The long and short: Mount it one foot off the ground pointed towards the tailpipes, and it will work nearly 100% of the time, no matter the temperature or weather.
Chamberlain's printed directions want you to mount this sensor four feet off the ground pointed towards the hood of vehicles. However, when we followed Chamberlain's directions, our detection rates were around 50%-60%, with lower vehicles being missed. On rainy or cold days, the detection rate was nearly 0% for any vehicle.
We were about to send the sensor back. However, after taking the suggestion of another reviewer here, we mounted it one foot off the ground and pointed it towards the tailpipes, and it has detected flawlessly! It previously would not detect on cold days or rainy days, but now it detects whether rain, shine, or cold. Vehicle size is also no longer an issue since it now detects any size vehicle. Chamberlain should really update their printed directions to reflect this improved method of detection because their four-foot method simply does not work, which leads to many product returns and unhappy customers. It should be a five-star product, but until Chamberlain updates their directions, four stars is all we can give it.
Update - 02/07/2018: After almost two years of 10-to-15 detections a day, the original four AA batteries were just recently replaced. In January 2018, the detection rate fell greatly due to multiple below-freezing days and weakened batteries, but a new set of batteries brought it back to full power and consistency. If you need something reliable and long-lasting with minimal maintenance required, this sensor is still an excellent choice. Two years on four AA batteries is remarkable!
My back wall was pretty low so a few months ago I purchased a few of these up against my back wall. I didn't want them going on and off all day long so I put a timer on the receiver to turn on between 10pm-5am. I used a smart things hub and an cord I can control but any timer would do. Once in a while I'd get a cat walking past one, but not too often to annoy me.
I installed drop cams so I could check out what the motion was when I was alerted.
In August at 5:30 am the sensors were constantly going off. I pulled out my phone and checked the dropcams, and there were two prowlers. I immediately called 911 and they were picked up within 9 minutes of my call.
These are excellent sensors and I highly recommend them. Cameras are great, but more often than not useless for catching the bad guys. Get the bad guys in the act, and get alerted of their presence so you can protect you and your love ones.
Although I just set this unit up today, I just wanted to write up a quick review of a few things I learned or think might be helpful for others that own this unit or and considering purchasing it.
So far I am very impressed with this unit. I will update my review after I spend some more time with the unit.
As for my setup. I have this unit setup on a remote heavily wooded 40 acres. The air temperature here is currently -33 F. My driveway is 1,300 feet long.
I have the PIR sensor (motion sensor) mounted 4 feet high on the trunk of a tree. I have the base unit sitting on my kitchen counter approximately 1,000 feet from the PIR sensor. I do not have the base unit by a window. I have it stuck in the corner on top of my counter. It is too cold out right now to measure the exact distance between the base unit and the PIR sensor, but 1,000 feet is a very good estimate. As I said before the acreage is heavily wooded. The woods are so thick that in the winter with all the leaves off the trees you are still hard pressed to even see 30 feet into the woods.
The unit works excellent in these conditions! I was actually very surprised because of the cold temperatures, distance between the base unit and the PIR sensor and the fact that I have nothing even close to line of sight between the two.
As for the test. I drove my ATV up and down the driveway three times and every single time it signaled an alert. I used my cell phone to tap into an IP cameras microphone I have in the kitchen by the base unit and could hear the alert tone come from the base. The base never signaled an alert while driving toward the PIR sensor but did signal every time I drove away from the sensor. More on this later.
The take away from this.
The unit has OUTSTANDING range at my 1,000 foot distance.
In cold climates such as mine, use Lithium ion batteries. Normal alkaline batteries (lose power) in cold conditions. Although lithium ion batteries are a little more expensive they are absolutely critical in cold conditions so don't cheap out on this!!!
Now finally positioning and understanding of how the PIR sensor (motion sensor) works are also critical. The PIR sensor detects inferred radiation. The best way to explain what that means is to think of the PIR sensor as a sensor that actually doesn't detect motion but detects heat motion. The PIR sensor looks for something in its view that is a different temperature from its surroundings. This gets back to why the PIR sensor did not detect me driving an ATV toward the PIR sensor but detected the ATV every time when I drove away from the PIR sensor. The PIR sensor could not detect any temperature differences between me and the ATV I was driving and the surrounding temperature. The ATV is parked in a unheated garage so the entire ATV is the same temperature as the surroundings.......-33 degrees F. The PIR sensor didn't detect me while driving the ATV either because I was wearing boots, snow pants, jacket, gloves and face mask. All of these coverings were also -33 degrees F. Making my temperature the same as my surroundings. The PIR sensor did however detect me driving the ATV away from the PIR sensor after passing it. This is because the PIR sensor had a clear view of the exhaust and exhaust pipe system which was probably a couple hundred degrees hotter than the surrounding tempature therefore triggering an alert.
