Motion sensor ORed with manual switch?
canoehead2
| Posted in General Discussion on
I’ve looked around and can’t find a solution to what I thought would have been a common wiring situation.
I want the outdoor porch light to be switch on be EITHER motion detected outside the house OR by a manual switch/timer inside the house.
I could do it with X10 devices I suppose but there must be a cheaper solution, no?
Edited 9/12/2008 10:02 am ET by canoehead2
Edited 9/12/2008 10:02 am ET by canoehead2
Replies
Almost all mostion sensors have have th ability to be manually controlled with a switch.
Wire them through the switch. The switch is nomrmally on.
When you want to force it on them turn it off and immediately back on. It will then stay on until either turned off for several seconds and then back on or until sun light the next day. Then it goes back to normal operation.
But that won't work with a time clock.
Some motion sensors have a relay output. They can drive othr lights. Wire the timer in parallel with the motion snesor.
But most motion sensor have TRIAC to control the lights. It might work with those, but I am not sure.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
In theory you could just wire the switch/timer in parallel across the motion sensor, if it's a two-wire device. For a 3-wire sensor you could use a 3-way (SPDT) switch if it were just a manual switch you wanted, but I don't think that SPDT timers are easy to find.
What about wiring one lampholder direct switch and one off the sensor? Obviously if it is a dual bulb one. Would need to run */3 or second run and maybe use a stack switch if does not want to put in two gang box.For those who have fought for it Freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.
I've been wanting something like this for some time. I have a walkway by the side of the house that goes down some steps, and then you turn left onto a patio and there's the lower entrance to the downstairs apartment. The light by the door, as well as two floodlights on the path are all wired together to a switch by the door.
What I'd like is that if you turn the switch on, it's on and stays on. If you turn it off, it's off UNLESS you approach via the path, and then the motion sensor turns them all ON for a period of time so you can get down the stairs and in the door.
Problem is the wiring is all embedded in the walls and the whole run is 40 or more feet from the lights farthest apart. And there's just one 15/2 that daisy chains from light to light, so where the motion detector needs to be is not convenient to the switch location.
All you need to do is to wire a motion sensor to the two legs of the light switch.This way, if the switch is turned off, the motion sensor overrides/acts as... the light switch, to turn on the lights.Otherwise, the light switch acts normally.
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Bananafana-bo-bama
Fe-fi-fofama
Bamalaama
What a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power, to reason away
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I see how that would work. Now all I have to figure out is how to get the wire from the motion sensor to the light switch. They're about 25 feet apart with lots of windows and headers in the wall between them. It'd be a chore to do it any other way than an external 1/2" conduit (which might actually not be all that bad considering there's already 5 runs of coax stapled to the wall under the deck above).
Just staple zip cord to the outside of the siding.
There is no absurdity that human beings will not resort to in order to defend another absurdity. -- Cicero
zip cord.... that actually occurred to me but I don't know how weatherproof that stuff is....
Mebbe some of that outdoor/burial 14/2 that's solid plastic all the way down to the copper would work -- I could hit it with a coat of paint and it'd be invisible...
Do NOT use zipcord.We is jus funnin !
Signed: Bubba Hussein Obamalama.
Bananafana-bo-bama
Fe-fi-fofama
Bamalaama
What a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power, to reason away
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
Do NOT use zipcord.We is jus funnin !-- but it's at least as well insulated as the Xmas lights I staple up each year, and carries way less load. It's only 4 60 watt bulbs, total. Actually, less b/c one is a compact fluorescent.Yeah, I know zip cord is for lamps and such INSIDE the house. I actually think I may have what I already need, a wireless remote motion detector I got at the HD closeout bin for 7.00. One wireless remote sensor and a switch module. I'll have to try it out tomorrow, I don't know why I didn't think it would work before, but now that I've read all the posts, I think it'll do the trick.
Edited 9/12/2008 11:34 pm ET by geoffhazel
Staple ?Big spender, you is.A roofing nail, or a drywall screw right in the middle of the cord, will do just fine.;o)
Signed: Bubba Hussein Obamalama.
Bananafana-bo-bama
Fe-fi-fofama
Bamalaama
What a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power, to reason away
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
Yeah, what was I thinking??
There is no absurdity that human beings will not resort to in order to defend another absurdity. -- Cicero
Of course! I feel kinda silly for having asked. Thanks Luka!
(And thanks to everyone else who responded)
It works just fine. I have about 20 motion detectors around and in my house. A couple are parallel with a switch and I also have 3 pairs that have 2 motion detector outputs paralleled together. (logical "or")
One is on the front and back of my shed, approach from either direction and all the lights come on. The others are around the pool, motion from either of a pair will turn on all the lights in that area.
The switches are on the front door and garage apron lights.
note, just be sure they are on the same circuit!
Edited 9/12/2008 12:27 pm ET by gfretwell
Just bought one of these, about $34.
http://82.165.178.48/de/productdetail.php?iid=475
Too long to type, so I just shot a pic of the instructions to manually override motion function at the swithch. Looks like it applies to several models in their line up.
Is that the function you're after?
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.
Almost all exterior motion sensors have that feature.But you can';t use that feature with a time clock..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Missed the timer reference.
My biggest thing is remembering the sequence of on/off!
Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.