Adjusting PIR Sensitivity (Active 8 QP Sensors)

eggerb

Any advice much appreciated ... as always!

I have two Active 8 QP PIR Sensors on an Aritech CS250 alarm.

The pet inhibitor has been set to 25kg. I have a had a few false activations over the years and I normally blamed the cat! Recently, I had two activations with [definitely] no cats in the house.

Is there anything I can do to adjust the sensitivity? Will turning the red dial below reduce the sensitivity satisfactorily?

Ideally, I could leave the cat in without throwing it out but I'm always conscious of the sensors being activated by the cats.

Any advice, much appreciated.

KoolKid

If you having a few activations without the cat then I would be looking at replacing the unit.(especially if it has generally been fine) It looks fairly clean so I wouldn't be blaming spiders etc..

altor

eggerb wrote: »

Any advice much appreciated ... as always!

I have two Active 8 QP PIR Sensors on an Aritech CS250 alarm.

The pet inhibitor has been set to 25kg. I have a had a few false activations over the years and I normally blamed the cat! Recently, I had two activations with [definitely] no cats in the house.

Is there anything I can do to adjust the sensitivity? Will turning the red dial below reduce the sensitivity satisfactorily?

Ideally, I could leave the cat in without throwing it out but I'm always conscious of the sensors being activated by the cats.

Any advice, much appreciated.

If you have checked the connections and they are not loose I would assume the detector is faulty.

eggerb

Thanks lads. I'll double check the connections etc. How much would a PIR cost off a elec supplier? Would probably be best to switch out the 5 year old one. The one year old one gave me a false alarm a few months ago. Half suspected it may have been a heat surge from a room as the heating came on. I'm probably dreaming. So, does that red dial not do much then?

altor

Your welcome. Anything up to €20, just make sure you request a pet PIR if that is the one you need. If you ring a few of the suppliers here they will give you a correct price. Prices can vary off each supplier so ring a few before deciding on one.

Any other problems, let us know.

eggerb

Cheers. Would I be better to look for a different make/model other than the one I have? I know nothing about them. I'm assuming the one I have is a quad element and that's what I should replace it with. Will all the wiring be the same?

altor

Pyronix make some very reliable PIRs. They are available in:

CONDOR SECURITY DISTRIBUTION LTD.
23A Greenhills Industrial Estate,
Greenhills Road, Walkinstown, Dublin 12, Ireland.
01 409 7733/34

creedp

KoolKid wrote: »

If you having a few activations without the cat then I would be looking at replacing the unit.(especially if it has generally been fine) It looks fairly clean so I wouldn't be blaming spiders etc..

Sorry for jumping in here but I have a Verifier 6 alarm installed by ADT in 1998 which has both wired window/door contacts and 2 wired PIRs. It worked fine until recently when it went off a couple of times and the screen on the panel keeps flashing PIR fault referring to the one in the landing. This happenned first shortly after I put down chipboard on attic floor for storage - not sure if any connection here unless I upset the cable linking the PIR to the Alarm Unit.

I know the alarm is getting on but I was wondering if it would be possible to lengthen its lifespan by replacing the faulty PIR? Is it as simple as replacing the PIR unit or does the alarm have to be configured to accept the new PIR? When I moved into the house first in 2003 I continued with the previous owners ADT annual maintenance contract on the alarm but as €200 pa I figured it was simply not good value for money and stopped it. At the time ADT warned me that should anything go wrong no one else could go near the alarm andthey would charge something like €200 to call out to fix it. So does this mean I have no choice but to install a new one?

KoolKid

It could be a damaged cable or a faulty PiR. I would disconnect the PiR & close off the zone & tamper loop(s) . If you get no further false alarms then replace the unit. In most cases no adjustment will be needed.
If you still have problems its time to look at the cable Im afraid.

creedp

KoolKid wrote: »

It could be a damaged cable or a faulty PiR. I would disconnect the PiR & close off the zone & tamper loop(s) . If you get no further false alarms then replace the unit. In most cases no adjustment will be needed.
If you still have problems its time to look at the cable Im afraid.

Thanks for the advice. When you say close off the zone and tamper loop does that mean its a job a novice without specialised tools could handle? Is is simply a case of opening up the control box and disconnecting some wires? If I needed to get someone to look at the alarm .. can anyone come in and epair an alarm or do the installers have some kind of ownership over the Unit as cautioned by ADT?

