I want to replace some aging flood light fixtures on the outside of my
home. I bought some motion-sensing flood light fixtures and went to
swap them out, but I discovered that the electrical boxes are too
small. The mounting screws in the boxes are spaced roughly 2-3/4"
apart, whereas the screw holes in the cover plate for the new fixtures
are ~3-1/2" apart. They are also oriented differently: the two holes
in the box are in the lower left and upper right, whereas the holes in
the fixture are in the lower right and upper left.

What are my options for attachiing these things? Is there some sort of
adapter ring that will allow the new fixtures to attach to the old
boxes? Is there a better solution?

Your kind advice is most appreciated.

"Robert Higgins" wrote in message
...
I want to replace some aging flood light fixtures on the outside of my
home. I bought some motion-sensing flood light fixtures and went to
swap them out, but I discovered that the electrical boxes are too
small. The mounting screws in the boxes are spaced roughly 2-3/4"
apart, whereas the screw holes in the cover plate for the new fixtures
are ~3-1/2" apart. They are also oriented differently: the two holes
in the box are in the lower left and upper right, whereas the holes in
the fixture are in the lower right and upper left.

What are my options for attachiing these things? Is there some sort of
adapter ring that will allow the new fixtures to attach to the old
boxes? Is there a better solution?

Your kind advice is most appreciated.


It sounds like the existing box is a 3" round, or a 3" round extension
cover on a 4" square box, and the new fixture is made to mount to a 4" round
box only. Those are the only types of electrical boxes that orient their
mounting screws on a diagonal. Most fixtures are designed to mount to a
variety of boxes, so I would recommend returning the ones you got and
replacing them with something a little more universal. Typical motion
detector flood sets use a bar with a threaded hole in the center. The bar
will screw to any standard electrical box, and the center screw holds the
fixture canopy to the bar.

On Oct 10, 9:11*pm, "RBM" wrote:
"Robert Higgins" wrote in message

...

I want to replace some aging flood light fixtures on the outside of my
home. I bought some motion-sensing flood light fixtures and went to
swap them out, but I discovered that the electrical boxes are too
small. The mounting screws in the boxes are spaced roughly 2-3/4"
apart, whereas the screw holes in the cover plate for the new fixtures
are ~3-1/2" apart. They are also oriented differently: the two holes
in the box are in the lower left and upper right, whereas the holes in
the fixture are in the lower right and upper left.

What are my options for attachiing these things? Is there some sort of
adapter ring that will allow the new fixtures to attach to the old
boxes? Is there a better solution?

Your kind advice is most appreciated.

It sounds like the existing box is a 3" round, or a 3" round *extension
cover on a 4" square box, and the new fixture is made to mount to a 4" round
box only. Those are the only types of electrical boxes that orient their
mounting screws on a diagonal. Most fixtures are designed to mount to a
variety of boxes, so I would recommend returning the ones you got and
replacing them with something a little more universal. Typical motion
detector flood sets use a bar with a threaded hole in the center. The bar
will screw to any standard electrical box, and the center screw holds the
fixture canopy to the bar.

There are adapter plates available in aomost any reasonable sized
hardware store.

"hr(bob) " wrote in message
...
On Oct 10, 9:11 pm, "RBM" wrote:
"Robert Higgins" wrote in message

...

I want to replace some aging flood light fixtures on the outside of my
home. I bought some motion-sensing flood light fixtures and went to
swap them out, but I discovered that the electrical boxes are too
small. The mounting screws in the boxes are spaced roughly 2-3/4"
apart, whereas the screw holes in the cover plate for the new fixtures
are ~3-1/2" apart. They are also oriented differently: the two holes
in the box are in the lower left and upper right, whereas the holes in
the fixture are in the lower right and upper left.

What are my options for attachiing these things? Is there some sort of
adapter ring that will allow the new fixtures to attach to the old
boxes? Is there a better solution?

Your kind advice is most appreciated.

It sounds like the existing box is a 3" round, or a 3" round extension
cover on a 4" square box, and the new fixture is made to mount to a 4"
round
box only. Those are the only types of electrical boxes that orient their
mounting screws on a diagonal. Most fixtures are designed to mount to a
variety of boxes, so I would recommend returning the ones you got and
replacing them with something a little more universal. Typical motion
detector flood sets use a bar with a threaded hole in the center. The bar
will screw to any standard electrical box, and the center screw holds the
fixture canopy to the bar.

There are adapter plates available in aomost any reasonable sized
hardware store.

I have never seen an adaptor plate that goes from a 3" box to a 4" box.

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:21:09 -0700 (PDT), in alt.home.repair "hr(bob)
" wrote:

There are adapter plates available in aomost any reasonable sized
hardware store.

I searched on homedepot.com and couldn't find anything that looked
like it would work.

I also searched there for a motion-sensing flood light cover plate
that would fit the smaller box, but they all seemed to be the large
size like I already have.

