Motion Sensor not working outdoors?

[khisanthax]

I recently placed a motion sensor outside of the front entrance, approximately 3ft in front of the door underneath an awning but the sensor doesn't seem to register movement when I stand in front or wave my hands in front of the sensor. It works when indoors so I'm not sure the issue but I'll describe the setup. It's under an aluminum awning pointing towards a wooden door and in front of the door is a metal security door with see-through acrylic panels right behind it. I'm not sure if the transparent acrylic would create a problem or the 19F degree weather? Any suggestions?

[Bernman]

Acrylic will reduce transmission of some light wavelengths. Perhaps the signal is reduced through the door too much to be reliable.

http://www.plasticgenius.com/2011/05/infrared-and-ultraviolet-transmission.html

[khisanthax]

I just want to note that the ir beam doesn't have to go through the acrylic on the screen door, but my concern is that the beam is reflecting off of it and "screwing" something up. My purpose is for the sensor to recognize someone coming up to the door and initiating an insteon command to alert me that someone is at the door.

[LeeG]

Was the Motion Sensor set up for Dusk/Dawn operation? Lighting outside will change the effect of the Dusk Level.

 

Does the Red LED blink when someone walks past the Motion Sensor? Standing in front of the Motion Sensor does not trip motion. Hands moving may not trip motion if covered in a jacket.

 

The Motion Sensor should be positioned where movement is across the face of the sensor.

[khisanthax]

Thanks for taking the time to reply and sorry for my late reply even though I'm still having issues. The red light would not come on at all when outside but did when inside ... so I assumed it was just out of operating temps. Eventually it warmed up a little and started working .... sort of. I have it placed under an awning to the front door. It's on the top-inside so that it faces down directly to the floor. The flat/top of the motion sensor is facing the door and the bottom (which I believe angles downward to give more coverage) is facing the steps.

 

I was getting a lot of false positives since I have email notification setup and have a camera viewing the door so i can check to see what "tripped" the sensor and 90% there was nothing visible and I can see to the sidewalk and half-way into the street so there were no cars passing by either even though I doubted that the range went that far.

 

Today, I put a tape on the bottom half of the sensor "lens" to try to reduce the range to cover just the 4 x 2 space in front of the door but I ended up getting more false positives.

 

Is there any good way to use this outdoors? Any rules or guides I should follow? The sensor is not on dusk/dawn mode, at least I don't think it is. And motion is not so much across as it is "into" the ir beam since the closed door doesn't allow for complete movement across .... should I try posting a pic???

[LeeG]

What is the outside temp?

 

The lack of a Red LED when walking past the Motion Sensor field of view would indicate an issue with the Motion Sensor, low battery, incorrect position. Folks do use these outside. The Motion Sensor should be positioned such that someone approaching the door walks across the field of view. Pointing at the door itself is not the best orientation. The Motion Sensor works best when a person walks across the field of view, not directly toward or directly away from the Motion Sensor.

 

Try a new battery.

[khisanthax]

When it wasn't working it was inthe single digits and I replaced the battery twice. It works outside now, but i get false positives. Like I said, it's placed at the top of the awning facing down at the floor so someone passes through it to get to the door. i can't figure why I get all the false positives since I don't see anything passing through the beam unless it's really really wide ...?

[Xathros]

Is there any heat escaping around your door? Motion detectors see heat.

 

 

-Xathros

 

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