How does the motion and light sensor work?
Have you ever wonder what are the real practical use cases of using the motion and light sensor? We will try to answer your questions with some real-life examples. But before giving you the ideas of it is implemented into your smart home system, we have to clarify how does it work.
Technology is constantly developing and therefore even smart home systems, hotel rooms or industrial buildings have a lot more opportunities to implement the various sensors into it is the automation process. We often hear people talk about temperature, air quality, and humidity sensors. Indeed, they are most widely used, but why the motion and light sensor is forgotten? We believe that we can solve various problems with it and therefore we want to present to you some cases.
1. How do the motion and light sensor work?
The sunlight and human motion are both natural. Motion and light sensors detect them both. Most of the time the sensor comes in a combination of both, but it can also be found just as a motion sensor or light sensor. So how does it work?
The daylight is a combination of all indirect and direct sunlight within a day and it happens as planet Earth rotates. The side on which the Sun shines is considered as daylight. Sunlight and daylight can be measured in lux which stands for illuminance of objects. Andivi’s indoor motion and light sensor ANDIPIRLUX have an opportunity to set different measuring ranges for the illuminance. It can be set from 0 – 1.000 lux, 0 – 10.000 lux, 0 – 50.000 lux and 0 – 100.000 lux. Why is this important? Let us present some illuminance below:
DAYTIME
120.000 lux = Brightest sunlight
111.000 lux = Bright sunlight
20.000 lux = Shade illuminated by clear blue sky, midday
1.000 – 2.000 lux = Typical overcast day, midday
400 lux = Sunset and sunrise on a clear day (ambient illumination)
<200lux = Thickest storm clouds, midday
40 lux = Fully overcast, sunset/sunrise
<1 lux = Thickest storm clouds, sunset/sunrise
NIGHTTIME
<1 lux = Moonlight, clear night sky
0,25 lux = A full moon, clear night sky
0,01 lux = A quarter moon, clear night sky
0,002 lux = Starlight, clear moonless night sky
0,00014 lux = Venus at brightest, clear night sky
0,0001 lux = Starlight, overcast moonless night sky
According to the data above, we can see that it is very important for the implementation of the light sensor correctly. If we use it indoors, we know that the sensor will not need to measure the brightest sunlight, because it would be hidden and inside of the room.
We are only halfway. We also have to talk about the motion sensor. The motion sensor is much simpler and straightforward without any configuration. We just have to know that the sensor will detect a movement up to 5m within 172° angle. Why is this important? Because we know that we can mount somewhere hidden and it would still detect the motion. What kind of motion is detected? It can detect very small objects or movements, for example, it will detect a motion if we watch a TV and move a hand or it our pet pass the covered area.
The motion and light sensor need to be connected to a 10-34V AC/DC power supply. The light sensor can have an output signal of 0-10V or 4-20mA. The motion sensor has a relay contact.
2. Practical use cases of sensors
After some theory about the sensors is time to move on and present the real-life cases and best practices for implementing this sensor.
We want to present to a solution for energy saving, house protection and building automation. Every single on of them is important and with the help of motion and light sensor a lot of puzzles can be solved.
ENERGY SAVING
How to save energy is one of the world’s most active and desired questions. It relates to people living, manufacturing products, pollution, etc.
The real use case here would be to install the motion and light sensor to control the heating, A/C units, HVAC systems,… We always have to plan the day time automation and night time automation. Why? Because during the nighttime, people can sleep and if it’s winter and they like warm rooms, the heating can not be turned off. But as the opposite case, during the day time, we can use the motion sensor as primary and control the heating/cooling systems, lights, TVs,… according to its readings. If there’s no movement for more than 45 minutes, we can put thermostats into ECO mode and turn off the TVs and lights automatically.
HOUSE PROTECTION
House protection is something we all have to be aware of. We also have to know the fact that 100% of anti-burglar prevention does not exist.
To help to protect the house with a motion sensor would therefore be ideal to turn on the lights, radio, alarm, etc. if the movement appears while we are away. The system is more complicated than it sounds because it has to „smart“. It has to be implemented with cameras and other security products to fulfill the idea. It won’t be great if the system starts while we sleep because of a dog, right?
The motion sensor is therefore for indoor use only where it can detect any movement and can start up all the anti-burglary scenarios.
BUILDING AUTOMATION
Motion and light sensor is the most important sensor in building automation. Why? Because it can control everything. It can be so smart to turn on the light or pull up the window shades automatically. The system can be so complex, that it can even reproduce the sunrise, daylight, and sunset so that people inside will feel warm and as natural as possible.
Full building automation leads to a healthier life and relieves stress. Happy people full of energy are much more productive in both personal and business life.
The building automation therefore can lead to better security, automation, healthy life, and most importantly, freedom. Time is what we miss the most and if we can focus on the important thing while building and understands the complex world around us, we are going to be thankful for the rest of our lives.
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