Room "must be occupied" presence question

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  • Simon George
    Automated Home Jr Member
    • Apr 2008
    • 28

    Room "must be occupied" presence question

    Hi,

    Now that I've got my DFP I now have 2 PIR sensors setup for the first time : one at the top of the stairs (lounge, DFP) and one at the bottom (hall, PLT) (yes, my house is "upside down" !). I'm seeing a behaviour that makes me have to trigger the lounge PIR twice, as follows.

    - I'm in the lounge.
    - I move downstairs : presence is pulled out of the lounge and into the hall correctly.
    - I move upstairs : presence is pulled into the hall correctly *but* then times out (after "presence time out" seconds) unless the PIR is triggered again.

    I understand why (from reading the help) but ir's annoying if I enter the lounge and then go sit in an area not covered by the PIR : because the status is "occupied" rather than "must be occupied" the presence gets removed reasonably quickly (turning the lights off !).

    Now, I have a long "reset presence" timeout to cater for this very situation - but this only works if the room is "must be occupied". I don't really want to increase the "presence time out" as then the lights would stay on longer after I have actually left (by triggering the hall PIR). Fitting more PIRs to the lounge isn't really an option at the moment either.

    So :

    - I guess I don't understand the difference between "occupied" and "must be occupied". Ideally I'd like it to go straight to "must be occupied". Is there any reason why it doesn't/can't ? (I guess it's to cater for PIR errors maybe)

    - the PIR only seems to be triggering once even as I walk past it : is there some time-based filtering going on that I could tweak so it triggers multiple times maybe ?

    Any ideas for how I can tweak the system ?

    Thanks,

    Simon
  • Gumby
    Moderator
    • May 2004
    • 437

    #2
    Can you clarify what doors (with door sensors) you have, if any?
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    • Simon George
      Automated Home Jr Member
      • Apr 2008
      • 28

      #3
      Ah, sorry : the hall & lounge are linked by a stairs object, no doors between them.

      Comment

      • Andrew Millne
        Automated Home Ninja
        • Nov 2007
        • 269

        #4
        I've actually noticed this as well, I guess as you say it is to prevent false positives on an un-occupied room. The problem seems to stem from the fact that a long continous movement is counted as one movement. Perhaps a variable could be added to cortex to allow a long movement over 'n' ms to be treated differently? I haven't noticed anything within Cortex as it stands to allow this.
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        • Viv
          Automated Home Ninja
          • Dec 2004
          • 284

          #5
          >>>>>>
          I don't really want to increase the "presence time out" as then the lights would stay on longer after I have actually left (by triggering the hall PIR).
          <<<<<<

          Not knowing the actual topology of your rooms and doors it is difficult to give an exact answer. The Cortex logic is quite complex so many aspects can influence the result.

          The presence timer decides how long the room remains occupied when no PIR detections are registered. A long PIR signal is actually used in some circumsances. That is if the room were to time out and the motion sensor is still 'true' then it in effect re-triggers it.

          Depending on the conditions increasing the "presence time out" will not increase the time the lights remain on in the lounge. By this I mean a detection in the hall will pull the person out of the lounge and the lounge becomes unoccupied. It is the lights timer that detemines how long after a room becomes unoccupied that the light goes out.

          Regarding the difference between 'occupied' and 'must be occupied'. A motion in a room that is sealed (all doors closed no way out) will go to 'Must be occupied'. A room with doors open or stairs to it (like an open door) cannot be so sure although some conditions can get it into 'Must be occupied'.

          Hope this helps.

          Viv

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