Just wanted to confirm that this is a great sensor. It seems to be most sensitive to motion that is orthogonal to the board (ie straight on.)
@cloverstreet: I've seen it detect motion reliably up to ~20ft away. There is no need to reset the alarm, it doesn't latch. The alarm pin is debounced (deflapped?) internally, and seems to cycle off on the order of a second or so.
Also, a slight warning about the datasheet (at least for my unit): If you're not paying attention, and use the three silver pin latches to orient the connector it'll be backwards. As the description says, red is power, brown is ground, and black is alarm.

Using arduino, I had unstable outputs when using the "5V" pin as the power supply pin and the pull-up for the alarm pin.
Eventually, I used the "5V" pin solely for pull-up (i.e. resistor between "5V" of arduino and alarm pin (black) of motion sensor).
To power the motion sensor, I tried using a 9V battery which works perfectly. I also tested using the "Vin" pin on arduino and can report stable output, although the detection is somewhat slower than using a pure 9V power supply. The "Vin" pin gives me 4.16V so I am not sure what is happening here.
So the final pinout is:
- "Vin" on arduino to Vin for sensor
- "Gnd" to "Gnd"
- Resistor between "5V" of arduino and alarm pin of sensor
- Wire from alarm pin to input pin on arduino
Hope this helps anyone trying to use this sensor with the arduino board.

I'd use 10K as pullup resistor. Don't forget, though the PIR sensor runs on +12V, the pullup should go to +5V! The pullup is on the INPUT pin, and the sensor pulls that to ground. (3.3V for 3.3V inputs, etc)
The sensor will momentarily pull the input to ground when it thinks "something moved". Your software will have to determine what that means.
What I do is, use Arduino's millisec() function to run a software timer that essentially tells me how much time has passed since someone walked by the sensor. In loop() put this code up near the top:
if (digitalRead (SENSOR) == LOW) {
timer= millisec();
}
Then when you wanna ask "has someone walked by the sensor in the last 25 seconds?" (for example) you would execute:
if (millis() - timer < 25000L) {
Serial.print ("Room is occupied");
}
eg. "less than 25000 milliseconds since I saw an event". That's the basic idea anyhoo.

very easy to use.
used with atmega128
excellent quality..

I know newbie question but : Would the alarm go off if there is a heater in the room that is not always on/off ???

Thank you :D

I futzed around with this one for a couple of projects, but i finally just bought this parallax sensor that is easier to connect, easier to read, and works comfortably off 5V: http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2082927_-1<br />
<br />
i would rather see sparkfun carry this item or similar, since i get most other things here.

Really easy with this example from Tom Igoe....:
http://itp.nyu.edu/physcomp/sensors/Reports/PIRMotionSensor
..people here can be very confusing...

Very easy to use.
Note that the AL pin will go low several times during "initialization". After a few second, it will stop ging low and stay high. If you are going to use this on an interrupt, for example, you will need to wait maybe 10 seconds before initializing it.
When something does move, the sensor will go low for as long the object is moving and then go high again.
A 10K pullup will work fine.

Anybody know what kind of supply current this thing draws?

if it detects something, how will it stay low?

Getting wildly intermittent results. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. Tried it wired to the Arduino 5V as in this diagram http://www.allenpitts.com/pir_Sensor.gif And substituted a 9V battery to the sensor. Neither reliable. Would hate to have the security of my home or business reliant on this system.

Also the instructions above say: 'Note: The colors of the wires can vary greatly. Looking at the unit from the top, the middle wire is ground, the left-most wire is the alarm, and the right-most is the power.' This is unspecific. 'From the top' with the wire output at the bottom or 'From the top' with the wire output on the top. One has a fifty-fifty chance above a reversed hook up and a puff smoke.

what would i hook that up to?

These sensors are way too sensitive. Even when putting a tube around it for focus, there are a ton of false positives. I don't think that I can make anything reliable with these.

Alright, I been volunteering at a School Cafeteria for a few years now and the new soap dispenser has a motion sensor. Unfortunately, the sensor picks up nearly nothing at the moment and there appears to be no way to make it more sensitive as-is.

Of course I may be wrong, but there are a switch and a button. The switch controls how much soap it dispenses and the button... doesn't appear to do anything. Help much appreciated.

Any advice?

Does it brake, when I swap AL and Vcc?