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:11:18 -0400, in alt.home.repair "RBM"
wrote:

It sounds like the existing box is a 3" round, or a 3" round extension
cover on a 4" square box, and the new fixture is made to mount to a 4" round
box only. Those are the only types of electrical boxes that orient their
mounting screws on a diagonal. Most fixtures are designed to mount to a
variety of boxes, so I would recommend returning the ones you got and
replacing them with something a little more universal.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. These are Leviton units with
built-in X-10 transmitters so that when one motion sensor is tripped
all of the light fixtures come on, and they all stay on as long as any
one of them senses motion. It's not likely I'll find a replacement
with the same feature at any local store.

Typical motion
detector flood sets use a bar with a threaded hole in the center. The bar
will screw to any standard electrical box, and the center screw holds the
fixture canopy to the bar.

I would be happy to buy the bar and the matching cover plate and
transfer the two lamp holders and the motion sensor over to it. Know
any place that sells them? Worst case I could buy an entire cheapie
fixture and just swap out the motion sensor unit, but that would be
wasteful...

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 20:53:54 -0700, Robert Higgins
wrote:

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 19:21:09 -0700 (PDT), in alt.home.repair "hr(bob)
" wrote:

There are adapter plates available in aomost any reasonable sized
hardware store.

I searched on homedepot.com and couldn't find anything that looked
like it would work.

I also searched there for a motion-sensing flood light cover plate
that would fit the smaller box, but they all seemed to be the large
size like I already have.

On Sun, 10 Oct 2010 22:11:18 -0400, in alt.home.repair "RBM"
wrote:

It sounds like the existing box is a 3" round, or a 3" round extension
cover on a 4" square box, and the new fixture is made to mount to a 4"
round
box only. Those are the only types of electrical boxes that orient their
mounting screws on a diagonal. Most fixtures are designed to mount to a
variety of boxes, so I would recommend returning the ones you got and
replacing them with something a little more universal.

Unfortunately it's not that simple. These are Leviton units with
built-in X-10 transmitters so that when one motion sensor is tripped
all of the light fixtures come on, and they all stay on as long as any
one of them senses motion. It's not likely I'll find a replacement
with the same feature at any local store.

Typical motion
detector flood sets use a bar with a threaded hole in the center. The bar
will screw to any standard electrical box, and the center screw holds the
fixture canopy to the bar.

I would be happy to buy the bar and the matching cover plate and
transfer the two lamp holders and the motion sensor over to it. Know
any place that sells them? Worst case I could buy an entire cheapie
fixture and just swap out the motion sensor unit, but that would be
wasteful...


You need this one

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053


That plate will only work if he has a gem box, but he describes the screws
as being at a diagonal. Those are also a pia to use with motion detectors.
There's just not enough space between the holes. I bought a universal cover
, Rab CU4, from HD a few years ago, and I just used it on Friday. Damn thing
was so sweet, I'm buying more on my next trip. I couldn't find it on the
Depot website but here is a link to one:
http://www.prolighting.com/rabcu4unmopl.html

"Robert Higgins" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:05:40 -0400, in alt.home.repair
wrote:

You need this one

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

You appear to have missed the part where I said the boxes are round.

Did you read the specs at the prolight site? It says it fits round boxes. ww

On Oct 10, 8:11*pm, Robert Higgins wrote:
I want to replace some aging flood light fixtures on the outside of my
home. I bought some motion-sensing flood light fixtures and went to
swap them out, but I discovered that the electrical boxes are too
small. The mounting screws in the boxes are spaced roughly 2-3/4"
apart, whereas the screw holes in the cover plate for the new fixtures
are ~3-1/2" apart. They are also oriented differently: the two holes
in the box are in the lower left and upper right, whereas the holes in
the fixture are in the lower right and upper left.

What are my options for attachiing these things? Is there some sort of
adapter ring that will allow the new fixtures to attach to the old
boxes? Is there a better solution?

Your kind advice is most appreciated.

There are adapter plates that look almost like coarse strainers, with
threaded holes and slots that you can use to go to almost any size
fixture with almost any size electrical box. I don;t know what their
technical name is, but I have used them several times in owning 4
different houses of varying ages whan I wanted to change a fixture.
You mount the adapter to the box using the slots to get the right
orientation of the adapter, after putting mounting screws in
whichever threaded holes will line up with the new fixture. Easiest
thing in the world to do.

On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:10:23 -0600, in alt.home.repair "WW"
wrote:


"Robert Higgins" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:05:40 -0400, in alt.home.repair
wrote:

You need this one

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

You appear to have missed the part where I said the boxes are round.

Did you read the specs at the prolight site? It says it fits round boxes. ww

Even assuming the hole spacing is correct, it would leave the
rectangular plate at a 45 degree angle WRT the ground. Not the most
aesthetically pleasing solution.