Outdoor Motion Sensor - Surprisingly Good

[KevinT]

Hi everyone,

I've wanted to add an motion sensor overlooking my driveway to turn on the outside lights when I return home at night. I wanted something I could integrate into my home automation system, not exterior lights with built in motion sensors.
My search for outdoor motion sensors that could be wired into a MySensors node yielded few results. I have previously used Panasonic pir sensors but they don't work with direct sunlight.

I ended up ordering a sensor on AliExpress.

I selected the 12V model, expecting I would need to supply both 12V and 3.3V to my node. Out of curiosity, I tried running the sensor on 5V, and to my surprise, it worked fine. Deciding to push my luck, I tried 3.3V and again, it worked fine!

I installed the sensor last fall and it has been working great for 7 months now.

I had to add a load resistor for the sensor to switch properly.

I'm curious, what have other people used for outdoor motion sensors?