PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over

MattG

Hello!

tl;dr - display wakes/sleeps repeatedly.

Display sleeps fine, but once PIR Sensor is triggered, the monitor wakes, then immediately sleeps, then wakes, then sleeps, and so on, until I remove myself as a trigger to the PIR Sensor.

FWIW - I utilized a tutorial for setting up the PIR Sensor and testing it via python script to see if it is even working. Here’s the script:

from gpiozero import MotionSensor

pir = MotionSensor(4)
while True:
    if pir.motion_detected:
        print("Motion detected!")

It works, but it continues to print over and over (and so on) until I remove the trigger for the PIR Sensor (much like how the display wakes and sleeps repeatedly).

I’m honestly not sure if it is supposed to print that output over and over (like mine does), or not. But I feel like the two might be connected.

Any pointers here would be much obliged. Thank you!

elmerito25

Same here. I verified all the connections and tested using the same script and it keeps printing “Motion detected!” Did you play around with the jumpers on your PIR? I am still trying to figure out if my PIR is defective.

strawberry 3.141

@elmerito25 I don’t have a mirror to test, but the code does the following

from gpiozero import MotionSensor

pir = MotionSensor(4)

while True: #repeat this forever
    if pir.motion_detected: # if motion is detected print the message
        print("Motion detected!")

after the print is done it immediately repeats the loop, because their is no sleep, timeout, delay or whatsoever in there. So for me the expected behaviour is that it prints over and over the same message. You could try to check motion not detected

from gpiozero import MotionSensor
import time

pir = MotionSensor(4)

while True: #repeat this forever
    if pir.motion_detected: # if motion is detected print the message
        print("Motion detected!")
    if not pir.motion_detected: # if no motion is detected print the message
        print("No motion detected!")
    time.sleep(1)

run this and leave your sensor alone it will print just every second

hermlam

I have the same issue. Maybe it’s related to WiFi. I tested the PIR with on older PI 2, no WiFi. Ran the Python script, working perfectly.
After installing the PIR to my Mirror Pi, a Pi 3 screen wouldn’t go out. Installed the test Python script again and I am getting a lot of false positives, over 5 a minute. So PIR stays highs and screen stays on.
I am thinking that WiFi is interfering with the PIR.
Anybody any experiences or ideas?

Thanks,
Herman

fischi87

by my mirror it works really nice. i have a question, it is possible the time to change right now it turns the display off after 4 minutes. i would like to change the time maybe 2 minutes or so.

thanks

Renfield

It might be interference. Try installing a ferrite bead. The person whose site I’ve linked below had a very similar problem and describes how he fixed it.

https://helentronica.com/2016/01/11/magic-mirror-with-motion-detector/

Renfield

cowboysdude

@Renfield said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

It might be interference. Try installing a ferrite bead. The person whose site I’ve linked below had a very similar problem and describes how he fixed it.

https://helentronica.com/2016/01/11/magic-mirror-with-motion-detector/

Renfield

It’s what I had to do with mine… they are very inexpensive…

elmerito25

@cowboysdude said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

@Renfield said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

It might be interference. Try installing a ferrite bead. The person whose site I’ve linked below had a very similar problem and describes how he fixed it.

https://helentronica.com/2016/01/11/magic-mirror-with-motion-detector/

Renfield

It’s what I had to do with mine… they are very inexpensive…

Thanks guys! Will try this once I get home tonight!

elmerito25

@elmerito25 said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

@cowboysdude said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

@Renfield said in PIR Sensor turning display on/off over and over:

It might be interference. Try installing a ferrite bead. The person whose site I’ve linked below had a very similar problem and describes how he fixed it.

https://helentronica.com/2016/01/11/magic-mirror-with-motion-detector/

Renfield

It’s what I had to do with mine… they are very inexpensive…

Thanks guys! Will try this once I get home tonight!

Thanks @Renfield and @cowboysdude ! Followed your advice and found a ferrite bead on unused USB cable and got the PIR sensor working perfectly!

Renfield

Great to hear. I love it when a plan comes together.

Now I need to scrounge up a bead for my build.
Ren

hermlam

Hi all,
Thanks for the reactions. I ordered one and will test tomorrow.
Herman

cyberphox

i gave up on my PIR sensor cause this was happening to me…guess who is searching for a Ferrite bead tomorrow!!!

johnnyboy

This post is deleted!

phrazelle

FWIW, a ferrite bead is a working solution, but I was able to circumvent this issue by keeping the PIR Sensor a good distance from the Pi. Mine is about 3 feet away from the Pi and doesn’t act erratically as it did when it was right next to it during testing.

johnnyboy

This post is deleted!

Jay

Similar problem here, PIR works like a charm (tested with code of post #4) but after starting the MagicMirror the display is turned off and on over and over even though nothing is changed in front of the sensor. (I use MMM-PIR).

hermlam

@phrazelle Since I am having a ‘cordless’ mirror (power is coming from wall behind mirror) I don’t want to see cables to my mirror. I’ve build the PIR into the frame of my mirror.

hermlam

Even with the bead installed I have various results. Sometimes it’s running ok for an hour or so, but most of the time I’m getting a lot of false positives. And very strange, only with the output timer (2nd yellow knob) on minimal it’s working ok. But then the screen lits up far too short. But output time has nothing to do with it?

Jay

Basically I had the same error with the display turning on and off over time. All in anger, I deinstalled the MagicMirror from the Pi and began at zero again.
After updating and upgrading the Pi and installing the MagicMirror, a new try with the PIR-Module was iniciated. So I installed the PIR-Module and somehow noticed that my GPIO cables were wrong connected (ground connected to GPIO21 and vice-versa).
So after this embarassing moment of disbelieve I changed the connections and checked if the sensor is working with a simple python script:

from gpiozero import MotionSensor
import time

pir = MotionSensor(21)

while True: #repeat this forever
    if pir.motion_detected: # if motion is detected print the message
        print("Motion detected!")
    if not pir.motion_detected: # if no motion is detected print the message
        print("No motion detected!")
    time.sleep(1)

Note that my pir is using GPIO21.
With this script I tested the sensor and it worked like a charm, even though the sensor is placed 5 centimeters away from the raspberry pi 3 (with no case or even a bead installed).
In the end, I only had to do a cd MagicMirror again, and install the MagicMirror:
npm install. With this setup the MMM-PIR-module works magnificient.

deepshades

@Jay

Hi Jay, can you reply a link to your PIR module you finaly use?