becomes secure again, then un-bypass the PIR.
 
One question is whether it is the body of the vac itself that triggers the PIR, or whether it is the laser light it projects.  The DSC-500 has a sensitivity adjustment. Have you tried changing it to make it less sensitive?
 
If it is the body of vac that's triggering the PIR, then a pet-immune PIR might solve the problem.
 
Not sure if it's the robot or the laser - I'll have to do a little digging.  The rule makes sense now, bypass the sensor up front, and don't rely on the sensor to become not secure before doing something.
 
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