PIR too close to Halogen Lights?

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1

I have another PIR Motion Sensor. Sometimes it will not trigger a light per the rules I set up when someone crosses its field of vision.

It is mounted on a low ceiling soffet and there are 2 can lights that use MR-16 Halogen bulbs. These are the bubls that are about an inch in diameter. They are 50 watt bulbs, but are on a dimmed setting. The PIR is is in between the two lights and they are about 18 inches away from the PIR and 10 inches forward.

Do you think these bulbs are heating up the air around the PIR making it so it can not sense body heat on people?

2

See: http://suretydiy.com/forums/topic/mr-16-lights-and-pir-motion-sensor/#post-39610

3

thanks for the response. I just want it to trigger as much as the other ones.

Do you know what the intervals are between the time they can retrigger?

Is there another brand and model that may be more suited for this?

4
Do you know what the intervals are between the time they can retrigger?

Approx three minutes or so in between activations

Anything that emits thermal radiation can negatively affect the PIR motion.

How a PIR motion works:
When an object, such as a human, passes in front of the background, such as a wall, the temperature at that point in the sensor’s field of view will rise from room temperature to body temperature, and then back again. The sensor converts the resulting change in the incoming infrared radiation into a change in the output voltage, and this triggers the detection, opening the sensor circuit (which is normally closed)

5

For this kind of application security motion sensors aren’t a great fit because they’re optimized to minimize false alarms as described above. You would want occupancy motion sensors to quickly & reliably turn a light on. Occupancy sensors might actually be cheaper because they don’t have to be as smart as security sensors. False triggers are no big deal for an occupancy application. I’m not aware of any occupancy motion sensors that send Honeywell/2GIG wireless signals but I’d love to know if one exists. Otherwise, you might be able to find a battery powered occupancy sensor with a normally closed contact output that could be wired to a 2GIG-PIR1-345.