Is it that the new version has different cable colors? I have RED + WHITE - BLACK AL

however I tried the wiring which is suggested here, but it didn't work: 9V Bat + > + 9V Bat - > - 5V > 10k ohm > digital pin x AL > digital x but only reading HIGH

I get massive numbers of false positives. I do not see any way to tune down the sensitivity. My first thought is to catch one, hold a second, and check for another - maybe this will help. But looking at my current logs I think I will start dropping real positives. humph. Is my RPI timing out on the open collector/interrupt at some point? I kind of doubt it, but who knows. Are these "real" false positives caused by EMI or temperature shift? perhaps my garage door shaking with wind does it, but I kind of doubt it since if I stand there and shake the door with my arm about as hard as I can I do not see the hits.

Any help?

Demo with the PIR Sensor in comparison with the ePIR=> http://youtu.be/xZGYn-oipQc

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8733

Does this connector work for this?

please can i know the distances it can cover

CAN THIS BE WET?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but how well do you think it would work at night, anybody? Or do I need an IR sensor for that if there is minimal light from streetlights. for play, not security.

is this sensor easy to interface with a microcontroller? i wanted to get either this one or this one http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2082927_-1, whats the difference?

please, how can i purchase this sensor and order it from (Iraq-Baghdad)??

Excellent little sensor. I agree that it operates better at 9V. A 10K pullup resistor has been working fine.

The regulator on these is a surface-mount linear regulator, which theoretically is good all the way up to 21 volts or so, as long as you stay within heat limits. These take very little power, and my project had 18 volts handy, so that's what they're getting. It works great.

using this to point a laser at sombody when seen, is there a way to send a specific position?

I just did a bit of tinkering getting PIR sensors to work at 3.3v and wrote up my findings on a page. With some sensors it's pretty easy to get it to work with 3.3v: http://techgurka.blogspot.com/2013/05/cheap-pyroelectric-infrared-pir-motion.html

Does some one tried it with blueSMiRF? I have no stable read (jumps from 5V to 0V without a reason) from PIR when i connect blueSMiRF silver. Is there known issue?

Trying to get this to work with WIG-11029 the triggerable MP3 player. Not sure where im going wrong. Getting 3.3v off of the mp3 player and hooked to both sides of the trigger inputs as well. reading 0 and 1.1v respectively.

What is the usable operating range of this device?

Does anybody know details about the amplifier circuit on board?

I for this device is very low about that of an LED 12mA, could be why the 10K causes problems. @ about 3.3 V I = 12mA @ 5V I = 23 ma

thsi is give or take a few mA

I know that normally with this sensor you would use a weak pull up resistor to connect the open collector output to Vcc. However if you wanted to just connect up an LED or other device what is the maximum load that can be drawn through the open collector output? Also is the on board regulator able to handle this?

Is there an easy to understand schematic out there for a beginner to understand? So far I have an Arduino UNO, this PIR sensor, a small breadboard, some 10k resistors and jumper wires. I am trying to get an led on pin 13 to come on and stay on until the motion leaves the range of the PIR. So far I have the positive of a 9v battery hooked to the positive of the sensor and the negative of the battery to the negative of the sensor. I have the alarm wire from the sensor hooked to a 10k resistor and then to digitalPin 9 on the UNO. When i checked voltage from between resistor and UNO i had 1-2 volts so i used a couple 330 ohm resistors to get the voltage up to 5 so it would show high on the UNO. My problem is that i cant seem to get the led to come on when motion is detected and go off when it detects nothing. In fact it does just the opposite. Is there something messed up in the code? Ill post the code soon for yall to see. Thanks!

They are NOT KIDDING when they say the arrangement of wires can vary! I just got one where power is BLACK.

Also, it is dodgy at 5 volts like everyone says.

[edit] Now confirmed that jumpering past the 5V regulator lets it run at raw 5V. It's a tricky job though!

How are you installing these things in the real world? I've been sticking them on walls with thumb tack pins. Would it be safe to use 2 sided tape?

What are best practices for this sort of thing?

Thanks Rich

WARNING - As others have stated in this thread the data sheet is wrong wiring has changed.

Red - Alarm Brown - Ground Black - 12V

It's cool if all your sensors or wired one way or the other but I have a dozen sensors with the two configurations mixed together.

I ordered three of these sensors through a supplier in the UK (Hobby-Electronics) and all three are wired different from the images shown on both the sparkfun as on the hobby-electronics website. My three sensors have the red and black wire reversed so the wiring then becomes even stranger than before: - Red: Signal, alert. - Brown: Ground. - Black: Vin (9 volt battery).

I first tried wiring the sensor as shown on the datasheet and that didn't give a good signal. The output signal became around 2V and remained constant around that value.

When I reversed the wiring (black to +9V, red as signal) the output signal was as it is supposed to be.

