confused PIR sensor due to dead battery
Posted: Wednesday 29 March 2017 23:34
Just a word of warning, since this took me several hours to tackle and it might save you some time.
I use a cheap Chinese PIR sensor to detect movement in the kitchen and switch on the lights.
The sensor is powered by a 9V battery block. When the battery is low, the sensor should give a visible warning.
My sensor/dimmer setup was behaving very strange, sometimes giving a signal, sometimes not.
The "low battery" warning was not given, and I did not have any clue since the cell was relatively new.
After checking everything, I decided to remove the battery and measure voltage.
Could not believe the reading: 2.37V! I have never seen a 9V block battery this low.
Apparently this extremely low voltage threw off the low-battery warning...
I use a cheap Chinese PIR sensor to detect movement in the kitchen and switch on the lights.
The sensor is powered by a 9V battery block. When the battery is low, the sensor should give a visible warning.
My sensor/dimmer setup was behaving very strange, sometimes giving a signal, sometimes not.
The "low battery" warning was not given, and I did not have any clue since the cell was relatively new.
After checking everything, I decided to remove the battery and measure voltage.
Could not believe the reading: 2.37V! I have never seen a 9V block battery this low.
Apparently this extremely low voltage threw off the low-battery warning...