1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. Cognisys Manuals
  4. Accessories
  5. Scout PIR
  6. Owner's manual

Cognisys Scout PIR Owner's Manual

Hide thumbs Also See for Scout PIR:
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
Owner's Manual
Revision 1.0
Copyright 2018 Cognisys, Inc.
1

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the Scout PIR and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for Cognisys Scout PIR

Summary of Contents for Cognisys Scout PIR

  • Page 1 Owner’s Manual Revision 1.0 Copyright 2018 Cognisys, Inc.

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Table of Contents SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS ..........................5 GETTING STARTED ............................5 PIR? ..........................6 HAT IS THE COUT PIR? ( ) ........................6 AND ITS LIMITATIONS ............................7 HAT IS NCLUDED ............................8 ATTERY NSTALLATION ............................9 UICK TART UIDE ............................
  • Page 3 ) ....................30 IRED AMERA CAMERA CONTROLS FLASHES ) ....................31 IRELESS SING THE COUT AMERA 8.3.1 Scout PIR in the Camera Box App ......................32 ) ......................33 IDEO ECORDING WIRED OR WIRELESS ..........................35 AXIMUM ATTERY PIR P ........................... 36...
  • Page 4 Table of Figures Figure 1 – Scout PIR Connections ....................... 12 Figure 2 - Mac/PC Global Buttons (at top) ....................17 Figure 3 - Basic Connection Diagram ......................30...

  • Page 5: Safety Instructions

    CAUTION: Only use approved power sources for Scout equipment. Use of other power adapters or batteries may damage the sensor and/or attached equipment. CAUTION: Misuse of Scout equipment could potentially damage your equipment. Cognisys, Inc. will not be held liable for damage to your equipment. If you have questions about safety please contact us! 2.

  • Page 6: What Is The Scout Pir

    2.1 What is the Scout PIR? The Scout PIR is an ideal solution for short-term or long-term trail photography. It uses Passive Infrared (PIR) to detect motion. This means it is looking for a heat signature to move. The Scout PIR has several features not available with many trail photography devices: Ultra-compact •...

  • Page 7: What Is Included

    There definitely is a place for PIR-based sensors in the trail photography / camera trap world. If the disadvantages of the Scout PIR make you a little nervous – no worries! We have an incredible beam-break style system that is fully compatible with other Scout equipment: https://www.cognisys-inc.com/store/scout-standard.html...

  • Page 8: Battery Installation

    2.4 Battery Installation Battery installation is a simple process and because the Scout PIR has excellent battery life – you won’t have to do it often! The Scout PIR requires two AA (LR6) batteries. You can use either alkaline, lithium, or rechargeable varieties.

  • Page 9: Quick Start Guide

    2.5 Quick Start Guide Want to be up and running in two minutes or less? Here’s the quick-start guide in case you misplaced it:...

  • Page 10: Cleaning And Care

    This may cause water to leak into the electronics. Remove all batteries prior to long term storage.  Failure to properly care for the Scout PIR could result in a leak that may damage the unit. The product warranty does not cover water damage resulting from user error.

  • Page 11: Maintaining Weatherproof Design

    2.6.3 Maintaining Weatherproof Design Scout equipment is designed to meet the most challenging environmental conditions. It does, however, require some care to maintain its weatherproof sealing. Prior to opening the equipment rinse it under gently running water if it is dirty. It’s very important to keep the housing’s silicone seal clean.

  • Page 12: The Scout Pir

    Change sensor settings (you can also do this wirelessly via the Scout Camera Box). Update firmware. The Scout PIR uses weather-resistant connectors and cables. If the sensor will be used outside during the rain, snow, or condensing humidity be sure to have the connectors locked in place (including the connector caps if a port is unused).

  • Page 13: Accessories

    3. Accessories The Scout PIR works great all on its own but there are some key accessories that could turn this sensor into a full-blown camera trapping system. 3.1 Scout Camera Box Most camera trapping systems are intended for long term deployments under harsh conditions.

