Plug in PIR that ignores pets

Just a Quickie. Not set up OpenHAB yet. Planning to build a Smart home slowly. Currently have 1 Echo, 3 Echo Dots, 1 Lifx Lightbulb and a WeeMo Plug.

Planning to make Openhab on a Raspberry Pi 3 the core of the system so I can have automation without relying on the internet.

My next plan is to get a PIR and another LifX to have an automated light on the landing.

I live in UK rented accomodation and this pretty much means any solution needs to plug into a 3 pin plug or be run by batteries. No rewiring. No messing with the fabric of the building.

I want a plug in PIR that has intelligent detection that ignores pets (I know this functionality is available) I can’t have our landing light turning on every time the cat walks past.

Anyone know of one of these that works well with and already has bindings for OpenHAB? I don’t want my first dip in the water to be a complex one…

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

You will need to put your PIR at chest level so that it doesn’t “see” the cat. There are a few that work with 433MHz and run on batteries. I had these for a time but I got tired of changing the batteries…

Unfortunately there are no straightforward way to get the info to OH
I don’t know of any that just plug in and have a binding (Z-wave?)

There are many battery z-wave PIR and some that can be mains powered (as in wall plug + cable, not a single device with the PIR built into the plug to my knowledge).

You can angle them to avoid the floor and fine tune sensitivity on most. Whether you could fine tune the sensitivity to account for pets I’m not sure.

Thanks for the comments so far. There are intelligent PIR sensors which don’t rely on location but instead use some kind of pattern detection (Presumably because the way a cat or dog moves is a lot different to the way a human moves). The only socket I have on the landing is near the floor so that’s the only location I can put it because

  1. As previously mentioned we can’t make any major changes to the structure of the building. In the UK and particularly with my letting agency you can’t do much more than put up pictures without permission. Sometimes you even need permission for that. To give you an idea it was in our letting agreement “You must not make an alteration to the location of your washing line without first contacting your landlord through the Letting agency”. I kid you not.

  2. My wife wouldn’t be happy with my locating it in too visible a locatoin anyhow. It’d have to look pretty.

  3. Also there’s a surface overlooking the stairs that my cat can easily jump on so the different height wouldn’t always stop a false positive.

I guess I may have to take a different tack with this and try to find a few PIRs that come closest to fitting what I want and then make inquiries on these forums as tp whether OpenHAB has any fully-fledged bindings for them.

So for example

Yale Locks HSA6021 Alarm Accessory - Pet Friendly PIR

Was one option I was looking at. Thing is the words “Can be added at time of installation” on Yale’s website makes me think it’s not an option for me…

That and the fact that it’s supposed to be part of an alarm system and I don’t want to set alarms. I want to trigger the landing light automatically. The plan being to have a LifX on the landing. Have OpenHAB set a low level lighting for the lightbulb at night-time and a brighter one when it’s the waking hours but when it’s still dark outside (which I’ll have to do by time of day and time of year because outside light sensors would also be problematic for a rental) then have the bulb only on when the PIR is triggered.

Things will be so much simpler when we have an actual home of our own but I don’t want to put my hobby and all the usefulness that goes with it until then.

:Looking around it looks like what i want isn’t out there yet. The closest I can get is a cheap plug=in nightligjht that has no network connectivity. So no way to get it to control any of the main lights or any fun automation. I could envisage multiple uses for a PIR tthat I could connect to OpenHAB.

OK. So it looks like battery could be a better fit.

How about this: https://www.alertelectrical.com/texecom-premier-elite-premier-wireless-compact-pw-w-gbk-0001.html?prod_id=6637&aid=6637&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIgbCZhOnL2gIVAqsYCh1xmAMdEAkYASABEgL0MvD_BwE

Doesn’t look like there’s an easy way to find out what there’s bindings for any more other than asking on these forums. Searching for a Wiki I only found one for OpenHAB 1.

I have this one:

and it does not detect my cats. As for the comment regarding mounting it at chest height, cats tend to get everywhere, including places you might not want them to be. I put mine in a corner, facing slightly downward, and haven’t had any false positives. It still detects children.

It’s been in use for over a year now on the original battery. If you already have a z-wave controller, this might be an option to you. The battery feature gives you much greater placement freedom.

