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Want to Upgrade Motion Sensor Alarm

shooter

Nov 19, 2010
5
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Nov 19, 2010
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Hi folks. Recently purchased a cheap, battery powered motion detector with a built in piezo siren. The siren is rated at 130db. It's not loud enough for the distance I need. I have a 12 volt siren from a poultry house rated at 113db. It is much, much louder and will fulfill my need.

1. The sensor is powered by 4 AA batteries.

2. The sensor allows for a 4.5 volt ac adapter.

Here goes my ignorance:

1. The symbol at the female receptacle shows "4.5 volt" and "+ center".

2. It appears the end of the adapter would need to be a small male plug which would have the center of it as positive and it's outer as negative.

3. If I can figure out the adapter plug hot/ground, I want to know if the following is possible:

1. Can I use a 12 volt adapter without frying the other components on the little circuit board?

2. If that's doable, can I assume I will get the 12 volts to my new siren for maximum db? My siren brochure shows that it's 6v/12v though it doesn't show any differences in the way the wires would be hooked up. I tested the siren with my 12 volt lawn mower battery and it worked well. The siren has 3 wires.

a. One wire is for steady tone.
b. One wire is for chirp tone.
c. One wire is common.

3. The small, built in piezo siren has a hot wire and ground wire. These two wires are very skinny.

4. I would like to snip those 2 wires and splice them into my new siren. Current drain for my new siren is 0.8 amps @ 6 volts and 1.6 amps @ 12 volts.

5. I would go with the basic AC household current motion detector, however, I need to have a remote control and I have found none (affordable) with a remote.

That's about the extent of it. I have little to no experience in electronics therefore, if you find this amusing, less than intelligent, etc, fire away. I'm thick skinned.

Thank you,
shooter
 

LTX71CM

May 23, 2010
182
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
182
1. Can I use a 12 volt adapter without frying the other components on the little circuit board?

2. If that's doable, can I assume I will get the 12 volts to my new siren for maximum db?

4. I would like to snip those 2 wires and splice them into my new siren. Current drain for my new siren is 0.8 amps @ 6 volts and 1.6 amps @ 12 volts.

1. Probably Not. In some cases yes but for those who don't know how to determine if it's within specs it's better to assume no.

2. No.

4. Don't. Use the connections for the piezo siren to close a relay. Use a relay activated by the old siren to provide 12V to your new siren.
 

shooter

Nov 19, 2010
5
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
5
1. Probably Not. In some cases yes but for those who don't know how to determine if it's within specs it's better to assume no.

2. No.

4. Don't. Use the connections for the piezo siren to close a relay. Use a relay activated by the old siren to provide 12V to your new siren.


Thanks for your reply and bear with me please. The following numbered questions / responses will follow your numerical sequence.

1. I guess at this juncture I might try the 12 volt adapter. The only thing I have to lose is a 20.00 motion sensor and the cost of the adapter.

2. If it did happen to work, could I expect to get voltage higher than 6 but not up to the full 12 volts.

4. So I can snip the 2 wires from the piezo siren, run them to a relay and have the relay activate my chicken house siren?

Do you have an alternative suggestion or know of a motion sensor which has a remote control and to which I can tie in my 12v chicken house siren?

Intended use: Open my shop door and drive truck out. Activate my motion sensor with remote. Leave the shop door open. Upon return, disarm sensor, etc. In the past, I'd leave the door open and then I was hit one day by thieves who stole thousands of dollars worth of tools. Since then, I pull out of the shop, exit the vehicle, secure the door, make entry to the vehicle, etc. A pain in the rear. Just lazy I guess however that's what I'd like to do. I, family members, or friends are normally within hearing distance (less than 90 second response time) of the chicken house siren. This would probably be a quick enough response time to thwart the thief. Once again, I do appreciate your help.
 

shooter

Nov 19, 2010
5
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
5
If my original concept is not doable, how about this:

1. A "normal" ac household current motion detector w/ security lights.

2. One of those remote control xmtr / rcvr devices used to control lamps, appliances, etc.

3. Locate the circuit within the detector which activates the security lights.

4. Connect into that circuit a 12v adapter.

5. Connect the other end of the adapter to my chicken house siren.

6. My only question on this set up is I don't know off hand if, when I use my remote to activate the sensor, will the friggin' security lights / siren turn on immediately because they're receiving new power as though there had been a power outage and then later the power came back on.

