I have 2 two of these in our office cubicle area… They work great. I still prefer a wall mounted for home use… I used these because if the cubicle walls.
What about the wall mount ones do you prefer? I read here recently (I forget where exactly) people discussing how ceiling mount ones can be more useful.
And the above mentioned ceiling mount for trouble spots. Namely the kids play room. They constantly leave all of the lights on down there and it’s a fully lit 800 Sq. Ft.!
I use Paradox DG467 ceiling in a couple of places and they work really well and are quite compact. They’re able to be configured to use either the Paradox COMBUS or to act as a regular 4x wire Relay-based config for other alarm systems.
If you watch eBay, you can get these for 15ea + shipping (although, the cheapest right now is $20)
They have adjustable sensitivity, and they’re just PIR (not dual mode). If I were doing a Hallway, then I’d use the Direction-sensing version of these (DG466) as it would help with the scriptability of lighting at “either end” of the hall. You’d need extra wiring to handle these, so I’d wire that in up front just in case I ever switched over.
In my house, the ceilings are 9’ and they work very well, with broad coverage. In my rooms with Ceiling fans, I use regular Motion sensors, but it’s on my list to replace them with something with broader coverage (probably just a better in-place model that’s more sensitive)
@ guessed,
Thanks for the tip! I’ll be sure to pick some up.
So If I’m understanding ll of this correctly (I’m pretty swamped with all of the information available here) if I get the RFK5500ENG I will get wireless ability and a human readable interface. No? I should be good to go?
I have the RFK5500ENG on my Test system, mostly for it’s Alpha-Numeric display. I purchased my DSC components in a package from HomeSecurityStore.com, and got the RFK version of the keypad so I could [eventually] test Wireless sensors (although I haven’t had to do that)
They Keypad itself still requires wires from the Panel, but I’m assuming you know that already, since it’s been talked about (to death) in the other DSC threads.
If you go with the Wireless in the Keypad … make sure you mount the keypad where you will have unobstructed wireless view of the locations where you might have wireless sensors.
Most of my door and window sensors are wireless. All of my motion sensors are wired. I have a large coverage area … so I wanted to make sure my wireless was centrally located.
You can only have 1 wireless transceiver on the DSC.
Interesting. Didn’t know the DSC was so sensitive to obstructions.
My Paradox also uses 433, and I have a lot of obstructions (multiple walls, etc) between the various wireless sensors and the receiver, no problems at all, actually quite impressed by the range and penetration ability on these things (was planning on adding a sensor to the letter box, since it reaches quite far, and very reliably).
Even the basic keyfobs work from well outside the house. That said, my house is only 2 story, 2K sqft, timberframe construction. I can imagine folks needing something better for larger places, or ones built from more solid materials (brick, cinder block, rebar’d concrete etc)
I think I’m ready to place my order. Well I will be as soon as I can use my PC again. My internet service will be down for a few more minutes and I’m working from my phone ATM. I forgot to pay my ISP. Woops.
Yep, those are what I use (Paradox DG467, Non-directional) They come up cheaper from time to time, so you can probably Make-an-offer to see if they’ll go lower. The last two I purchased (end of 2012) were 2 for $40 (free shipping). The directional version (Paradox DG466) are more expensive, so I haven’t tried them yet.
Pictures attached to give you an idea of their size.
PS: I hear that some people “white out” some of the segments on the lens to lessen the coverage area. The Lens itself comes out, and apart, so that would be easy enough to do, although I’ve never bothered.
a) Minimize the # of Network components between the EVL-3 and Vera.
These should be on the same [wired] switch. Other combinations will work, since it’s just networking, but increasing the # of components increases the complexity… and overall likelihood to need to debug something down the road.
b) Get ready for an explosion of Devices on Vera… Normal rules apply, USB Logging (etc) are preventative measures since you’ll be increasing the # of devices, and associated automation/scenes, on Vera by a fair amount once you have this running (and they’ll expand further as you add Alarm Sensors for even more stuff than you can think of now)
c) You can always expand later.
Don’t worry too much about going “big” out of the gate, you can always add later. This is mostly about sensors, as once you have this in the house you’ll find all sorts of new places you “could have” placed a sensor to automate something… 8)
Great! Thanks everyone. I just placed my order. I only picked up two sensors to begin with. One for the back yard and one for the kids playroom. I ultimately want to ditch the POS Everspring POS attached to my bed sensor. So out the door I’ll only have three zones.
I’m pumped! The first thing I’m going to do when it’s all running is to make a scene which threatens people in the yard when I’m asleep or away.
“Presence has been detected in the back yard. You are being recorded. Execute protocol 49BZ-C”
Normal rules apply, USB Logging (etc) are preventative measures since you’ll be increasing the # of devices, and associated automation/scenes, on Vera by a fair amount once you have this running (and they’ll expand further as you add Alarm Sensors for even more stuff than you can think of now)