It sounds like the switch toggled between a photocell controlling the lights
or the motion detector controlling the lights. Whatever device was
controlling the lights when they stayed in the on position went bad. The
black wire of a motion detector is not a ground, it gets connected to the
feed hot wire, so you clearly wired it incorrectly. At this point you should
probably call back the electrician to diagnose and repair the problem





"Lawrence M. Seldin, CMC, CPC" wrote in message
...
I have a motion detector light outside of my garage that was previously
installed by my electrician.
Here is the way it worked. I had a wall switch connected inside the
garage. When the wall switch was
in the down position (off), the motion detector would go on at night, when
movement occurred outside
and then it would turn off after a few minutes.

However, if the wall switch was up (in the on position), then the light on
the motion detector would
stay on all night and go off in the morning.

Recently, the light on the motion detector would stay on all night and
stay on all also during the
day and never go off.

So I bought a new motion detector and replaced the existing one.

However, when I bought the new motion detector, the same problem occurs.
The light stays on during
the day, so that means there was probably nothing wrong with the physical
motion detector, and I
thought possiblye there is a problem with the wall switch or some wiring.

When I swapped out the new motion detector I notice that there were 3
wires on the motion detector
(white, red and black). I notice that the wires coming out of the garage
outside where the motion
detector was placed has wires (white, black and red).

I was told from home depot, that the black on the motion detector is my
ground. So I grounded that
wire. I then connected the 2 whites together and connected the motion
detector white and red to the
wall white and red and also connected the black wall wire to the red
wires.

So where do you think the problem is occurring and how do I fix this?

If it's the wall switch, what do I do. Do you I just by a new one?

Thanks much,


Lawrence M. Seldin, CMC, CPC

Contributing writer for FUTURES Magazine
Author of RECRUITSOURCE PEOPLESOFT EXAM and RECRUITSOURCE SAP/R3 EXAM
Author of POWER TIPS FOR THE APPLE NEWTON and INTRODUCTION TO CSP

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