Ok, I've successfully used these in other projects and they've worked great. I just ordered a bunch of them and when I hook them up in my new projects they're not working. I'm using the exact same sketch I used in my other projects but I cannot get them to work.

Here's what I've got

• Red to 12v using VIN
• Brown to ground
• Black with 10K pullup resistor to 5V and to alarm Arduino analog pin 0

You can see my wiring here example

This is exactly how I have this set up in my previous functional application and what is described on this page.

When I open the serial monitor I get repeating 1023 that does not change at all.

I've tried this on several Arduino boards without luck.

I'm using Arduino IDE build 1.0.1; I used an older build of the IDE on my previous project version 0022. Seems like this shouldn't be an issue.

Note that I have tried to get this to work on all the analog ports on several Arduino boards.

Here is a copy of my sketch.

// example for the PIR motion sensor SE-10

int timer = 3000;
int alarmPin = 0;
int alarmValue = 0;
int ledPin = 13;

void setup () {
Serial.begin (9600);
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);  
pinMode(alarmPin, INPUT);
delay (2000); // it takes the sensor 2 seconds to scan the area around it before it can detect infrared presence. 
}

void loop (){
alarmValue = analogRead(alarmPin);

if (alarmValue > 1){
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
delay(timer);
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
}

Serial.println (alarmValue);

delay (10);

}

Please help!

Thx Rich

after trying about 3 times with different configurations. the sensor fails to work properly... disappointed to say the least.

I just got one of these and the black and red leads are swapped from the photo: the sensor I have has the black on the left and the red on the right. I hooked it up using the instructions on Bildr Tutorial and it stayed railed on 'motion detected'. So I took a shot and switched the black and the red leads (working off the 5V Arduino USB power). Still no change in response with motion/No motion. Replaced the 10K resistor with a 1K and then it was always railed the other way - no 'motion detected'. Added a 10K pot to the 1K resistor and got it to work somewhere in between 10K and 1K. Don't forget to put the 1K in series with the POT to make sure you keep the current sinking into the signal lead from becoming a short. Turns out with the sensor I got, the signal pin is red, the +5V Power pin is black and the ground pin is brown!

Let me add another warning not to become a casualty of the datasheet. If you hook up the sensor backwards (red wire to input and black wire to +12V) - an easy error to make because the plastic connector in the image is in the "wrong" orientation -- it will not only fail to work properly... it will die with a little puff of black smoke and the smell of fried circuitry. $10 down the drain. Read the Bildr tutorial before attempting to hook up the sensor.

If you want to create a top notch motion detection system, you can use two different sensors at once: this PIR sensor and an X-Band microwave motion sensor. In this way you will be able to reduce the false positives which can be caused by sunlight or by EMI.

When will this product be back in stock?

Why is this jumping? If I wave my hand in front of it, it goes low, then high, then low, then high, and keeps jumping around for about a second.

p.s. I jumpered the regulator.

This is A Really Useful Sensor. But it is equally, if not more, complicated than it is useful. I would like to (try to) clear up some points about it:

The datasheet lists the op. voltage as 12V. Sparkfun says 5-12V. Yet some people have trouble using it with their 5V arduinos.

The smallish chip in the top left is a voltage regulator: a L78L05, to be exact, with a dropout of 1.7V. So by feeding the sensor 5V, it gets regulated to about 3.3V. BUT THIS IS NOT A 3.3V REGULATOR! To give the sensor itself 5V, you must feed it 6.7V.

But now, a problem. The large chip is a BA10324AF, which is a quad op-amp. It has an operating voltage of 32V+/-16V. WTF?!? So the minimum voltage is supposedly 32-16=16V? But that doesn't make any sense... why would there be a 5V reg on board? Something here is messed up. Hanse Electronics (the sensor manufacturer) messed it up, I think.

But this doesn't explain why some people get it to work off 5V, and others don't. Any ideas?

My conclusion: This regulator can handle ~30V, so give it the highest voltage you can.

Male headers don't fit. And wire is slightly too small. The best bet would probably be to cut off the connector and put on your own wires.

edit: female headers (like the ones on an arduino) fit PERFECTLY!!!! So put in a 3x1 female header, and put wires into them.

To the manufacturer (and any other confused consumers):

Black is supposed to be ground. Not Signal. Brown should be signal. But it's not. On this sensor, its ground.

Thanks,

baum

For a complete Arduino based burglar/ fire alarm system which could respond to this sensor, see...
http://sheepdogguides.com/arduino/aht8lokb16.htm
Note that it has the necessary "Wait for sensors to stabilize" code, among other things.

Very accurate when used with 12V. Don't even the arduino 5V pin, it won't work.

