So, I’ve gotten 2 of my 3 aeon labs multi-sensors working. The third just seems a lost cause as it no longer reports motion (even when sitting next to the Vera, and yes I excluded it, and added it next to the vera to make sure that it wasn’t a routing issue). That one is going back. My 2 outside ones seem to work fine and except the fact that 1 seems to not report every time, but I think that is a symptom of them being my only outdoor z-wave devices and they are going through CBS construction. Either way, I plan on adding at least 1 z-wave outlet on the porch that will cover them both (the outlet will be withing 10’ of each one and within 3’ feet or so to 2 leviton Switches on the other side of the CBS wall). Here are my issues though, and one isn’t really an issue with the device itself:
1)I am mounting them under my eaves. They sit about 8’ above the ground, and no matter how I mount them, I can’t get a good angle (they don’t rotate 45 degrees to the side). Because of this they are capturing motion right under my eaves fine, but if you go out a bit of a ways, they don’t. My porch is like this (porch is shaded with /, the part below is the house):
________cd________
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__________a|////////////////|b__________
| |I plan on using 4 sensors to get me complete coverage. Assuming that the top is West, A and C will point SW, B and D will point NW. With each sensor having 120 degree coverage, I think this is the best bet (the porch is screened in, so I realize there will be some overlap, but that is ok). My issue is that I can’t really mount them to get this coverage. Mounted to a wall, I can’t get it 45 degrees and mounted under the eave they don’t angle out far enough to get very distant coverage. Are other people having this issue? I’m actually considering moving one of the aeon multi-sensors inside and using Schlage motion sensors outside because they actually mount at a 45 degree angle. My other option is to cut 45 degree blocks to help me get the right angle. I’m leaning towards the Schlage option for now as I don’t really need multiple of the other sensors. They were the same price so I originally just figured I might as well.
- My other question is if bright light affects the PIR sensing. Where “A” is, it doesn’t detect motion very well (when I tested, which was late afternoon when the sun was shining right into that corner of the house). If I take it down and move it under the porch, it is fine. Could it be that really bright light is affecting it? I’m not really using the motion sensors during the day, so it’s not a big deal. It was just easier to test them right after work instead of waiting until night. This was more of a “curious” question than something I really need answered. It would be nice to know for future installations though.