Any way to improve a floodlight's PIR range?

[D. Dalton]

I've fixed a 500w floodlight to the wall of my house. Unfortunately the effective range of the PIR movement sensor is not quite enough. Its effective range seems to be about 7 metres and I need it to be at least

10M. Is there anyway I can increase the range of the sensor?

TIA

D. Dalton

[John Rumm]

Stick another standalone PIR sensor further away from the light to cover the currently uncovered area.

[Andrew Gabriel]

sort of light combined with a PIR is a compromise, because the ideal light height is completely different from the ideal PIR height. If the PIR can be angled separately from the light, you could try angling the PIR up, but you will probably lose nearby coverage. Ideally, the PIR wants to be much lower than a 500W floodlamp, something like 8-10 feet for the PIR, 30 feet for the 500W floodlamp.

500W floodlamps are almost always incorrectly installed much too low down on homes, where what should have been used are several much lower power lights. If you use a floodlamp, it should be angled to prevent any light being emitted horizontally or upwards, i.e. always pointing down. Ideally, the mounting height should be about the same as the intended beam spread, but certainly no less than half this. Don't allow light to spill on to someone else's land or property without their permission. Don't allow light to spill onto a public path/roadway without ensuring there's no glare, i.e. the light bulb itself can't be seen by users of the path/road, and the lighting level isn't too high, either of which could temporarily destroy the road users' night vision.

[NT]

+1

That sounds like a good start for an outdor lighting article on the wiki. Fancy putting it on there?

NT

[DerbyBoy]

500W floodlamps are almost always incorrectly installed much too low down on homes, where what should have been used are several much lower power lights. If you use a floodlamp, it should be angled to prevent any light being emitted horizontally or upwards, i.e. always pointing down. Ideally, the mounting height should be about the same as the intended beam spread, but certainly no less than half this. Don't allow light to spill on to someone else's land or property without their permission. Don't allow light to spill onto a public path/roadway without ensuring there's no glare, i.e. the light bulb itself can't be seen by users of the path/road, and the lighting level isn't too high, either of which could temporarily destroy the road users' night vision.

[Dave Liquorice]

There is a farm the other side of the valley that has a couple of high pressure sodium (or something) lights that send enough light in our direction to read by! This farm is 3/4 of a mile away and 260' lower.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Yes, I should have some time later in the week.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

Low mounting has already been mentioned but a serious fault of the standard *close coupled* low wattage fitting is that the PIR unit swivel adjustment is quite limited. If the lamp is angled down to restrict the light spread, the PIR cannot be raised enough to give the expected range.

150 Watts is adequate to illuminate a 20m x 20m yard.

Installers should consider boiler flues and wind blown vegetation as well as returning after dark to check the operation.

regards

>

[Lyndsay Williams]

Not sure if will work with PIRs, but I needed to change the direction and range of some thermopiles. I used aluminium foil as a reflector. Lyndsay

[NT]

the lenses work on PIRs, it might reduce the range.

NT

[Ian]

Put the PIR assembly near the target area, use the PIR to control a relay which will allow the actual lamps to be as far away as you like.

[D. Dalton]

"Ian" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I think that might be my best option - thanks... (if I can figure out how to do it). What would probably be most suitable would be a battery-powered PIR sensor to that sends a wireless signal to the floodlight's switching device. That's because it's not very practical to have wires going to the PIR, if I place it close to the target area.I have not been able to locate such an item, but I'll keep looking...

DD

[NT]

rightview.com:

couple of other options mentioned

[John Rumm]

Standalone PIRs already include the relay... (I posted a diagram of how its wired a few posts back).

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