  • Page 14: Scout Receiver

    3.2 Scout Receiver Why would you want a Scout Receiver if you are using a Scout PIR? For additional flexibility. The Camera Box lets you combine several Scout PIR and RX/TX combinations for a variety of applications. One Scout PIR could turn on auxiliary lighting, another PIR could start video recording, while the Receiver could have a burst of tack-sharp still images taken.

  • Page 15: Installing The Software

    PIR. The PIR sensor takes some time to warm up and calibrate. During this time the red power LED will fade in and out. Once the Scout PIR is ready the light will turn out (you don’t want a beacon of red light, right?).

  • Page 16: Led Indicators

    Note: Once the Scout PIR is on you can give the power button a quick press to check the remaining battery life. The power LED will flash at you to indicate how the batteries are doing: If you are using the Scout Camera Box you can wake it (so that it can be connected to over Wifi) by pressing this power button on the Scout PIR.

  • Page 17: Navigating The App

    “8- Examples” section to start using your Scout PIR. The Scout PIR should be turned on prior to plugging in a USB cable. Otherwise it will enter reprogramming mode and not respond to the app.

  • Page 18: Read Config

    6.2.1 Read Config Pressing this button will read the current settings for the sensor. This happens automatically when the app first detects a device is present. 6.2.2 Save Config This will take any app changes and permanently save them to the sensor. Any time you make a change to a setting it will be sent down to the sensor but it will not be permanently retained (after a power-cycle) unless you press this “Save Config”...

  • Page 19: Adjusting Settings

    6.3 Adjusting Settings The very first item listed in the app is the number of pictures that have been taken since power- on (or since they were last cleared). This is followed by the sensitivity, and whether or not the LED’s should light when the sensor detects something.

  • Page 20: Settings

    7. Settings 7.1 Settings Navigation Map Below is the navigation map for all the settings. The links are “clickable” to get you to the specific details about the setting. # pics Sensitivity LED On Camera Settings # pics (elapsed) Sensitivity On time Off time Final Off...

  • Page 21: Setting Descriptions

    7.2.4 Camera Settings The Scout PIR gives you plenty of flexibility for controlling your camera. You can choose how many pictures you want, how long the half-press is held (focus or wakeup), how long...

  • Page 22: Pics

    7.2.4.1 # pics This is the number of times you would like to take a picture when the Scout PIR detects something. This assumes your camera isn’t in burst mode, of course! We’ll also refer to it as “shutter activation”.

  • Page 23: Extend On Time

    Lantern firmware). 7.2.4.8 Periodic Half-Press (PHP) The Scout PIR has the capability to periodically give your camera a half-press. Why in the world would you want to do this given that it will decrease the battery life of the camera? Some cameras (Canon) will exit live-view video recording if allowed to sit idle (in sleep mode) for about 30 minutes.

  • Page 24: Wireless Settings

    The “Interval” is how often the camera will receive the half-press signal. You can specify minutes or hours. 7.2.5 Wireless Settings Wireless is used by the Scout PIR to communicate with other Scout equipment. It uses a 2.4 GHz proprietary RF protocol. 7.2.5.1 Enabled Normally you would leave wireless enabled.

  • Page 25: Time Settings

    Battery consumption will increase on all devices when wake-up speed is set to “Fast”. 7.2.6 Time Settings The Scout PIR can limit when it will activate the camera (or wake up other Scout equipment) based on the time of day. If you are only interested in night photographs or you want to decrease “interest”...

  • Page 26: Shot Limit

    (the ones you don’t immediately care about) are causing false triggers. Wasted frames and overheating flashes – not good! There is a way to tell the Scout PIR to stop triggering the camera if it sees too many subjects. Three settings come into play to adjust this.

  • Page 27: Software Id

    7.2.8 Software ID This is the current version of the firmware running on the Scout PIR. 7.2.9 Voltage This is the current battery voltage. See section “8.5 - Maximum Battery Life” to explain how this can tell you what to expect for remaining battery life.

  • Page 28: Examples

    Here are some suggested camera settings. Drive Mode: Single or Continuous. If set for “Single”, then you can have the Scout PIR control how many shots are taken (# pics) and how much time there should be between the shots (Off time).
  • Page 29 Auto-focus: While you CAN use auto-focus, you’re counting on the subject to not be moving terribly fast and your auto-focus locking onto your subject before it moves. Your camera has to wake up and achieve a focus lock (hopefully on your subject!). Definitely don’t use auto-focus if doing night-time photography.