Doable?

thanks
 

LTX71CM

May 23, 2010
182
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
182
Thanks for your reply and bear with me please. The following numbered questions / responses will follow your numerical sequence.

1. I guess at this juncture I might try the 12 volt adapter. The only thing I have to lose is a 20.00 motion sensor and the cost of the adapter.

2. If it did happen to work, could I expect to get voltage higher than 6 but not up to the full 12 volts.

4. So I can snip the 2 wires from the piezo siren, run them to a relay and have the relay activate my chicken house siren?

Do you have an alternative suggestion or know of a motion sensor which has a remote control and to which I can tie in my 12v chicken house siren?

Intended use: Open my shop door and drive truck out. Activate my motion sensor with remote. Leave the shop door open. Upon return, disarm sensor, etc. In the past, I'd leave the door open and then I was hit one day by thieves who stole thousands of dollars worth of tools. Since then, I pull out of the shop, exit the vehicle, secure the door, make entry to the vehicle, etc. A pain in the rear. Just lazy I guess however that's what I'd like to do. I, family members, or friends are normally within hearing distance (less than 90 second response time) of the chicken house siren. This would probably be a quick enough response time to thwart the thief. Once again, I do appreciate your help.

1. Not much point in trying, the circuit will not be able to provide the current needed for your new siren. I would be very surprised if it were able to,

2. Sure you could expect a higher voltage. At a usable current though? Maybe, but your circuit would likely fail, you would then have proper Magic Smoke experience.

4. Yes.

Attached is a sample connection diagram. The one caveat being how the old siren is driven. If the tone is internal to the piezo siren this should work fine, if it's not then the relay solution probably won't work, as shown.


PS. I used those numbers to match your original post, the numbers in between didn't warrant/need an answer, in my opinion.
 

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shooter

Nov 19, 2010
5
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
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5
Yeah, I agree that smoke is a great possibility, however, I thought I'd come here and run it by experienced folks. Never hurts to ask. I must do something. I'm sure there's a simple solution awaiting my discovery. Thanks for your time and effort.
 

LTX71CM

May 23, 2010
182
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
182
I hope I didn't come across as discouraging, your goal is a reasonable one. My only intent was to arm with the knowledge to help avoid the destruction of your circuit. Your problem does have a simple solution.
 

shooter

Nov 19, 2010
5
Joined
Nov 19, 2010
Messages
5
No, I didn't take it that way. Just a bit discouraging on my end. I was talking to a "kid" minutes ago who is home for the holidays. He works on software and circuits for a company in West Texas which builds those large wind turbines. He has a limited knowledge of electronics. I was discussing my second idea with him regarding the 110v detector and one of those cheesy remotes. He felt that all I needed to do was to buy a 12v rectifier? and tap into the circuit which activates the flood lights from the motion sensor. I could either take the lights out of play so to speak or leave them as they are and just route that power going to the lights, to the rectifier and on to the chicken house siren.

As`I mentioned earlier, the only hiccup I see is when our power goes out at times, when the power comes back on, those lights come on, stay on and I have to go unplug the sensor from the outlet, wait 30 seconds or so, plug the sensor in again. I guess the sensor resets itself. Seems to me if i used a remote in a fashion of arming / disarming, the same thing would occur with my siren. Therefore, I (someone) would need to examine the circuit board and see if it would be possible to bypass / remove that reset circuit. Crazy stuff for a layman though I have great perseverance. Anyway, no I didn't take it personal at all and I truly appreciate you taking the time to reply. If I make progress on this little ditty, I let you know the outcome.

thanks again,
shooter
 
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