Mounting the PIR Lens
The PIR lens should be mounted to the case you have your board mounted in. The lens should be centered over the PIR Sensor and be 0.65" from the top. Make sure you mount the lens with the "ridges" faces towards the PIR sensor. Do not scratch the lens on either side. Also, do not mount any glass over top of the PIR lens. Glass will not let infrared heat to pass through to trigger your PIR sensor. To mount the lens to your case drill a 1" hole centered about the PIR sensor. Glue the PIR lens to the inside of the case (lens ridges pointed in, smooth side out), and glue the lens to the case with Marine GOOP (can be purchased at your local hardware store). Note: we do not recommend using double sided carpet tape to secure your PIR lens.

PIR Motion Sensors Basic Overview for Effective Use
All PixController motion control boards use a PIR motion detection sensor. PIR stands for Passive InfraRed, which detects warm targets in motion over ambient background temperature. A stationary target, or a target not moving can not be detected. The target must also have a warmer surface temperature than the ambient background temperature in order to be detected.

The size of the target and the distance of the target from the PIR sensor will also effect if the target can be detected or not. Smaller targets such as birds and small mammals may not be detected especially if they are moving fast or are at a great distance from the PIR sensor. Larger targets such as medium size and large size mammals are easily detected within the range of the PIR detection area (see below). However, if you increase the the sensitivity of the PIR sensitivity POT you can detect smaller targets, but you run the risk of a greater chance of false triggers.


PIR Sensor Detection Area
As ambient background temperatures rise to near 96ºF, the difference between the target and ambient background temperature decreases for warm-blooded targests. The sensitivity of the PIR sensor declines in this instance. However, as ambient background temperature decrease the opposite is true and the sensor PIR becomes more sensitive. Under these conditions you can adjust the PIR sensitivity POT to accommodate your detection range needs. The graphics below show an example of the PIR detection area at around 69ºF. The PixController PIR sensor is unique in that the target does not need to be moving from right to left, or left to right. Our sensor can detect the target in any vector of travel (say up and down target movement), which is very important if you plan to mount your sensor in an elevated position for say security reasons. Other competitive PIR detection electronics will fail in this case.


             The red area is the PIR detection area in the above graphic.




Fast Re-Trigger PIR detection electronics
The PixController PIR detection electronics is unique in that is a very fast recovery after each PIR detection trigger. Competitive PIR electronics will not be able to detect the next detection trigger between 5- 20 seconds. This makes items such as Walk-Test mode on their system an unusable feature. The the key is that the PixController PIR circuit used advanced digital detection electronics, where our competitors use older analog PIR detection electronics. Our PIR detection electronics recovery time is only 1/2 second! This is why you will see unique features like continuous recording as long as the target is present in the PIR detection area for our video systems. This feature alone is an invaluable tool for building video systems. 

Universal Board Mounting - PIR Sensor Considerations
Our new PIR sensor will allow the board to be mounted horizontally or vertically without needing the PIR sensor to be rotated like you see in other board designs. Our PIR sensor circuit is the most rugged and reliable on the market today. Triggering occurs when a change in infrared levels is detected, as when a warm object moves in or out of view of one of the sensor's "eyes." Our PIR sensor design is quite resistant to false triggering.

With other boards you need to consider how you mount your board, either vertically or horizontally. Since our board is unique you can mount it horizontally, vertically, or upside down without the need to remove the PIR sensor and rotate it, which can destroy your sensor if you attempt this by yourself. This is why we chose a special PIR sensor to alleviate this issue, and a main reason why we consider quality and our customers first. Also, our sensor can can be mounted in elevated positions such as from high in a tree. Since our competitors PIR sensors need the target moving from left to right or right to left this elevated position will not work.

Camera/PIR Setup Tips