The biggest mistake I see people making with this unit is positioning the PIR sensor at 90 degree angle to the driveway. Try positioning the PIR sensor to have a view up the driveway to maximize the time the vehicle is in the view of the PIR sensor and it also gives the PIR sensor a good view of the back of the vehicle to detect the heat signatures coming off the exhaust system of the vehicle.
I will try to clean up this review up soon. Sorry if it's a little choppy. I am writing it with my three little rug rats running all over the place.
4+ years and still going strong. We are using this as a driveway alarm to alert us when a person or vehicle enters the property. The sensor is located about 600 feet from 2 paired receivers in different parts of our house. One of the receivers is actually located in the basement and it still picks up the sensor signal just fine. The sensor has never had a "false alarm", however, deer and other animals periodically walk in front of the sensor and set it off. Also, once or twice a year, a spider decides to take up residence in the opening right in front of the sensor... its movement sometimes sets off the sensor and/or it builds a web that partially blocks the sensor...
The outdoor sensor unit has been installed on a post with direct weather exposure for over 4 years and it is still functioning perfectly. Incidentally, the sensor is still running on the original set of AA lithium batteries from when it was first installed in 2013. The lithium batteries are more expensive up front, but are not affected by temperature extremes and appear to last a very long time. I used these Energizer batteries and would definitely recommend them as well (Energizer L91BP-8 Ultimate Lithium AA Batteries (8-Pack)).
Bottom line, this wireless sensor has proven to be very reliable and quite durable. Would recommend to anyone without hesitation!!!
I had some concern after reading some of the reviews but went ahead with this purchase anyway. I'm glad I did, it works well. For the benefit of others, here are some of my notes.
The reviews that talk about heat and partial detection are correct, placement and aiming is really important. I installed these at the end of a driveway that runs east-west in an open field, so road traffic and the sun were factors. I placed two units, one each on opposite sides of the driveway, facing towards the driveway at about a 45 degree angle away from the road. Each unit was secured to a tree about 18" off the ground. I placed two opposing units because for one, I was concerned about reliability based on some reviews, and two, on cold days it does need to see something hot so I wanted to capture exhaust heat regardless of where it was placed on the vehicle.
Each sensor is placed approximately 12-15 feet from the driveway, which is about 12' wide itself. This seemed to be the perfect placement; movement anywhere on the driveway activates both sensors; if you get a few fee off the driveway it only activates the nearest sensor.
So far this has a 100% accuracy rate. I haven't had any confirmed false alarms; out of the handful of non-vehicle alerts we've had, a few were confirmed to be deer or dogs and others just couldn't be confirmed in the darkness. It does pick up humans; it had no problem detecting me walking down the driveway on hot days nor when I was thoroughly bundled up from head to toe on cold days. I've had no issues with the sun nor passing road traffic interfering with the sensors.
The sensors have a green LED that activates and is visible through the PIR lens for about 1 second when they detect motion. It's usually not a big deal, but on a dark night while driving towards the sensors the green light stands out and quickly draws attention to the unit. If you're going for a covert installation, keep this in mind.
A previous homeowner had one of these units installed very near where I installed my new units. It showed signs of corrosion, and based on other reviews I agree that water intrusion seems to be an issue. So, when I assembled my units (yes, some basic assembly is required but its not rocket science), I used clear silicone to make a good seal around the face plate, including the antenna hole and screw holes. I installed the included sun/rain shade above the units too. When I change the batteries next time I'll see how they're doing at keeping weather and bugs out. I wish I'd had some Lithium AA batteries to use when I assembled these; instead I had only alkaline batteries on hand. I'll hopefully provide an update here on how long the batteries lasted and how well they're keeping dry.
The mounting plate worked well, I pre-assembled everything and just screwed the mounting plates directly to trees near the driveway using deck screws.
