X10 Community Forum
🛡Home Security => Problems and Troubleshooting => Topic started by: Mr. Jones on June 18, 2012, 01:15:28 PM
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I know I’ve mentioned it before but now I’m wondering….Here’s the scoop. I’m running PCC for three security cameras, all X10 equipment (except PCC of course). I have PCC set up to take a picture every second it sees motion and I have the sensors set for really short time duration (dial on top of sensor). As I mentioned before I rubber band an 18 inch piece of wire (the diameter of a paper clip) to the right side of my sensors. I also taped an 18 inch piece of wire to my CM-15A antenna to get better reception for camera triggers. One sensor I’ll call C2, triggers great at its location with its 18 inch piece of wire. The other two hardly trigger at all. As a matter of fact (I only visit the location once every two weeks) this last weekend I had 234,000 pictures to look through and they were all C2. I’m thinking two things here 1) The CM-15A is getting the signal to start recording but not a signal to stop or 2) The wind blowing the tress around always sensing motion on a hot summer day. The reason I say that is because at night hardly any pictures are taken and some days I have a picture every second of the day. 234,000 pictures to look through takes hours. What do you people think? Any replies would be gratefully appreciated!
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It maybe an RF signal problem from the two motion sensors or they are not actually sensing motion.
If the constantly triggering one is sensing motion before the timeout for the Off happens. It may send the Off sporadically if it times out infrequently.
Trees moving could be part of the problem as it could be seeing them move.
Have you tried some different aiming of the motion sensor?
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Thanks so much for the reply Brian! Yeah, I brought all the sensors in and changed the batteries and they were all triggering fine but once I put them back out in their location…..That’s why I had to ask because I think it’s a RF problem but that is coming from a novice.
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Aiming a sensor is a key part of these things working correctly.
Install only one sensor at a time and test to make sure its signal is getting back to the CM15a.
Once you have one working correctly mark its location and remove it or remove the batteries to avoid conflicts when installing the next one.
I had one of these installed in an upstairs hallway and sunlight coming threw a skylight would always trip it until I repositioned it.
If you had x10 RF logging enabled in PCC you should have seen the other sensors RF signals if there were any making it back
>!
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I'm kind of limited with the location of my sensors. The next step would have to be mounting to the side of the building. I don't want to be putting holes in the siding only to find out that isn't a good position. Thanks for the info. I'll try your suggestions Tuicemen and see how things work out.
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The next step would have to be mounting to the side of the building. I don't want to be putting holes in the siding only to find out that isn't a good position.
If building has metal siding, don't mount the MS directly to the siding. Make a 1 inch stand-off from wood or plastic to get the unit away from the metal. Also I have used double sticky foam tape to "find the sweet spot" for final mounting, and even then I use velcro rather than more permanent mounting like screws or railroad spikes, depending upon frustration level.
$0.02
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No, it's vinyl siding and thanks I'll try out your suggestions too.