My friends are always asking me questions about their alarms. Ever since I started working at Protection 1, I am looked to as the resident Siren Whisperer. For the most part, their questions are simple and I can tell them the answer in seconds.
Recently, a seamstress friend of mine called to ask me what could be causing her motion sensors to go off every morning. As a historical costumer, she keeps strange hours to keep up with movie industry demand…I honestly don’t know how she manages to find time to sleep. She was being woken up every morning, and it was really cutting into her sleep schedule! Her alarm kept tripping, and she didn’t understand why.
For a solid week she’d had the police sent to her studio every morning at 3:45am. Insects and spider webs occasionally get in front of motion detectors, but not too many spiders have stop watches and follow a schedule to the minute, so I knew they were out. Mice or rats generally aren’t big enough to trigger a false motion, and she had no cats or dogs in her shop.
Sometimes I’ve seen cases were oscillating fans will trigger the alarms, but there weren’t any of them in her building. I asked her about plants or decorations hanging from the ceiling, or even banners that would blow when the air conditioning or heat was turned on. All of these are common causes, and we were coming up with no solution.
I had her take a picture of the shop, since I couldn’t drive the three hours to take a look myself. Right under her motion sensor she had several rolls of sheer fabric that were loosely attached to the bolts right under her vents. I had her put rubber bands around the rolls hoping that would fix it!
Low and behold at 3:45 the next morning… no false alarm!
Her heater was on a timer, and it was programmed to turn on at 3:45. That sheer fabric would flap in the breeze, triggering that motion. I am so glad that I was able to help her get her precious sleep!
What are some of the top causes of false alarms for motion sensors?
Flying or crawling insects; spiders like to make homes in corners and anchor their webs to the sensors
Pets
Curtains or plants blown by air conditioning or heaters
Low batteries
Ceiling fans
Objects moving near motion sensors
How can you prevent the motion from being triggered?
Do not allow any moving items to remain in an area where a motion sensor is located. Talk to your technician when he is installing your system. Let him or her know if you have pets that can climb onto furniture and get in the way of a motion sensor. Most sensors can be adjusted or replaced with newer models that can ignore pets under 2 1/2 feet and up to 85 lbs. Sometimes, just installing the sensors upside down can get the window of coverage up above what a pet could trigger.
For trouble shooing Q&As and false alarm prevention, please visit our Online Technical Support page.
One of the quick tricks you can try is to quickly turn the motion sensor ON, OFF, ON to override the motion detection and make the light stay on. To go back to motion detection mode, turn the motion sensor off, wait for about 10 seconds, and then turn it on again.
You can beat an ultrasonic or radar motion sensor by not moving, or at least moving VERY, VERY slow. Hire a Sloth! You can beat beam sensors by avoiding the beams or detouring the beams by another path of the same length. Don't stand in front of either, nor anywhere within the cone of detection.
Actually, PIR motion sensors are useless at ambient temperatures above 95°F. The easiest way to defeat them is to either turn up the heat in the facility or turn off the air conditioning or both.
A motion sensor may send a false alarm signal for multiple reasons. These include things like balloons, stray air drafts, direct sunlight, large insects, rapid temperature changes (caused by fireplaces or heating systems), small animals (such as mice, rats, birds, cats, etc.) or faulty equipment.
Slide the “On-Time” switch to your preferred amount of minutes, such as one, five or 10 minutes. You may also program the motion sensor light settings from dusk to dawn as needed, or set them to stay illuminated for a certain timespan after dark if your device has a “Dual-Bright” setting.
Most motion detectors utilize Passive Infrared (PIR) technology to detect movement. As a result, they can track the activity of moving objects that generate infrared light. Anything that produces enough infrared energy and a temperature shift can trigger the motion detector.
A simple silicone spray will blind the sensor, and is invisible to the naked eye. It leaves a trace, but it might not be discovered until much later, if at all. Alternatively, you could place glass in front of the sensor when it was off, which would do the same thing.
Several factors can accidentally set off your motion sensors, including pets and any other activity from heat sources like vents, windows, stoves, or anything that causes a heat change near your sensor. The easiest way to test if your sensor is faulty is by putting a piece of paper in front of it for three days.
Namely, the changing light or shadow levels as they pass or move in the sensor's range. Because the sensors rely on these movements, it's possible that the way a tree is blowing in the wind and casting patterns on the carpet can be enough to set off a motion detector.
- Identify the motion sensor light switch or control panel. - Look for a switch or setting labeled "Always On" or "Constant On."- Activate this setting to keep the lights on permanently. - Keep in mind that this will consume more energy, so use it sparingly.
Electrical issues, such as a damaged power cord or faulty battery from solar motion lights, can prevent the device from working correctly. Issues like power surges and power outages can also cause a motion detector light to stop working.
Most people would simply adjust the time out/time delay to a longer period to keep the lights on, for like 20 mins. But you have to change the time delay back to normal, like 5 minutes when you finish the shower, because 20 minutes is too long for daily usage.
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