Help me understand...

[marty]

I have a Hawkeye II motion detector in my
laundry room.  It's set to 24 hour mode and
an off delay of 4 minutes.  House code L and
Unit code 12.

The laundry room lights are House code C and
Unit code 12.

Here's my activity log...

*****

07/08/2005 10:02:18am Receive L12 (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:02:28am Receive L12 (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:03:06am Receive L12 (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:03:17am Receive L12 (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:03:17am Receive L On (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:03:18am Macro C12 (Laundry Room)
07/08/2005 10:03:18am Macro C On (Laundry Room)
07/08/2005 10:03:21am Receive L13
07/08/2005 10:03:21am Receive L Off
07/08/2005 10:08:34am Receive L12 (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:08:34am Receive L Off (Laundry
Room Motion)
07/08/2005 10:08:35am Macro C12 (Laundry Room)
07/08/2005 10:08:35am Macro C Off (Laundry Room)
07/08/2005 10:08:37am Receive L13
07/08/2005 10:08:38am Receive L On

*****

What's with the L13 code?  I understand that
the motion detectors use 2 codes, but why?  I
don't understand why the second code even
needs to be sent or how I would use it.

Can someone fill me in?

Thanks,
Marty K

[coder since cp290]

The second code (L13 in this case) is the
light/dark sensor.

So when L12 goes on (in a "dark" state),
you'll see the L13 off, as it just got light

[johnn]

Marty,

Motion sensors have a photocell, which gives
them the ability to sense whether it's day
or night.  That’s how they can only activate
when motion is sensed at night or at all
times.  The Hawkeye will send a day/night
command on the same house code and 1 unit
code higher than the motion sensor is set
for.  Since your motion sensor is set for
L12 the Hawkeye light sensor is
automatically and unchangeably set at L13.

They way the light sensor works is that it
sends an “on” command when there is little
or no light (night) and an “off” command
when it senses light (Day).  In your example
when your laundry room light (C12) turned on
the Hawkeye sent an “it’s daylight” command
or L13 “off”.  Then L13 sent an “on” command
when your laundry light turned off.  The
idea behind it is that you can have your
motion sensor turn a light on when it gets
dark and off when it's daylight.  If you
don't use this feature, you will still have
to allow for it's existance in your system
design.

Hope this helps.

[marty]

Thanks guys.  I *sorta* understand.

I understand that there's a code for motion
and a separate code for day/night.

What I don't understand is why send a
day/night code when I have the motion
detector set for 24 hour mode.  In that
mode, it shouldn't matter whether it's
light or dark and, therefore, wouldn't need
to send the day/night code.

So... what happens if I put the motion
detector in the other mode?  (the one that
isn't 24 hour mode)

[billy]

L12 will only be sent when it's dark! But
L13 will still sense and send light/dark.

[marty]

I see... thanks.

Now.... can someone give me a real life
example how I could use both of those codes
in concert with each other?

Marty

[billy]

M13-on (dark out) = porch light on @ 50%
brightness.

M12-on (motion) = porch light to 100%

M12-off (4 Min. later) = porch light back to
50%.

[marty]

Ahhhhhhh.... very good!

Thanks Billy!!

Marty

[coder since cp290]

In Billy's example, there's one thing to note.

The placement of the sensor is very
important, or weird actions could result.

For example, using the light/dark code to
turn on and off porch light assumes that the
sensor is placed such that it triggers on
ambient light and not the porch light itself.

otherwise:
- M13 on (it's dark) triggers porch light to 50%
- when light goes on, unit send a M13 off
(it thinks it's daylight).

-  If there's a trigger for M13 off that
turns the porch light off (normal sunrise
assumed), the porch light would go off, a M13
on would be sent and the cycle repeats.


It took me a couple of trys to find a spot
for the sensor (using a scenario like Billy's
to find a location where ligh/dark was sensed
for ambient light (not the porch light, a car
in the driveway or passing by, etc), yet
allow the motion sensor to trigger when
someone came up the walk.

For my specific application, I didn't want to
use the sunrise/sunset time labels in AHP,
as it had to work on a dark/stormy day.

[tcassio]

If you don't like this feature, then you
should buy the Active Eye MS, that feature
can be turned off by programming the MS.
T.

[Charles Sullivan]

You can also open the motion detector case
and stick a piece of black tape over the
photocell, although this will probably void
your warrenty.

[marty]

Thanks everyone for all the input.

Charles, I'm not worried about the
warranty.  This Hawkeye II is 5 - 10 years
old.  Black tape will do me just fine.
)

Marty K.

[SteveRF]

This was a good thread... I am using 4 motion
sensors to turn on bathroom lights and
approach lights to that area.  Since I have
trouble with motion sensor signals being sent
too close together and not being seen by the
Cm15A (until the next cycle), I think it may
be a great idea to disable dusk/dawn features
(tape it) on all of the indoor sensors.
Maybe that will give me the extra response I
need.....hummmmm
SteveRF

[johnn]

SteveRF,

I agree this has been a good and useful thread.  The motion sensors are fairly sophisticated and actually can be very flexible devices.  I recommend, if you have seen this web page before that you take a look at: http://www.idobartana.com/hakb/modifying_hawkey_sensor.htm It’s very good and provides a lot of insight into the design and potential modifications of MSs.

If you have a problem getting to the Web page, then look for extra spaces in the URL that the Forum software might have added and delete them.

[SteveRF]

JohnN,
Thanks for the MOD Site... the tape worked
for me.
SteveRF