KoolKid

It would depend on how its wired, re EOL resistors etc.
If you post a pic of the connections in the PiR I can explain better.
Cautioned by ADT?
Any licenced company can do work on your system , dont mind them.

creedp

KoolKid wrote: »

It would depend on how its wired, re EOL resistors etc.
If you post a pic of the connections in the PiR I can explain better.
Cautioned by ADT?
Any licenced company can do work on your system , dont mind them.

Thanks for that Koolkid. Will try and find the time to look at the PIR and get back. At least its good to know that Im not solely dependant on ADT for service work ..

altor

creedp wrote: »

Sorry for jumping in here but I have a Verifier 6 alarm installed by ADT in 1998 which has both wired window/door contacts and 2 wired PIRs. It worked fine until recently when it went off a couple of times and the screen on the panel keeps flashing PIR fault referring to the one in the landing. This happenned first shortly after I put down chipboard on attic floor for storage - not sure if any connection here unless I upset the cable linking the PIR to the Alarm Unit.

I know the alarm is getting on but I was wondering if it would be possible to lengthen its lifespan by replacing the faulty PIR? Is it as simple as replacing the PIR unit or does the alarm have to be configured to accept the new PIR? When I moved into the house first in 2003 I continued with the previous owners ADT annual maintenance contract on the alarm but as €200 pa I figured it was simply not good value for money and stopped it. At the time ADT warned me that should anything go wrong no one else could go near the alarm andthey would charge something like €200 to call out to fix it. So does this mean I have no choice but to install a new one?

It does sound like the cable is damaged if the fault only appeared after you lay the floor. If you can see where the cable is before it goes under the floor that is where to do a repair to the PIR rather than running a new cable from the control panel to the PIR.

altor

creedp wrote: »

can anyone come in and epair an alarm or do the installers have some kind of ownership over the Unit as cautioned by ADT?

Are you renting the system off ADT ?

KoolKid

altor wrote: »

Are you renting the system off ADT ?

Don't tell me people are still falling for that.:)

altor

It sounds like it

creedp

altor wrote: »

Are you renting the system off ADT ?

No I'm not renting it but when I bought the house I found that hte previous owner had a maintenance agreement with ADT on the alarm they had installed in 1998. This agreement provided for 2 call outs per year to maintain the unit. It used to cost about €200 per year and I had to remind ADT eact time, within a 4 week period, or else they wouldn't come out and you could kiss goodbye to your €200. Some customer service. I paid this once and then thought it was ridiculously expensive to I cancelled it. At the time the alarm was already 7 years old so ADT had been paid in the region of €1,200 to maintain it over that period. However, when I did cancel it ADT said that if they had to call out for a service call it would cost over €200 per call out and that nobody else could maintain the ADT unit. There's the history ...........

altor

That is the catch as they use a system that cant be used by any other installer.
P.W use to say that too to there customers

Is this your keypad ?

creedp

altor wrote: »

That is the catch as they use a system that cant be used by any other installer.
P.W use to say that too to there customers

Is this your keypad ?

No the keypad is a pretty std one I've seem with many alarm systems. It has a flip down lid with a small rectangular screen at top and keypad buttons underneath.... sorry don't have picture.

Does this mean that they were correct in saying nobody else can work on it? Even to repair the faulty PIR?

altor

creedp wrote: »

No the keypad is a pretty std one I've seem with many alarm systems. It has a flip down lid with a small rectangular screen at top and keypad buttons underneath.... sorry don't have picture.

Does this mean that they were correct in saying nobody else can work on it? Even to repair the faulty PIR?

No, most systems can be fixed by any installer. In your case if it is just the PIR that need to be replaced you could do this yourself. The only way they have you as such is if they have enabled a tamper reset on the system. This means if you open the PIR and close it the tamper wont clear without the engineer code or a reset number provided by the monitoring station.

creedp

altor wrote: »

No, most systems can be fixed by any installer. In your case if it is just the PIR that need to be replaced you could do this yourself. The only way they have you as such is if they have enabled a tamper reset on the system. This means if you open the PIR and close it the tamper wont clear without the engineer code or a reset number provided by the monitoring station.

Well, thankfully I can live without the tamper reset option for a while:)

Thanks for your help and advice

altor

creedp wrote: »

Well, thankfully I can live without the tamper reset option for a while:)

Thanks for your help and advice

Your welcome,

If you close the lid on the PIR you have open and this clears the tamper then you will be ok changing out the sensor. Just be careful not to touch the black and red cable (12v supply) together in case you blow a fuse.

The tamper reset was just to make you aware of how you could be looking at getting an installer or ADT in to do the repair. It may not even be set on your system.