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On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 19:00:46 -0000, (Chris
Lewis) wrote:

According to :
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 16:58:03 -0000, (Chris
Lewis) wrote:

According to ** Frank ** :

Control circuit should be independent of load, sounds like a poor design.
Would be interesting to see a schematic of this circuit.

Dimmers need to be able to operate the electronics when the light
is off. If the light is off, there's no current in the bulbs. Where
would the power come from then?

Instead, they leak a bit of current through the load and scavenge
what they need off that. If the bulbs are too small, there might
not be enough current flow to energize the electronics.

How di we get into talking about dimmers? This is about sensor lights
or security lights as some call them.....

Whoops. Got postings confused, and said "dimmer" when I should have
said "sensor". Sensor light electronics need power when the bulb is
off. Electronic timers do to.

Dimmers don't.

Getting back ot the topic, I used to live with a relative who had a
light that seemed to do whatever it wanted. Sometimes it would stay
on forever, other times not work at all, etc......
I hated that thing. But it was not my house, so I could not change
it. Now, I have my own place and bought this fixture (another brand),
and find mine is pretty much the same useless P.O.S. I have tried all
kinds of adjustments and the light comes on everytime my cat gets
nearby, but sometimes will not come on until I am as close as 8 feet
away (and have tripped on the steps that are 12 feet away). I hate
these sensor lights. I dont think there are any that work as they
should, at least not in the lower priced ones.

It's been my experience that the cheapies are erratic. Sometimes
they work as advertised, but most of the time the controls aren't
very consistent, and we find that they get worse as they get older,
and eventually die, either fully on or fully off.

This fixture is about 6 months old and keeps getting worse. Last
night it was on all night. I saw it on but did not want to get out of
bed and walk to the shed to shut it off. It's been turned off since,
and will stay off. This weekend it comes off the wall and goes back
ot the store. All it's doing is wasting power, and much of the time
it dont come on when I need it for safety at night on the steps.
Besides that, it's ****ing me off, and I dont need that.

[I assume Canadian winters and power spikes may be the cause of
most of that.]

I want to look into these remote switches that work on sending a
signal thru the power lines. This light is on a building that is
behind another building. The front bldg is visible from the house,
but the rear one is not, and has steps. If I could put a switch on
the front bldg it would solve all the problems. However, the wiring
would require digging trenches and be too costly and too much work.
Where can I get one of these remote switches that are wireless? That
would solve everything. I just found that stupid sensor ON and it's
noon and sunny. The stupid thing is costing a fortune in wasted
energy, and getting on my nerves real quickly.

X-10 technology stuff. The transmitter and receiver are connected
to power, and communicate via the power wires, but they're not
necessarily even on the same circuit.

This is what I am going to buy, but I do see a problem. All the units
that I see that are "home rated" and sell for $20 or less (on the
web), are plug in devices. In other words I have to plug the receiver
into an outlet, thus I'll have to put a cord on the yard light, run
the cord through the wall, and plug it into the receiver in the shed.
As far as I'm concerned, this is fine, but I have a feeling it wont be
up to the code. I did find one commercial unit that wires in the
circuit, but it looks like it dont fit into a common electrical box,
and they want around $130 for it, and thats more than I will pay. I
see some come with a hand held remote, others have a glue on wireless
switch as the transmitter. I'll probably get the remote so I can just
carry it around and / or turn the light on and off from the house.

The other option is to use a solar switch, which simply means that
the light will be on all the time it's dark.

I've used those (photocell) devices, but that would probably cost me
$10 a month in electric. I probably need this light on about 10
minutes per night, when I go to the shed to care for pets. Thats
about it. I just need the light because its very dark back there and
those steps can not be seen in the dark and I have fallen several
times on them, which is what made me buy this useless security light.

Note, however, that X-10 in complex systems with multiple panels (especially
multiple buildings with their own main feeds), or with very long
circuits may not work well or at all, because the transmitter might
not be strong enough to transmit that far, or through that much
intervening equipment (especially pole transformers). Otherwise,
there'd be madness in a society where everybody's X-10 transmitters
controlled everybody else's receivers.

The remote type say they transmit 100 feet. If I click the thing in
my hand about 30 feet away, thats about when I want the light to come
on. That security light can come on at 20 feet, or it waits until I
am right at the streps before coming on. Yet, a cat or wild critter
makes it go one and off all night long. Rain, snow, or wind moving
tree branches makes it come on and often stay on. Yet, when I want it
to stay on, it wont. To be perfectly honest, I'd like to take a
hammer to it, but I'll just return it.

Thanks for the advice.