What's the best PIR sensor?

[scalz]

@gohan
depends what you mean by diy ;)
if this is using cheap ali modules and stacking them, i agree. Else, soon, let me show how it can be more tiny :) That said rev1 of my multisensors is already tiny.

[gohan]

If you can make a comparable multisensor like the fibaro motion sensor with a 2 years battery life, I'm happy for you :D

[alexsh1]

@gohan yeah, major limitation for me is designing and printing a nice enclosure. I have recently finished a Geiger sensor. Cost of parts is not massive. The most expensive was the Geiger-Muller tube - £15. Printing an enclosure in SLS was £55. Ouch!!!
It does look nice, but the cost is just prohibitive

[gohan]

@alexsh1 agreed, with today's cost of a rather cheap 3D printer, you could repay it within 15-20 printed boxes :D

[alexsh1]

@gohan not in SLS. If you have to have a final product, the cost of printer is way too high. Needless to say that it looks like Xerox back in the 1980s :-)

[gohan]

Over here we are mostly talking about DIY stuff, and many times don't even have a box, so an ABS 3D printed box is close enough for a final product :D

[alexsh1]

@gohan perhaps it is me, but I'm perfectionist. If I have a node, it has to be perfect. And as a final product, that's the way it should be. When designing a prototype, ABS/PLA is fine, but it does not look like a finished product. Sorry

[pyrodetector]

@alexsh1 Why do you need a 50 euro demonstrator? A PIR sensor has 3 outputs: +, output, common. There is a 47K resistor between output and common. The circuit of an alarm sensor is very simple. Next, you can either make an alarm sensor using a circuit for example taken from here

http://unhas.ac.id/tahir/BAHAN-KULIAH/ELIN/NEW/AlarmSensorandSecurityCircuitCookbook.pdf

page 230 (you can use any ceramic PIR sensor instead of Model 5192 on lithium tantalate described by the author), or connect it directly to an A/D converter, and "play digits".

You can order good quality dual ceramic PIR sensors at kube.ch or
http://www.excelitas.com/Pages/Product/Pyroelectric-Detectors-and-Sensors.aspx
Remember that no name manufacturers give no name quality.

Want to know more about how PIR sensors work? Feel free to ask me.
https://sites.google.com/site/pyrodetector/
If I am skilled (if your question relates to a PIR sensor itself), I will help. Otherwise, I may try to help you, at least, by saying what I think about your problem. Good luck:)

[alexsh1]

@pyrodetector that was exactly my point. Way too expensive

I have checked the web-site your provided and I can see their prices for PIRs are not too bad (exVAT and exWorks):

http://kube.ch/downloads/pdf/kube_pricelist.pdf

[pyrodetector]

@alexsh1 Happy to been helpful:) But, remember if you want to apply a PIR sensor in instrumentation, you have to use lithium tantalate pyroelectric detector rather than simple ceramic one. Ask me before.

[mar.conte]

@NeverDie
Hi
I just ordered a pir of panasonic Papirs series and even a parallax'll let you know

[NeverDie]

@mar.conte
Great!

[Nca78]

I have received:

• AM312 based complete PIR sensors, basic sensor with Vcc, GND and output. Claimed consumption on datasheet 20µA.
• AM612 PIR sensors (sensors only). This include all the circuitry in the metal cap, so you only have to add basic components like caps and resistors to set parameters: sensibility, trigger duration. Claimed consumption on datasheet: 15uA.

I'll try to test them this week to first see if the claims are true (or at least, not too optimistic :D ) on power consumption, then I'll make some basic sensors to check range and stability for a while.

[pyrodetector]

I have published the brochure in which I tested the eleven pyroelectric detectors from different manufacturers, pyroelectric materials, and electrical connections - both parallel and serial. I tested them under the same conditions. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask the questions:)

[NeverDie]

@pyrodetector said in What's the best PIR sensor?:

I have published the brochure in which I tested the eleven pyroelectric detectors from different manufacturers, pyroelectric materials, and electrical connections - both parallel and serial. I tested them under the same conditions. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask the questions:)

For the TL;DR, which one did you like the best?

[pyrodetector]

@NeverDie said in What's the best PIR sensor?:

@pyrodetector said in What's the best PIR sensor?:

I have published the brochure in which I tested the eleven pyroelectric detectors from different manufacturers, pyroelectric materials, and electrical connections - both parallel and serial. I tested them under the same conditions. I hope this helps. Feel free to ask the questions:)

For the TL;DR, which one did you like the best?

Dear NeverDie!
What is "TL;DR", please?
Every sensor is good for its application. Among a set of sensors the best two sensors or more are those having similar characteristics.

[NeverDie]

@pyrodetector "TL;DR" = "too long; didn't read." Nothing personal. Just a common internet acronym. It means, in effect, "What's the bottom line?"

[chrisjn52]

@NeverDie - Just in case you haven't seen them there are a number of TI Reference Designs and Application Notes that you may find useful.

[pyrodetector]

@NeverDie said in What's the best PIR sensor?:

@pyrodetector "TL;DR" = "too long; didn't read." Nothing personal. Just a common internet acronym. It means, in effect, "What's the bottom line?"

Dear @NeverDie Thanks a lot! I am not an experienced user on the internet forums and you help me be getting better.
In order to say which sensor is the best, one has to determine the criteria. I research the dynamic behavior of pyroelectric detectors. One common rule is true for all pyroelectric detectors: the higher the AC responsivity, the higher the noise, the higher the current consumption, the shorter the transient response. And vice versa. If you want to gain more knowledge on pyroelectric detectors, you can build an experimental setup/bench similar to mine for testing your pyroelectric detectors. I wish anyone had such a bench and we could share the results with one another. Probably, closer to spring, I will test the sensor you mentioned above and publish its transient response here.

[NeverDie]

At the time I thought the am612 was in a good sweet spot (low price, low power, and "good enough" sensitivity), but technology is constantly improving, and so I'm always interested if anyone knows of something better.

Also, these days wireless cameras are so cheap that I think the trend is toward combining them with PIR's, so that the cause of the trigger is always documented (well, to the degree it can be).