Reception so far is good. These 2 units are placed right at 100 yards from the residence, across an open field with no obstructions aside from a few small ornamental trees. The signal then has to pass through concrete siding and 4 interior gypsum walls. The beep is loud enough (at high volume) to be heard throughout the house, even on other floors. Pairing the units with the receiver was easy enough.
Things I wish were different on these:
The beep when a sensor activates is a long sort of whiny squeal versus a quick chirp, and its a little irritating. Not necessarily bad for an alert, but it happens to closely mimic the washer and dryer beeps. Each sensor that is paired with the receiver gets a corresponding number of beeps. With 8 units, that's an awfully long series of irritating beeps.It would be great if the alert beeps could be adjusted (pitch of tone and length of the beep).
It would be good if there was an aux output (dry relay contact) built in to the unit so this could be tied to a variety of other systems. Even better would be 8 discreet relay contacts (one for each sensor). Best would be throwing in a Z-Wave or similar smart module so you could really integrate this with other systems.
With a simple sequential beep for the sensor zone number (1 beep for zone 1, 2 beeps for zone 2, etc), you run into some problems. For example, if sensors 1 and 2 activate at nearly the same time, you get 3 beeps. Well, was that sensors 1 $ 2 going off, or sensor 3? Did sensor 4 activate or was that sensor 2 twice? You get the idea. If the sensors had a unique beep pattern (for example, a high pitched tone followed by a number of low pitch tones for each sensor) it would be easier to distinguish the different sensors. In this case 'hi-low-hi-low-low' would easily be distinguishable as sensors 1&2 versus the 'hi-low-low-low' of sensor #3. The point is, the current system can be confusing across zones and there are many answers to this problem, but the manufacturer should pick one and implement it.
Feature Product
- Set includes one base receiver and one sensor (ability to additional CWPIR sensors-Sold Separately)
- Passive infrared (PIR) sensor is weatherproof and detects motion up to 30ft away and features adjustable sensitivity
- Base receiver detects signals from sensors up to a 1/2 mile away (in ideal situations)
- Unique sound and light pattern on the base unit identifies which sensor has been triggered
- Easy to install, no wiring required. Base units uses AA batteries or included AC adapter; NOTE: Check User Manual in Technical Specification before use
Description
The Chamberlain Motion Sensor with Wireless Motion Alert is a convenient and affordable safety / security system. It features weatherproof outdoor sensor with adjustable sensitivity control. The sensor may be placed up to a ½ mile from the base unit. Alerts with light and sound when vehicles or pedestrians approach within a 30 feet radius. Expandable up to 4 sensors, it is perfect for home, business, property and worksite.
Love it! Love the manufacturers product support. Rrfreshing.
This product works exceptionally well. Period.
Performs without hesitation. The unit is battery operated which means it works with power outages. Plus, Inside alarm is 120 volt "and" battery backup. We have a couple of these and the dogs respond correctly to the located of the alerts, based on the number of beeps. If the grid goes down, no problem.
An important positive note on Chamberlain's product support. The last unit arrived minus a parts package. Support's agent, "Sam", resolved the issue immediately at no expense or time requirements on my part. Good news. Thanks, Sam. I'll be back for more.
Note: use ENERGIZER AA ULTIMATE LITHIUM 20 YEAR BATTERIES. The withstand the winter's cold. Replace every 12 months outside.
I gave 4 stars on the motion detection element because it seems to be a little temperature sensitive...talking about ambient air temperature, not the temp of the object picked up by the sensor. This is only with vehicles. Well, it's probably the difference between ambient air temp and the target that sets off the sensor. It's not a huge issue, because it usually detects the vehicle anyway. This is just something I notice occasionally that keeps it from being perfect. I'll continue to play with the angle adjustment. In the dark when the ambient temp is lower, the unit always detects a vehicle. It's only during a warm day that I ever see it fail to detect a vehicle. It always detects animals and people.
The in-house unit works excellently. You can adjust the volume, and it's compact. The range is very good and more than most anyone will ever need except like on a large farm or ranch from a main gate. I'm on 6 acres, and the unit detects anywhere on it.
On the waterproof issue, it looks extremely waterproof. I only gave 4 stars because I encased my outdoor unit in a PVC electrical box so that it would look like...well...an electrical box and not a sensor. It gets a good deal more protection because of this, so I can't fully attest to waterproofness.