This looks interesting, I haven’t any z-wave products yet but there have been some I’ve been interested in. I will have a look when I’m at home (Currently 1 minute from logging off here and logging in at work)

Having a lunchtime look and it appears that’s not available on Amazon.co.uk (Us Brits can’t order electrical/electronic items from Amazon.com - sometimes you can find the same thing just by changing the .com to a .co.uk but unfortunately not in this case).

Does it have a serial number or more specific name that I could search for it online to find a source that is UK based or at the very least ships here…

Also - just looked up Zwave on the bindings list and online.

are the zwave sticks mentioned on the bindings list the same thing as Zwave hubs? Are they USB Sticks? Would I require a hub and a stick?

My other route on this would be a ‘craft it yourself’ solution using Arduino

the aeotec z-wave stick (gen 5) works a treat. dunno about the hubs, probably same functionality but I use the stick and a lot of other people do as well. aeotec also makes a z-wave multisensor (includes PIR) that runs a long time on battery (don’t know about pet sensitivity).

i’ll take a quick look on that pir for you… (no guarantees, i dont own it, just being helpful).

they’re at least on ebay:

Ebay’ll do me. At least being battery powered I won’t have to worry about getting the wrong plug.

This is looking promising…

Watch out buying zwave things from america if you are in the UK! Zwave uses different frequencies in different areas. You need to make sure you get the EU models.

Thanks. This is just the kind of information I need to know before I buy stuff.

It may be better for me to buy firsthand and avoid ebay then.

Know of any good UK sites for ZWave?

Niftypostedit: :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

https://www.uk-automation.co.uk/z-wave-plus-aeon-usb-gen-5-adapter-z-stick/

Found this site. Is this the thing I’m looking for? I can’t see it not being.

Slightly off topic, but I have a feeling that a lot of my posts will revolve around things seeing, and not seeing our cat.

Sorry for delay. I’ve been away.

Ive bought from there. Ive got other things from ebay and www.vesternet.com.

I use an Z-Wave Plus Aeotec Z-Stick USB Controller. I like its battery and its option for including devices based on this.

There are various other options, but make sure its zwave plus as it offers better range and the potential for security - I dont use locks though and im happy for my zwave devices not to encrypt.

You need to use the snapshot binding so the mesh network works.

I have the z-wave stick you linked to plugged into my Pi and it works beautifully.

As for the pir I have the fibraro motion sensor: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fibaro-FGMS-001-ZW5-UK-Z-Wave-Motion-Sensor/dp/B01CPR7VX4 ant it works great for me. It doesn’t detect my cat though I do have it on an almost ceiling high shelf.

You do have to get over the fact that it looks like a disembodied glowing eye when it lights up though!! You can disable the light if it bothers you but i’ve grown quite fond of it. The only other thing with it is that the battery size is a bit wierd (CR123A) but Tesco had them when it ran out (not sure how long it lasted) and the new one has lasted 6 months so far.

Thanks again. I’m loving how quick the community is to respond here.

I may go with the shop I’ve found and see if they have an EU version of the sensor I’m asking for. Letting agency is funny about attaching things to walls so I may have to put the sensor elsewhere so I’m making sure I get something that is specifically designed not to pick up pets. Later on I’m hoping I can get another that definitely does as I’m trying to find as many ways as possible to track our cat around the house (She’s not very street smart but sometimes gets out and is good is hiding so being able to find out where she is in the house will give my wife and I (but particularly my wife) peace of mind. She doesn’t have a collar and does have a chip so the eventual plan is to track our cat around the house using a combination of RFID tag readers (Probably going to have to go with Arduino and home made readers for that one) and motion sensors, but that’s way off into the future. This one needs to turn a light on when a human walks onto the landing.

I’ll take your word on it for the snapshot binding. I have to find my Pi and install OpenHabian first, among other things.

Another way I could imagine is an diy esp8266 ultrasonic solution as motion detection. So you don’t need to have it on chest height because you can program the esp like you want and query, how far the moved object is away from the detector (pets are not so tall like humans)

Hi. I suspect that this is one of the ways the pet-insensitive PIRs that do exist work. I’ve found them online I was just having difficulty finding ones that I could use in my context (UK rental, very strict restrictions on what can be done to the physical nature of the property so only plug-in and battery powered solutions would be viable). We’re not even allowed to move our washing line without permission (I kid ye not)