  • Page 30: Wired Camera (Camera Controls Flashes)

    8.2 Wired Camera (camera controls flashes) For this setup the Scout PIR will only control the camera using the 3.5mm shutter cable. The camera is responsible for waking and firing the flashes. Here are the settings to optimize the performance: 1.

  • Page 31: Full Wireless (Using The Scout Camera Box)

    2. Choose “Save Config” at the top. 3. That’s it! You can have a “slave” camera attached directly to the Scout PIR and an additional camera inside the Camera Box. They both can be programmed to have their own unique settings.

  • Page 32: Scout Pir In The Camera Box App

    If you are using the Scout Camera Box you can wake it (so that it can be connected to over Wifi) by pressing this power button on the Scout PIR. This will allow the Scout Camera Box app to see the Scout PIR in its device list.

  • Page 33: Video Recording (Wired Or Wireless)

    8.4 Video Recording (wired or wireless) For wired setups the camera would be attached to the Scout PIR 3.5mm shutter cable. The settings below would be made in the Scout PIR app. If using wireless, then these settings would happen on “Camera” tab in the Camera Box app (NOT the PIR tab –...
  • Page 34 The Scout PIR follows this process for Canon/Nikon: 1. The sensor path detects a subject. 2. The sensor (and/or camera box) holds down the half-press on the camera for the duration of “delay” to wake the camera. 3. Then the sensor (and/or camera box) activates the shutter button to start video recording.

  • Page 35: Maximum Battery Life

    The Scout PIR isn’t being more hungry than necessary! 5. Batteries are typically “empty” when each cell is at 0.9V. So if your Scout PIR says the input voltage is 1.8V (2 cells x 0.9V) there isn’t much capacity left.

  • Page 36: Scout Pir Placement

    8.6 Scout PIR Placement The Scout PIR isn’t a beam-break sensor. It has a “cone” of area that it uses to measure the heat in the area (and looks for abrupt changes). As PIR sensors go it has a fairly narrow beam width (that’s a good thing!).
  • Page 37 The third rule involves working around HOW PIR sensors work. They look for changes in heat within their “cone”. The Scout PIR technology actually has four of them and runs a comparison looking for a change in this heat. It’s pretty fancy stuff! Unfortunately there are some real- world conditions that look like something is moving through when its actually just nature being, well, nature.
  • Page 38 Rule #6: Test-test-test your setup before leaving making absolutely sure that everything is working and that the pictures/video are what you expected. Then come back after a day or two of different weather conditions to verify that “Nature is not being dynamic” with your setup.

  • Page 39: Installing The Reflash Software (Optional)

    Some operating system settings can prevent automatically downloading the drivers. If that is the case, use the above link in section “9 - Installing the Reflash software Once the installation is complete you will have a “Start Menu” folder called Cognisys. Underneath that you will find the Reflash icon.

  • Page 40: Troubleshooting

    Troubleshooting Problem Cause Solution Power LED doesn’t light when Batteries not installed. Insert batteries. power button is pressed. Battery polarity is incorrect. Verify all batteries are installed correctly. Batteries are low or a bad Verify the quality of the batteries battery cell.
  • Page 41 If you cannot resolve a problem with your Scout PIR sensor, please contact us at support@cognisys-inc.com. We want to make sure that you are completely satisfied!

  • Page 42: Specifications

    Specifications Specifications are intended for reference only. The design may be modified to improve features or functionality without notice. Specifications MIN NOM MAX UNITS Input Voltage Input Current (at nominal 2.4V) 0.93 mAdc Detection Width Angle ±10 degrees Detection Height Angle ±18 degrees Detection Range...

  • Page 43: Warranty

    You are also solely responsible for the protection of your equipment and backup of your data, and Cognisys, Inc. will not be liable for any damages you may suffer in connection with using or modifying Scout Equipment and/or its related software.

  • Page 44: Revision History

    Revision History Revision Date Change 08/07/2018 Initial Release...

Table of Contents