Can You Clean PIR Slider Pots With Tuner Cleaner?
Can you clean PIR slider pots – I have an older sensor that’s dirty inside – the pulse count switches are stuck though everything else seems fine.
What I want to know is whether or not I can use a tuner cleaner to tidy up the slider pots. Would this have any damaging effect on the pulse count switches?
A: There’s no question that you can use a tuner cleaner to lubricate and clean sliding potentiometers but it’s even more likely your pulse count switches aren’t slider pots and using this type of cleaner will make a mess of them.
Even if the pulse count set up used slider pots there’s a good chance the wiping action of cleaning a potentiometer could lead to an intermittent connection and cause false alarms.
Into the bargain, there are no known PIR brands that employ slide pots for pulse count applications that we know of. Instead most use differrent types of rotary switches.
Rotary switches are a compact devices that incorporates a rotor with a contact spoke. This interacts with a terminal array around the rotor, which form contact points for the spoke. You select the pulse count from 1-3 using a small watchmaker’s flathead.
There are plenty of variables in rotary switch design, including layering for multiple poles, use of fractions and the switch may include detents, which allow the rotor to click into each position.
Modern rotary switches can have contact points at 90 degrees from the vertical and there may be spring-loaded contacts behind cams.
If you’re actually talking about pulse count selection dip switches, which some PIRs do have, it’s possible to lubricate these if they’re stuck but anything that lubricates a switch will leave an oily residue.
Some techs recommend using alcohol to clean inside PIRs, others a vacuum nozzle. Neither is likely to help with corroded contacts of any kind.
Given your sensor sounds a mess we’d suggest replacing it with something newer and better – there are some great hardwired sensors from providers like Bosch, Aritech, DSC and plenty more.
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“Can You Clean PIR Slider Pots”
