A customer's complaint about false alarms forced me to rethink my sensor placement

Had a homeowner call me three weeks ago pissed off because their motion detector kept tripping from a cat. I used to put sensors in the corner of rooms for coverage. Now I mount them higher and angle them down a bit. Cats don't set them off anymore. Anyone else had to adjust their install methods after a pet complaint?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairwhite1mo ago

Laughing at @roseb62 cause I just put mine on the ceiling like a CHUMP.

roseb621mo ago

Wait did you try putting the sensor in a corner but with a specific pet alley lens? I had a buddy who switched to those and his false alarm rate dropped like crazy. He mounts them about 4 feet up with a small dead zone near the floor so small animals walk right under the beam.

lane.drew17d ago

Well damn, that's a good point about the pet alley lens... never even heard of those before now. I think the real trick most people miss is looking at what's triggering the sensor in the first place though. Like yeah, putting it higher helps with cats and small dogs, but I've seen setups where the homeowner's ceiling fan blades or a hanging plant was setting it off because of the shadows they cast. Sometimes it's not even the animal directly, it's their movement reflecting off a window or a mirror in the room... the beam picks up the heat signature bouncing around. I always tell people to walk through their own house at different times of day and watch where the sun hits, because that can create false patterns too. Just raising the sensor isn't always enough if you've got weird angles or reflective surfaces nearby.