I picked up a couple of PowerG 9983 motion detectors with the intent on covering a lot of space. I have an open floor plan with 50’ feet of distance and 12’ ceiling. I am hoping that these motion sensors will be sensitive enough to pick up motion across the room. I think I need some help because these don’t seem to be performing at all. They aren’t picking much up at all.
What is the best way to test this motion sensor? I’d like to set them up temporarily and then have some feedback that they are picking motion up in the far distances.
I have experience with zigbee mmwave sensors and have a handful that work very well on hubitat. I’m not expecting the same responsiveness on these units, but I do want them to work.
At the moment I have them set up on a 9’ shelf at the edge. I can walk around 25’ from them and they are not picking me up. I must be doing something wrong so I could use a little help. Thank you.
I don’t have the same motion detectors but a common difficulty with testing motion detectors is they need a few minutes to settle on the room’s IR patterns before they will detect properly. So to test them you have to leave the room entirely for a few minutes and then come back in to trigger them. Have you tried that? The installation manual usually mentions this. Not sure about that model though.
Is it possible they aren’t at exactly the same vertical angle sitting on the shelf as they would be when wall mounted? Like maybe they’re leaning a little forward and shortening the range?
They are actually about 2 degrees tilted back. What I’m hoping to get help with is how to set them on the panel so that I can get easy and accurate feedback on what can trip them and what can’t. I can go into some detail on what I’ve already done, but I think I’d like to hear from folks that do this kind of thing how best to configure the device for testing. The manual does not touch on configuring them on an IQP4 like most all of the device manuals. I wasn’t able to find any discussions on the device so I’m hoping for a little experienced help. I appreciate that you are making the effort.
At the moment I have them set up on a 9’ shelf at the edge.
It’s not easy to bench test a motion detector and get results that mirror actual installed performance. I don’t advise trying and I can’t really provide any tips to do it. Motion detectors are calibrated for specific installation heights and angles and deviating just a little can have a big impact. Setting it on a shelf is not going to be reliable.
If you want to temporarily mount it to test maybe a couple command strips might work, but note the installation manual’s instructions and mount in a way which follows those.
At 9 feet high it is important to mount using the lower portion of the back plate. They indicate the Y labeled holes must be used, which keeps the detector angled properly.
In the IQ Panel you can set the sensitivity on the edit sensor page. Settings > Advanced Settings > Installer Code > Installation > Devices > Security Sensors. Make sure that range is set to High. You can set the event counter to 1 as well, but I’m not 100% on whether that affects the test mode.
Is there a good configuration for a test mode that chimes or alerts constantly while motion is being detected? Looking for ways to test the outer limits of the range and to angle the sensor horizontally best.
You can use the placement test described in the manual to see the LED on the detector when it catches movement. That’s the best way to quickly test the range. Walk across the field of view, not directly at the detector for best determination of range.
Testing under normal circumstances outside of that placement test mode will be impacted by the built in activity delay shutdown, and not constantly chime.