Cheap PIR sensor

[Warks]

Hey guys !

So I finished building my first dslr trap a few month ago and I've got to say that I'm hooked ! I will post some pictures of the build and the first results soon !

Anyway, this was a first for me and there are so many things that I want to improve on my build. So much that I figured out I might just as well build a new one. So here I am, starting from scratch again.

One issue I have comes from the PIR sensor. I tried the SSII and it's great ! The ability to reprogram the microcontroller is awesome. And being able to increase the sensitivity saved the day when shooting in the Amazonian forest. But being in France, I ended paying more than 90$ after shipping and customs.. Bringing the total cost of the SSII alone close to the canon 7D that I will be using..

So I've been investigating on alternatives. Most plug and play solution are more expensive that the SSII and thus out of question.

Recently I stumbled upon this https://hackaday.com/2019/01/05/super-s ... sensitive/. Which uses a sensor like this one : https://learn.adafruit.com/pir-passive- ... on-sensor/

This looks interesting, although it lacks the ability to be programmed. But still, this would considerably lower the overall price.

Do any of you have experience with these modules ? Or any other means to reduce the price and still get a decent PIR sensor ?

Thanks a lot !

[Warks]

So, I met with my local fablab and the guys over there are interested in trying different solutions. If we can come up with something cool, I will update this post.

[Mcam]

I believe most of those Arduino PIRs are not designed to be low power and will run through a battery much much faster. With the cost of getting to and time it takes to set up in the forest, where a bunch of false triggers can ruin your day, I'd want to stick with something reliable like the SSS board. Lots of cheaper PIRs have less detections zones or worse low quality fresnel lenses and will have more false triggers but it definitely can be done. Pretty much any PIR sensor can be converted and run to a micro controller.