Alarms - motion sensors
Discussion
House came with alarm system installed. When the alarm is not armed every time you walk in a room the motion sensors makes a slight clicking noise (almost like the press of a Casio digital watch beep plus a click), is this normal? Installer charged me a call out charge to come round and tell me it's normal but I've got sensitive hearing and its pissing me off. I'm told it's all hardwired so it's not a problem of low batteries as I first thought.
The beep? Most alarms have a mode where the alarm "Chimes" when a sensor is triggered. Check the manual or the panel to see how to enable\disable.
Clicking sensors? My guess is they're ancient. You can replace a typical PIR with a good-quality one for a few quid each, eg, http://www.securitywarehouse.co.uk/catalog/index.p...
Clicking sensors? My guess is they're ancient. You can replace a typical PIR with a good-quality one for a few quid each, eg, http://www.securitywarehouse.co.uk/catalog/index.p...
Westy Pre-Lit said:
As said the clicking will be the relay on the alarm circuit within the PIR that shouldn't make a noise.
Unfortunately some can make a noise even when new but this is pretty rare, the only way of stopping it will be to change the PIR.
I had a PIR in the hall of my last house and that clicked very loudly. I worked in conjunction with an alarm distributor at the time (ATH, now part of the Gardiner Group or its successors) and this PIR was a sample from a Spanish manufacturer and I'd been asked to evaluate it. Apart from the loud CLACK! when you passed it there was no problem. Well it was pug-ugly too...Unfortunately some can make a noise even when new but this is pretty rare, the only way of stopping it will be to change the PIR.
Out of interest, our new house has these everywhere except in the bedrooms. They also have a contact on the front door and you get that "bing bong" when someone comes in. Like a corner shop!
My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
Otispunkmeyer said:
Out of interest, our new house has these everywhere except in the bedrooms. They also have a contact on the front door and you get that "bing bong" when someone comes in. Like a corner shop!
My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
Hey, we had exactly this problem. The angry letter was AMAZING, especially as we had no idea she was setting the alarm off. As far as I can tell there is simply no such thing as a pet-proof IR sensor, if the cat is in a certain position/proximity, they do still look like humans. Hell, I crawled around the lounge when we moved in and was convinced it wouldn't get set off after I wasn't picked up by it, but she still managed to set it off.My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
As a long term solution I recommend beam sensors, which splay across the room at a certain height. This works really well for us in another room as our cat isn't a climber.
Try the pet-friendly version of,
http://resource.boschsecurity.com/documents/BlueLi...
No sensor is truely pet-proof, these use a combination of microwave and PIR detection to reduce false alarms. Odds are that they would work.
http://resource.boschsecurity.com/documents/BlueLi...
No sensor is truely pet-proof, these use a combination of microwave and PIR detection to reduce false alarms. Odds are that they would work.
untruth said:
Otispunkmeyer said:
Out of interest, our new house has these everywhere except in the bedrooms. They also have a contact on the front door and you get that "bing bong" when someone comes in. Like a corner shop!
My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
Hey, we had exactly this problem. The angry letter was AMAZING, especially as we had no idea she was setting the alarm off. As far as I can tell there is simply no such thing as a pet-proof IR sensor, if the cat is in a certain position/proximity, they do still look like humans. Hell, I crawled around the lounge when we moved in and was convinced it wouldn't get set off after I wasn't picked up by it, but she still managed to set it off.My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
As a long term solution I recommend beam sensors, which splay across the room at a certain height. This works really well for us in another room as our cat isn't a climber.
Our house is fitted with combined IR and Microwave sensors (installed about 17 years ago) and to date we've not had a single false alarm caused by our four cats!!!
Believe the sensors are DI (Detection Instruments).
It was only a small local installer that knew about them - the big companies just told us to shut the cats in the kitchen when we went out
Believe the sensors are DI (Detection Instruments).
It was only a small local installer that knew about them - the big companies just told us to shut the cats in the kitchen when we went out
Otispunkmeyer said:
Out of interest, our new house has these everywhere except in the bedrooms. They also have a contact on the front door and you get that "bing bong" when someone comes in. Like a corner shop!
My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
We've had 'cat proof' sensors in our last 2 houses. Never once gone off and our 2 cats used to loon around the place, jumping over the furniture etc. Only thing we needed to cater for was one of them jumping on the top of the fridge freezer. Pretty sure they are the IR/Microwave ones mentioned above as there are a couple of colours of lights that they go when they sense you.My question is, as we have a cat, would the IR detectors pick her up?
Would quite like to have the alarm on, especially when we go out. But if the cat decides to have its hour of mad running about whilst we are out, will I be getting angry letters from the neighbors?!
If you were to use only perimeter protection there would be no problem with cats or dogs, or people legitimately inside for that matter. Door contacts, window contacts, glass break detectors, and shock sensors are pretty fool proof. The downside is the installation is more complex and more wiring has to be hidden.
In the 1980s my company of the time was trying to promote a Canadian control panel which had automatic home and away settings but it depended on both perimeter protection and volumetric sensors. If the system was set and the exit door was used, the whole system set. If, however, the exit door was not used it set only the perimeter detection because the occupants were obviously still at home. A nice automatic concept but at variance with the growing dependence on space protection as the principal means of detection.
In the 1980s my company of the time was trying to promote a Canadian control panel which had automatic home and away settings but it depended on both perimeter protection and volumetric sensors. If the system was set and the exit door was used, the whole system set. If, however, the exit door was not used it set only the perimeter detection because the occupants were obviously still at home. A nice automatic concept but at variance with the growing dependence on space protection as the principal means of detection.
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