Is there any enclosure for them ?

It works great for me! BUT I had to use the pull up resistor AND bypass the 3.3v regulator. Only then did it work. The internal Uno pull up is not enough. Using 5v I measured 3.7v on the other side of the regulator. The output never settled until I bypassed it. Now it's wonderful!

What is the connector on the cable called? Do you have it's mate?
Thanks!

For MORE INFORMATION
You can contact manufacturer Hanse Electronics Co., Ltd. http://hanseelec.co.kr/eng/
Anybody know the field of view angle?

how much meters does the sensor works ?

Has anyone tried putting this to "sleep" and cycling on periodically to save on battery power? Doesn't seem like it would lend itself to this very well...

So, I don't mean to draw business away from SparkFun at all, but I was at RadioShack yesterday and picked up a motion detector that (at first) I thought was just like this one. (Same price too: $9.99)
Turns out their model (A Parallex Passive Infrared Motion Sensor #555-28027) is a bit easier to work with: Provides three 0.1" spaced pins that work on the corner of a breadboard, and it simply pulls the signal pin high when it sees motion. (I hooked it up via a transistor to an LED [Just to be safe and not kill anything] and it works great.) It even has a jumper to set the sensitivity/distance that it "watches".
Although I will say: It appears to be a tad more reliable on the low distance (15 feet) setting as opposed to the 30 feet setting. (That or it doesn't like a hand passing right above it when it's "looking" 30 feet out; I've barely played with it enough to tell for sure.)

Hey, I'm very new to electronics, but basically I'm trying to trigger a 3/4" Irrigation Vallve with a solenoid, would this work well?

could you guys carry a sensor that operates off 5v instead of 12v? I bought mine else where but would buy from you guys instead if you carried them.

Can anyone confirm this works (well) at 3.3v? Range any worse?

I have a question.....When sensor detects something or something moves (according to overview and datasheet), the "alarm" pin will go low. But. Does anybody knows what appened after that?, I mean, the "alarm" pin still in LOW? or will go HIGH inmediately (when nobody activated it). How much time the "alarm" pin is Activated (when somebody pass in front of the sensor)?
Thanks for ideas!

Is there an Eagle library available for this part?

Hey y'all. Does anybody know much current this thing draws in an idle state? I'd like to know how long it would last on a standard 9V battery.

I'm not sure why all the Arduino examples with this sensor show the alarm pin attached to an analog pin on the Arduino. I hooked mine up to a digital pin and did a digitalWrite(ALARM_PIN,HIGH) to turn on the internal pull-up resistor and it works great!

Here is a simple schematic i made up. I used the 5V source off of my mbed microcontroller.
http://sites.google.com/site/lacosteprojects/home/motionsensor.PNG

Muy facil de usar, buena sensibilidad, buen rango de deteccion (recomendable para techo)... simplemente conectas y puede ser acoplado directamente a un NE555 para controlar iluminacion por presencia!!!

I just got this the other day, and hooked it up to a Duemilanove. I have 12v at the power connector, ground at the ground, and a 10k pullup resistor to 5v. I get a constant low signal when I try to read the signal digitally, but reading it with analog gives a reading of around 430 (a bit under 2.5v) when it should be detecting something, and around 250 (around 1.25v) when it shouldn't. Does anyone know what I might be doing wrong? I stripped it down to have nothing but the Arduino and the PIR on the circuit, and reported the results with a serial line to my computer.

Has anyone tried these out against the new 'ePIR' modules from Sparkfun? The ePIRs cost a little bit more and claim to have a higher sensitivity.

I have just bought an PIR Motion Sensor but I am not sure that it works.
http://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/Proximity/SE-10.pdf
It has tree pins as the image says, I put 12 v in the red pin, put the middle to ground and it is supossed I have to get a voltage in the alarm pin.
I close the circuit with a resistor in the alarm pin and then the resistor to ground but when I measure voltage in the last pin or in the resitor 0 V is obtained, also covering the sensor.
is the motion sensor broken?
could anybody help me? Thank you in advance.
Miguel

i bought 2 pcs of these bt it does not work, what should be the value of the pull-up resistor?

Works quite well, but running it at 5V is dodgy - probably because the +V is run through a 5V regulator, dropping the actual voltage to a less stable lower value. Works great at 9V, or you can bypass the tiny regulator and drive the 5V directly.

This says you can use it down to 5V but it does not appear to be stable to me at this voltage. The output is bouncing all over the place. When I change the input to 12V it works perfectly.

Hi,
Does anyone know how to adjust the debounce time for this?

How far does this detect? I assume there is a way to reset it remotely?