Help required- pir light triggered by car lights

[dunnedunney]

Hi,

First post for you lovely lot.

I have had an electrician put a PIR sensor on the front drive to switch on lights when we walk on the drive. Unfortunately, this is triggered constantly every time a car light hits it and living on a main road this is every few seconds. I have tried adjusting the cone and putting electrical tape over the sensor, but this doesn't work. Can anyone recommend an alternative to a PIR that is less sensitive to car lights. Thanks in advance.

 

[Geoff1946]

Some PIRs are more sensitive than others, and some have a sensitivity adjustment, so a different one may help. Otherwise repositioning may be your only option, putting it so the field of view is towards the house. Someone on here may know a specific make to suggest.

 

[Murdoch]

Move the sensor so it faces the house from the drive?

 

[Richard-the-Ninth]

If car headlights are triggering your PIR (It's not uncommon) I would suggest it does not have a white light filter.
The easiest solution would be to move the sensor so it does not look out onto the road, I appreciate that is often easier said than done. The other option you have is to change brand of sensor, I would suggest you do not buy one called Zinc Dion, I had 4 of them, and they all gave trouble (They activated for no reason) so I consigned them to the bin (I have a timer now)

It would be nice if you came back and posted what you do get and how you get on.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Also...
How close are you to the main road?

And what is the quoted range of the PIR detector?

many sensors have detection ranges of 8 to 12m
AND many properties are NOT 8 to 12m from the road..

It could be that your sensor is picking up the vehicle itself not the headlights?
(but as the sensor is set to operate at low light levels, the cars will also have their headlights turned on at the times when the PIR triggers!)

It could be a faulty over-sensitive PIR..?
If its less than 12months old.. I would think you need to be contacting your installer to come back and fix the problem..
As legislation such as "Sale of good act 1979" & "Supply of Good & Services Act 1982" etc..
require ALL goods & services provided to be of 'merchantable quality' and 'fit for purpose'..

It could be that your installer has fitted the wrong product in the wrong location...
in which case he/she should rectify the problem at their expense, or give you a refund..
.

 

[Sharpend]

Wouldn’t that be dependant upon client instruction? By all means request the installer to attend to check the pir itself, but I wouldn’t expect any recompense unless the installer actually designed the install without input or suggestion from your self.
Without knowing the facts of the contract we can not determine who or what is to blame at this stage.

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

Wouldn’t that be dependant upon client instruction? By all means request the installer to attend to check the pir itself, but I wouldn’t expect any recompense unless the installer actually designed the install without input or suggestion from your self.
Without knowing the facts of the contract we can not determine who or what is to blame at this stage.

Contracts do not have to be written, verbal instructions are legally valid...

I would think the key point is if the electrician supplied the PIR..
or just fitted a product the customer supplied...?

If they supplied it and it is fault and its within warranty..
or just installed wrong..
they should come back to investigate further.

 

[binky]

think the answer to this would be timer switch, or wireless switching.

 

[Sharpend]

Contracts do not have to be written, verbal instructions are legally valid...

I would think the key point is if the electrician supplied the PIR..
or just fitted a product the customer supplied...?

If they supplied it and it is fault and its within warranty..
or just installed wrong..
they should come back to investigate further.

Totally concur.