Got a call last week about a motion sensor that kept going off for no reason

It was in a big old house in St. Louis, and the customer was ready to rip the whole system out. I checked the usual stuff, but the problem was a heating vent blowing right on the sensor from across the room. The air current was strong enough to trigger it. I just moved the sensor about two feet to the left, away from the direct airflow, and it's been quiet for a full week now. Has anyone else had a weird environmental thing like that cause a false alarm?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_gray6d ago

A buddy of mine had a sensor going nuts in a finished attic. Turns out, the afternoon sun would hit a metal roof vent just right, and the heat shimmer through the window looked like motion to the unit. He put up a small curtain and it stopped. Makes you wonder how many "ghosts" are just a draft or a sunbeam, right?

chen.hugo6d ago

My old apartment's smoke alarm hated my shower steam.