wide angle PIR - 150-180 degree?

[tiwing]

I'm looking for a wide angle PIR sensor to hoop up to my (future) Elk. I'm most of the way though the planning stages right now and I wired the house before the drywall went up. But I have PIRs wired to locations that make sense for wider angles than I've been able to find. I don't need the wide angle so much for security, but for home automation. And it has to be pet immune...

I've seen a lot of wide angle stuff like the leviton motion switch (150 degree) and of course outdoor sensors up to 240 degrees. But the widest I found for indoor/alarm use is 110 degrees. most seem to be 90 or less.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ano]

I'm looking for a wide angle PIR sensor to hoop up to my (future) Elk. I'm most of the way though the planning stages right now and I wired the house before the drywall went up. But I have PIRs wired to locations that make sense for wider angles than I've been able to find. I don't need the wide angle so much for security, but for home automation. And it has to be pet immune...

I've seen a lot of wide angle stuff like the leviton motion switch (150 degree) and of course outdoor sensors up to 240 degrees. But the widest I found for indoor/alarm use is 110 degrees. most seem to be 90 or less.

Thanks for your help!

It sounds like you are expecting a few sensors to do everything for you, but unfortunately, technology just isn't there yet. First of all, you should realize that passive IR senors work with a range of fingers. They are most sensitive when you move across the fingers and not very sensitive when you move toward or away from the sensor or along the fingers. Because of this you want to plan for movement patterns so a burglar will trip your alarm.

Pet immunity is another characteristic, whereby for the most part, pet immunity occurs because the sensor doesn't view the area where a pet might cross.

The characteristics of avoiding false alarms and pet immunity really make correctly installed, pet immune sensors very poor occupancy sensors. The best solution is to use different sensors for occupancy and security, especially since the best placement for each is different. If your expecting one sensor type to do everything, it likely won't do anything very well.