MS16A vs. MS14A

[Chuck]

If you put mesh over the lenses it will not be as responsive. On two of mine that are the most exposed I have put 3 strands of stainless steel wire so the birds can’t get close to it. I painted the wire black to keep it from reflecting light which would cause false signals. It has worked pretty good. On one of the sensors I put some wire on the post above it. This effectively keeps the birds from landing on the post. I have had to do a lot of things to keep birds off my house. The best is using nylon mesh that is loose. The birds get tangled in it and they struggle to get free. Somethings they don’t get free and don’t survive which isn’t a loss from where I am sitting. I hang it from the eves at the gable end of the house where the woodpeckers like to drill holes in my pine siding.

Back when I was growing up we used copper wires on the bird feeder with a 13,000 volt neon light transformer and when the grackles would land on it we would turn on the switch. It fried most of them which reduced the local population and increased the song bird population. Now of course one can go to prison for 20 years for killing non game birds and get water boarded once a week.

I looked into the Z-wave sensors and actually have one of the Aeon Labs 6 way sensors that I can’t get to work on Vera. They are very expensive compared to the X10 sensors and I really haven’t had a lot of problems with the X10 sensors. I use two of the W800 interfaces and have them mounted outside the house so the X10 signals are pretty much line of site. One of my sensors is about 200 feet away and it works fine. I still have a bunch of the MS14’s that I bought years ago when X10 would run their super sales. I figured I have enough left to last me till I am dead at which point I won’t care about it anymore. My wife will scrap the HA system at that point. She loves the system but doesn’t want anything to do with the maintenance of it.

Chuck

> On Oct 16, 2016, at 9:49 AM,  Jerry — MacSolutions <jerry at stlmacguy.com> wrote:
> 
> On Oct 16, 2016, at 12:41 AM, Chuck <xtension4osx at mac.com <mailto:xtension4osx at mac.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> The one problem I have found is that birds will peck at the plastic that covers the sensor. I have several that were destroyed by birds. I replaced the translucent cover with an old MS12 which I have several that I keep around for parts.
>> 
>> Chuck
> 
> 
> FINALLY!  Someone else that has the same issue as I!  That’s why I’m replacing these.  Flickers have destroyed the lenses and water has gotten into the main board.
> 
> I’m headed to the hardware store to check out what kind of wire mesh that I can get that protect the new ones.    
> 
> Yeah.. I miss the old days when you could purchase the sensors in bulk.  I don’t see any more of these deals the the sensors are considerably more expensive than they used to be.  I need to do something to protect them for sure now!
> 
> Thanks for the response!
> 
> Jp
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