PIR Sensor University Project
I've never heard of fluoros drawing 100x rated power at start up (seeing as they tend to use inductive balasts, this seems unusual). Incandescents can draw a lot more for a mS or so as their cold resistance is much lower than their hot resistance. Now not to discourage you, but in many places it's illegat to do any mains wiring without an electricians licence (I know, I'm an EE student myself). But, that doesn't mean you can't do this as part of ypur project (my final year project had mains voltages as well), you just need to get it checked by a qualified electrician, they can probably give ypu some good advice on what to and not to do, more than we here can as we can't be there with you in person. I'd avoid cheap chinese electronics (expensive chinese electronics tends to be quote good). You get what you [ay for and at mains voltages, you can't afford to skimp (you can sometines get away with it at fiddle friendly voltages though - i.e. less than 50V.