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Raspberry Pi: Detect Motion using a PIR Sensor

with Python

Learn how to use a PIR motion sensor with the Raspberry Pi to detect motion.
We’ll show you how to wire the sensor to the Raspberry Pi GPIOs and write a
Python script that does a certain task when it detects motion. To write the Python
script, we’ll use the gpiozero interface.

Table of Contents
Throughout this tutorial, we’ll cover the following main topics:

1. Introducing the PIR Motion Sensor

2. Wiring a PIR Motion Sensor to the Raspberry Pi
3. Detect Motion with the Raspberry Pi using gpiozero

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Prerequisites
Before continuing with this tutorial, check the following prerequisites.

1. Get familiar with the Raspberry Pi board—if you’re not familiar with the
Raspberry Pi, you can read our Raspberry Pi Getting Started Guide here.
2. You must know how to run and create Python files on your Raspberry Pi.
We like to program our Raspberry Pi via SSH using an extension on VS
Code. We have a detailed tutorial about that subject: Programming
Raspberry Pi Remotely using VS Code (Remote-SSH).
3. Know how to use the Raspberry Pi GPIOs so that you know how to wire the
circuit properly. Read the following tutorial: Raspberry Pi Pinout Guide:
How to use the Raspberry Pi GPIOs?

Introducing the PIR Motion Sensor

A PIR motion sensor detects changes in infrared light in its field of view. This
makes it ideal for detecting humans or animals because it will pick up living things
(or heat-emitting objects) that move within its range but not inanimate objects.

You can program the Pi to react to changes in infrared light by triggering an event
such as turning on a light, sounding an alarm, sending a notification, or, as we’ll do
in this project, simply printing a message in the shell.

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The PIR motion sensor outputs a HIGH signal on the Data pin when it detects
movement, or a LOW signal if it doesn’t. It only has three pins: VCC, GND, and
Data.

Wiring a PIR Motion Sensor to the Raspberry Pi

The PIR motion sensor has three pins: VCC, GND, and Data. You should connect
VCC to the 3V3 pin, GND to a GND pin, and the Data pin to a suitable Raspberry
Pi GPIO—we’ll connect it to GPIO 18 (take a look at the Raspberry Pi pinout).

PIR Motion Sensor Raspberry Pi

Vin/3v3 3.3V

Data GPIO 18 (or another GPIO of your choice)

GND GND

We’ll use the AM312 Mini PIR Motion sensor because it works with 3V3 volts,
which is perfect for the Raspberry Pi.

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Here’s a list of components you need for this project:

Raspberry Pi Board – read Best Raspberry Pi Starter Kits

Mini PIR Motion Sensor
Breadboard
Jumper Wires

You can use the preceding links or go directly to MakerAdvisor.com/tools to find all
the parts for your projects at the best price!

Detect Motion with the Raspberry Pi using

gpiozero
After wiring the PIR motion sensor to the Raspberry Pi GPIOs, we can write a
Python script to detect the state of the sensor, and thus check whether motion is

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detected or not. To write that script, we’ll use the gpiozero library.

The gpiozero library provides a collection of interfaces for everyday components

like LEDs, buttons, potentiometers, sensors, and much more.

It provides an interface called MotionSensor , designed especially for motion

sensors. It comes with several properties and functions that are useful to use with
this kind of sensor.

The gpiozero library should already be installed if you’re running Raspberry Pi

OS — if not, you can run:

python3 -m pip install gpiozero

Detect Motion – Python Script

The following script prints a different message in the shell depending on whether
the sensor is detecting motion or not. Create a new Python file called motion-
sensor.py and copy the following code.

# Complete Project Details: https://RandomNerdTutorials.com/raspberry-pi-

from gpiozero import MotionSensor

from signal import pause

pir = MotionSensor(18)

def motion_function():
print("Motion Detected")

def no_motion_function():
print("Motion stopped")

pir.when_motion = motion_function

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pir.when_no_motion = no_motion_function

pause()

View raw code

How the Code Works

Continue reading to learn how the code works.

Importing Libraries

First, you import the MotionSensor component from the gpiozero library to
handle the pushbutton. Then, you also need to import the pause() function from
the signal module to keep your program running so that it can detect motion
events.

from gpiozero import MotionSensor

from signal import pause

Declaring the Motion Sensor

Next, you create a MotionSensor object called pir that refers to GPIO 18 ,
which is the GPIO that the motion sensor is connected to. Change the number if
you’re using another GPIO.

pir = MotionSensor(18)

When you create and use this MotionSensor object, your program knows that
GPIO 18 is connected to a PIR motion sensor.

