How to reduce motion sensor false alarms in your South Bend home

Motion sensors are crucial components in a full-featured home security strategy, as they’ll tell you if suspicious activity is transpiring at your house. Unfortunately, they’re also susceptible to false alarms, causing frustration and lost sleep for South Bend homeowners. If you’re searching for solutions, check out our suggestions for reducing motion sensor false alarms.

What triggers motion detector false alarms?

The majority of home motion detectors employ passive infrared (PIR) technology to identify movement. They monitor fluctuations in infrared radiation within their field of view and can determine when something is moving by its heat signature. False alarms are frequently caused by: 

• Pets jumping on couches or countertops
• Streams of direct daylight through a window
• Various heat sources, like fireplaces and vents
• Sudden humidity or temperature changes, which cause components to be overly sensitive or non-reactive

Microwave motion sensors are another common option that senses motion by continually sending out and analyzing electromagnetic waves. These active motion detectors spot movement through modifications in the returning signal. Any unforseen motion, like curtains swaying when your HVAC fan turns on, can trigger an alarm.

Suggestions for decreasing motion sensor false alarms at your South Bend home

Aside from a lack of sleep, motion sensor false alarms can be particularly problematic as they might numb you to genuine threats. Furthermore, recurring false alarms might become a nuisance to local law enforcement and may affect ensuing response times. Thankfully, you can help avoid them by following these suggestions:

• Inspect the sensitivity settings of your equipment and change to your pet’s size and behavior.
• Even if you have pet-sensitive motion sensors, it’s smart not to direct them at high-traffic spots like food dispensers.
• Avoid pointing motion detectors at windows exposed to intense sunlight.
• Make sure rooms are properly insulated to help prevent temperature shifts.
• Frequently dust and wipe down equipment to keep sensors working properly.
• Monitor batteries and replace as needed. Some motion detectors will even inform you when batteries are low.
• Let a pro do the installation to ensure correct positioning.

You may also choose hybrid devices that use both active and passive sensors to identify movement, providing a higher degree of accuracy.

How to use motion sensors in your South Bend smart home?

Incorporating motion sensor into a new smart home is a terrific way to improve your security and convenience. You’ll have the opportunity to do the following:

• Get immediate alerts on your cell phone whenever motion is found. You might utilize them to notify you when your kids come home from school.
• Program interior cameras to record automatically whenever a motion sensor triggers.
• Change temperature settings or lighting based on your home’s occupancy. This functionality can help lower energy bills.

Top smart home motion sensors, like the ones from Vivint, continue to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to more effectively detect real threats and reduce false alarms.

Create your Vivint smart home with dependable motion sensors

Get the best motion sensors in South Bend from Vivint when you customize your comprehensive smart home. Our tools are pet-friendly and let you initiate a variety of automation actions. You’ll also appreciate the five-year battery life and automatic mobile notifications. Call (574) 601-4641 today to design your system.