Increase YOUR HOME's IQ Automated solutions to save energy and money SHOP BY SMART HOME NEEDS Outlets, Dimmers & Switches Energy Sensors & Displays TV & Video Players More Smart Home Solutions What is a Smart Home? Smart homes cleverly merge your family's lifestyle with the latest technology & energy management tools to make your life easier. Control your TVs, security systems and appliances from any location with access on a smartphone or laptop. Smart homes can be customized to meet virtually any need you might have. Control your home from any smart device Enjoy the convenience of turning your house into a smart home with the ability to manage automated devices from anywhere with just one app on your smartphone or tablet. From door locks, to lighting and more -- The Home Depot has the products to give you control of your home from anywhere, at any time. SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE & SAVE THE SMART WAY, WITH HOME AUTOMATION A remote-controlled home is no longer the stuff of futuristic fantasy.
New home automation devices let you transform virtually any house into a push-button smart home easily controlled with a tablet, computer or smartphone. Start saving energy and money with a smart light bulb, which lets you turn your lights on and off from your phone. One of the most valuable home automation devices is the smart thermostat. Saving as much as 30% on your annual home energy use, a smart thermostat is easy to install and allows you to set your desired temperature without the system running for longer than needed. Your home is your castle. Keep it safe with a wide variety of home automation security devices. From Wi-Fi-enabled cameras that keep an eye on the inside or outside of your home, to motion sensors, smoke and CO2 detectors, smart locks and more. Plus, they make great Father's Day Gift Ideas. Other great money-saving smart home devices let the user control their sprinklers or turn the water heater on and off while away. Best of all, these devices are no harder to install than traditional “dumb” devices.
Save money - join the home automation revolution. It’s just a button push away!Home › Forums › Frequently Asked Questions — Check here before posting › Ademco FAQs › Sensors don't work correctly This topic contains 1 reply, has 2 voices, and was last updated by 1 year, 11 months ago. First of all, if a sensor battery is getting weak, it will let you know. Your panel display will show a “Low Battery” for that zone.What do you mean by “…doesn’t work all the time”? Does your panel display sometimes show “Ready to Arm” when the garage door is open? But show “Not Ready” other times it’s open? Do you sometimes have to close the door more than once before you can see “Ready to Arm” on your keypad display? Is this a new sensor on the garage door, or is it recently installed? In other words, did the garage door sensor always work until recently? Also, how far away from the control panel is the garage door? Is the garage attached to the house or a separate building?
Is the garage door sensor a magnetic switch/contact, or a tilt sensor? Do you have a model number for it? Model numbers always help: It lets us know what we’re working with. (2) If a motion sensor doesn’t detect you walking across its coverage area–at *whatever* speed you’re moving–then it’s a bad sensor and needs to be replaced. Changing the battery won’t help. HOWEVER: PIRs (Passive Infra-Red motion sensors) can be tricky to test. The protocol of most contemporary PIRs is quite complicated before they will actually trip (cause an alarm). This is to eliminate as many false alarms as possible. Most PIRs wait a moment AFTER they sense motion, before they actually trip and send a signal to the control panel. Add to that, the time it takes the sensor’s RF (wireless) signal to be transmitted, and then processed at the RF Receiver/ Lynx, and the lag time can be more than a second; This is the time between actual detection and when you SEE that you were detected.
If you’re walking/running fast, that means you can walk/run farther into the coverage area before you SEE the detection, than if you’re strolling at a normal pace; but the sensor probably “caught” you at about the same place both times. So getting farther into the sensor’s field, at different speeds, before you see it trip is not a way to test it. As I said, testing the PIR coverage can be tricky/complicated. The actual workings of what goes on in the environment and inside the signal processing of the PIR is complex, and it takes longer to explain than I’m inclined to spend here. And probably more than you’d want to read. The quick “rule-of-thumb” for testing is the Three-Step Rule: Can you walk three steps into the coverage area and stop (regardless of speed) without tripping(being detected by) the motion sensor? Can you walk/run 3 steps in the middle of the coverage area without being detected? Can you actually cross the coverage area without being detected?
Keep in mind, the coverage area is a mosaic pattern of lines-of-sight from the PIR into the area. The line-of-sight at the edges of the area many not coincide precisely with a door or corner that YOU see as an edge of the area. So allow a little margin on the edges, depending on how far from the PIR they are. Again, it helps to know the model number of the PIR you’re working with. Some models have provision to adjust the “sensitivity”, i.e., how much motion is required to trip the sensor. But be advised, increasing the “sensitivity” can also increase your chances for false alarms. If a PIR passes the Three-Step Rule, I don’t change the sensitivity. I have to include this final comment, only because I have seen SO many customers/users try it: If you’re trying to test the PIR by standing in one place and waving your arms: Sometimes that is detected, sometimes it isn’t; but that isn’t a valid test. The PIR is designed to detect someone coming into, or leaving, or crossing the coverage area.