Overall I really like the unit
I bought this Chamberlain product because of the claimed 1/2 mile range. Another motion sensor product I had purchased had great motion sensing capabilities, but the base station couldn't pick up the sensor if it was any farther away than the other side of the wall from where the sensor was located!
I have placed these Chamberlain motion sensors as far as 300' from my house, which is located in a heavily wooded, hilly area where both the terrain and the trees block a "line of sight" path to the house. They never fail to activate the alarm on the base station when triggered, no matter where the base station is located in my house. I should mention that I live in a remote, unpopulated area with minimal RF interference.
One thing that someone should be aware of when considering this product is that these sensors work more like a beam and don't cover as broad of an area as the sensors with the big, wide "face." You can see in the pictures that the motion sensors have a flat, horizontal slotted tube that the sensor looks through, limiting its view to only what passes directly in front of it. It appears to have been intended for placement along a path,walk or driveway so as to trigger when someone or something passes by it. It does not work well in detecting movement over a broad area - for example, I have a large open area to the front of my house and there are six directions that someone can approach the house from. A broad coverage sensor such as the type used in automatic lighting would cover this area better - but in order to cover the entire area with these Chamberlain sensors I would have to place six of them on each of the paths to the front of my house. (Since I know where they are, I can even step over or duck under them so as not to trip them.) It would be nice if Chamberlain would offer an optional sensor style with an open face so that you can use a combination of different types of sensors to more effectively cover the different types of areas a typical home has.
Regarding the complaints about the alarm not being loud enough, I bought mine in August 2012 and the alert is plenty loud. They must have been paying attention to the reviews and addressd this problem. I wish I could turn it down even lower but I'd rather have it too loud than not to be able to hear it.
Suggestions for improvement:
This system ONLY has an audible alert system. With a capability of up to 6 sensors, it would be really nice if the system also had a visual indication of which sensor triggered. Perhaps 6 LED's instead of one, with the one activated remaining lit for a minute. When you have all 6 sensors hooked up and you wake up in the middle of the night with an activation, you have no way of verifying whether it was a sensor that triggered at the back of the house or the front or the side - "did it beep 4 times or 5 times or was it 6???"
When I walk down my driveway at night time the LED that flashes when the sensor activates catches my eye even when I'm not looking for it. The LED is useful to assist you in positioning the sensors when you set them up, but I would want the ability to switch them off after they're all in place so as not to attract attention to them.
The optional "broad coverage sensor" I already mentioned.
All in all:
Great product - it works as advertised - with room for improvement.
Buy this one, not the other one that amazon seems to be pushing aggressively when you search for "driveway alarms". The amazon sponsored and overly hyped is the Guardline Wireless Driveway Alarm (https://www.amazon.com/Guardline-Wireless-Driveway-Weatherproof-Detector/dp/B00HFZUKGM/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1517209377&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=driveway+alarm&psc=1) and its a pile of crap. I bought that first, thinking I wouldn't mind spending a few more $ to get something "good". The reviews were stellar, it was a top search result on amazon, and everything seemed good. I bought it, and it simply didnt work, the range on that one is supposed to be 1/2 mile. Didn't work, it was constantly out of range. THIS one i bought however, the Chamberlain, is cheaper, easier to set up, and it JUST WORKS! Same conditions, same house, same driveway, same everything. back to back, proven that the Chamberlain unit works but the Guardline was a absolute fail. I am in no way affiliated with either of these companies. I rarely write reviews, but I feel so compelled to write this Guardline vs Chamberlain review. LOL. Im annoyed that I got "tricked" into buying that Guardline junk because of the reviews and amazon sponsorship. Dont fall into the same trap as me. LOL.
I have to say that this motion detector is worlds ahead of the cheaper one I used to have. I mounted it on a tree where my driveway meets the street, about 4-5 feet above the ground. So far I have had zero false alarms, even during wind and rain storms. It is definitely worth spending a little more money to get this setup. The chime volume can be adjusted so it doesn't startle you, however there are not multiple chimes to choose from as some of the competitors offer. Overall, definitely a good buy. If you have a long driveway like me, this is a great tool so you know when Fedex/UPS are arriving, or when you might have unwanted guests.
Update 2 months later - still very impressed with it. No false alarms which is amazing. Living in a rural area with a long driveway this is a must.
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