a_dad

Oh thanks. I picked it since some legs will run past/near/briefly alongside mains cable. Reading about, I am getting location is key to minimising false positives. It can be tricky, however, to find a corner that is not pointing at windows, not pointing at hot things (stoves/ kettles) and not directly over radiators. My Rads are now heat pump rads, so seldom get to 48, usually upper limit is 40. Which is worse, over a rad, pointing at a rad, pointing at a window, or pointing at a stove/kettle? My front windows overlook my lightly trafficked road, if passing cars are an issue. My rads really are pretty luke-warm when on. (They are pretty good at heating, though, since they are giant and have a high water flow rate).

I now have 8 of Q20s and 100m shielded 8 core. I have one cable in.

I think that 'quad' means 2 sensors not 4, because a single pir sensor has 2 ir detectors, one pointed at the room and a second one not pointed at the room and the electronics pick up the difference between them, when there is a difference then it triggers. I bought one - the thumbnail sized sensor electronic component - without the big lens and case - about thirty years ago, and I guess the second one is just behind the first, or on it's back half. Having 2 as 'quad' means trigger both for positive detection. The sales bumf seem to freely interchange 'quad' and 'two sensors'. I can get the Texecom q20 here for £15.18 and here for £15.25. From here I can see the Bosch part number is ISC-BPQ2-W1 but seems (>£30) hard to get hold of or (>£20) sold out. The optex looks soon to be unavailable and >£20. So I am leaning to the texecom q20 as an available quad wired (no microwave) pir. Do you have to get the bell box of the brand or are bell boxes interchangeable too? Thank you for all your time so far.

Oh that is amazing, thanks so much. Following on then: 1. If by some quirk of chance this actually works on the table with 2 cheap sensors, I may fit it but with more&better sensors. This is to stop the wife demanding we do not use the alarm from false positives, she really does not want to upset the neighbours. I read some installers only fit optex for less false positives, but some say you do not need +microwave on pirs, and that dual or quad pir is better for domestic low false pos rate, so both are equally true? 2. And also any wired sensor will fit any wired panel - so you could use optex with ...? 3. Connect with Home Assistant you say? So I could use the PIRs to get presence detection and control lighting? In this case are the 360 degree PIRs appropriate to use? Would they work for intrusion detection, or are they really best just for lighting control? I get that you do not want to point AT windows as passing cars, sunlight or wildlife (a deer I heard) might set it off, so the corner PIRs point towards doors and PAST windows. So do 360 ones look down rather than side to the walls, and not set off by what is outside the windows? Thank you again

Hi, I would love to buy a few parts and mess about with them on my kitchen table. No particular goal in mind. I joke. Mostly. My son (autistic) and I am have been playing around with arduino and built a working alarm for his sister's dolls house. He is thrilled, she is annoyed and I am happy I got him off his Nintendo switch for a few hours. He has correctly noticed we do not have a real one, but do have 2 old bell boxes on the side of the house. He wants to fit a 'real one' and made me go up a ladder to look at the boxes. There was a central radio panel but never used it in the 11 years we've been here (owner), never had an attempted break in. I think the central panel got knocked off the wall in some redecoration and not put back. Wife is not really sure we need an alarm, but I have seen the local break in rates are no different to the national rates. Recent house repipe means all the boards are up and I can run cables. Even if I fit no pirs or panel or sounder, now is a good opportunity to run some cables. Got quotes for wired + bells only but all came back for 'wireless'. I appreciate running cables (having done it) is a ghastly job, so I felt they probably did not want the work, even though I said I could run the cables. I appreciate that a real system is **nothing like** arduino, but if I end up with a pile of bits in a box and kept the boy of his screens for a few hours here and there, then goal achieved. When you put the floorboards opportunity next to 'no alarm' situation next to the son's interest, the solution really really does look like purchasing an alarm and running cables. What would you do differently, how can you advise: 1. I run cable and put the floor boards/carpet back (I could do with reducing the nag factor right now), leave the cables hanging out to attach later. Would you run 6 core to each pir, or 3 pirs off one 8 core? 2. Probably thinking texecom since reasonable DIY support and not too exp, maybe anything in veritas range (they all seem the same? are they the same?) 3. If you get texecom, get the wintex software - just easier, Looks like it is £5. Also says premier elite, not veritas. Veritas does not need wintex, veritas kits with the keypad state this is the programming tool no need for wintex? Thank you for reading.

Hi, I am not a professional installer, neither am I an electrician. I am a middle aged dad with a foot in the world of engineering, and a propensity to disassemble things out of curiousity. Thanks for putting this forum together, the information shared publicly is very helpful. Regards