You can pass other useful arguments to the MotionSensor class, but the default
ones should work just fine by default. If your PIR motion sensor is not working as

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expected, you might want to try to play with its properties.

MotionSensor(pin, *, queue_len=1, sample_rate=10, threshold=0.5, partial

Here’s what these parameters mean:

pin : the GPIO the button is connected to.

queue_len : length of the queue used to store values read from the sensor.
The default is 1 which disables the queue. If your motion sensor is
particularly “twitchy” you may wish to increase this value.

sample_rate : the default value is 10 —this is the number of values to

read from the sensor and append to the internal queue per second.

threshold : by default, it’s 0.5 seconds. When the average of all values
in the internal queue rises above this value, the sensor will be considered
active—it means motion was detected.

partial : when False (the default), the object will not return a value for
is_active until the internal queue has filled with values. Only set this to
True if you require values immediately after object construction.

pin_factory : this is an advanced feature that you won’t probably need to

use or worry about.

Detect Motion Events

You can use the when_motion and when_no_motion handlers to detect when
the sensor detected motion or not and associate a function to run when each event
is detected.

when_motion

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In the following line, when motion is detected ( when_motion ), it runs the

motion_function that will print a message on the shell indicating that motion
was detected. You can call whenever function you want to do any other different
task.

pir.when_motion = motion_function

Here’s the definition of the motion_function :

def motion_function():
print("Motion Detected")

when_no_motion

You can do something similar for when the sensor stops detecting motion. In this
case, when the when_no_motion event is detected, we call the
no_motion_function function that prints a message on the shell.

pir.when_no_motion = no_motion_function

Here’s the definition of no_motion_function :

def no_motion_function():
print("Motion stopped")

Instead of simply printing messages on the shell, you can associate any other
function that you need to run when those motion events are detected, for example,
turning on/off and LED, sending a notification message, etc.

Keep the Program Running

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In the end, we call the pause() function. It keeps the program running even after
all the code has run through to detect events—in this case, it’s continuously
checking the motion sensor state.

pause()

In summary…

1) To detect motion using a PIR motion sensor with the Raspberry Pi, you can use
the MotionSensor interface of the gpiozero library. You need to import it first
like this:

from gpiozero import MotionSensor

2) Define the GPIO that the motion sensor is connected to:

pir = MotionSensor(GPIO_NUMBER_OF_YOUR_CHOICE)

3) Then, use the when_motion() and when_no_motion() event handlers to run

a function when motion is detected or stopped:

pir.when_motion = FUNCTION_TO_RUN_WHEN_MOTION_IS_DETECTED

pir.when_no_motion = FUNCTION_TO_RUN_WHEN_MOTION_STOPS

Demonstration
Save your Python file. Then run it on your Raspberry Pi. Run the following
command:

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python motion-sensor.py

Move your hand in front of the PIR motion sensor.

You should get a message on the shell mentioning that motion was detected.

After a few seconds, if it’s no longer detecting motion, you’ll a message saying that
motion stopped.

You can stop the execution of the program by pressing CTRL+C.

Other Useful Methods

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The MotionSensor interface provides other useful additional methods.

wait_for_motion(timeout) : it pauses the execution of the script until

motion is detected or until the timeout is reached. By default, there isn’t a
timeout, so the program will wait on that line of code indefinitely until motion
is detected.

wait_for_no_motion(timeout) : pause the execution of the script until

the motion sensor stops sensing motion or until the timeout is reached.

motion_detected : returns True if the current value exceeds the

threshold (motion detected) or False otherwise.

Wrapping Up
In this tutorial, you learned how to use the PIR motion sensor with the Raspberry
Pi and run different tasks whether motion is detected or not using the gpiozero
library.

We have another tutorial that shows how to send an email notification when
motion is detected:

Raspberry Pi: Motion Detection with Email Notifications (Python)

We hope you found this tutorial useful. If you’re a beginner to the Raspberry Pi,
you can get started with the following tutorials:

Getting Started with Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi Pinout Guide
Programming Raspberry Pi Remotely using VS Code (Remote-SSH)

You can check all our Raspberry Pi projects on the following link:

Free Raspberry Pi Projects and Tutorials

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Thanks for reading.

Recommended Resources

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MicroPython » The complete getting
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Raspberry Pi Pico/Pico W (RP2040)
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