I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at the end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent. So, I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white, and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right ?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then 14/2 will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the "switched" side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied together, but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!


James

On 10/17/2010 9:34 PM, James Nipper wrote:
I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at the end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent. So, I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white, and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right ?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then 14/2 will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the "switched" side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied together, but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!

James


Well James, of course you cut the power off first. The black wire is the
hot wire, the white is the neutral and the green or bare copper is the
ground wire. On most photo controls, power is fed into the black wire
and the red wire hooks to the black wire to the light fixture. Black in,
red out. The white wires all hook together and any green wire hooks to
other green wires and the bare copper ground wire.

TDD

Hi,
If I were you, I'd rather try to make the sensor a part of the Sign
fixture making it easy to replace when and if needed rather than
splicing it into exposed wires comping out of ground.

The Daring Dufas wrote:
On 10/17/2010 9:34 PM, James Nipper wrote:
I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at
the end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent.
So, I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white, and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right ?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then
14/2 will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the
"switched" side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied
together, but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!

James


Well James, of course you cut the power off first. The black wire is the
hot wire, the white is the neutral and the green or bare copper is the
ground wire. On most photo controls, power is fed into the black wire
and the red wire hooks to the black wire to the light fixture. Black in,
red out. The white wires all hook together and any green wire hooks to
other green wires and the bare copper ground wire.

TDD

On 10/17/2010 7:34 PM James Nipper spake thus:

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red, white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was
known as the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot.
Is that still true ?

Yep, still true. Black = incoming hot, red = switched hot, white = neutral.

The sensors used with motion-activated lights use the exact same
color-coding scheme.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)

"James Nipper" wrote in message
...
I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at the
end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent. So,
I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white,
and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right
?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known
as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then 14/2
will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the "switched"
side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied together,
but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong
plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!


James


Connect it just as TDD describes, but also attach the ground to the box. If
you want to connect a receptacle, it would get wired the same as the sign.
The hot on the receptacle is the brass screw and the neutral is the chrome
screw. The hot side of the outlet is the smaller slot. If you do use a
receptacle outside, it should be a GFCI type

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:34:52 -0400, "James Nipper"
wrote:

...
Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??



No one answered this so:

White to the silver screw.
Black to the brass/'gold' screw.
Green to the ground pin.

Easy to remember: "Wide is white" One of the two pins will be wider
than the other. This wide pin is the neutral (white) wire.

On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:16:09 -0500, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 10/17/2010 9:34 PM, James Nipper wrote:
I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at the end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent. So, I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white, and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right ?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then 14/2 will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the "switched" side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied together, but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!

James


Well James, of course you cut the power off first. The black wire is the
hot wire, the white is the neutral and the green or bare copper is the
ground wire. On most photo controls, power is fed into the black wire
and the red wire hooks to the black wire to the light fixture. Black in,
red out. The white wires all hook together and any green wire hooks to
other green wires and the bare copper ground wire.

TDD

As above with all bare/green wires together with a 6" pigtail from the
group wirenut to the green screw on the box. Make your pigtail from
a green wire or strip a 6" peice of white or black bare and use it.

There are special geen wire nuts you can use that have a hole in the
top, leave one wire 6" long, let it stick out the hole in the top of
the wire nut and run it to the ground screw.

Randy

Thank You,
Randy

Remove 333 from email address to reply.

On 10/19/2010 8:35 AM, Randy wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:16:09 -0500, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 10/17/2010 9:34 PM, James Nipper wrote:
I am trying to add a photoelectric sensor to a 120 vac sign light at the end
of my driveway. In effect, I am splicing in the sensor into a 14/2 uf
underground cable, at the point where it comes out of the ground.

My problem is the color coding of the wires, and the very ambiguous
instructions that came with the sensor. Also, I have not wired any 120v
device for so long, I have really forgotten the color code convention, if
there is one. I say this because I tried to Google my way to an answer
before posting this query, and the results I get are not consistent. So, I
really need someone's help here with what should be a simple problem.

The 14/2 uf cable has the traditional three wires. A black and white, and
an unshielded copper wire which I know is ground. So far so good, right ?

Now for the sensor. Yes, a very simple device. Has three wires.... a
red,
white, and black. At one time, I thought that the black wire was known as
the ac hot; the red wire was known as the "switched" ac hot. Is that
still true ? So, if this is true with respect to this sensor, then the
white wire on the sensor must be ground, right ?


Understand that I am putting the sensor in a waterproof box. So, I will
have 14/2 uf wire going into the box, through the sensor, and then 14/2 will
exit the box, and power the sign light. But , how should I connect the
wires ??

On the sensor, the wire designations are Red/load , White/ neutral,
and Black/line.

It would "seem" to me that inside the box, all of the black wires (3)
should
be connected together. This would constitute the ac hot line, unswitched.
But from this point, I get mixed up.... how do I connect the "switched" side
of the ac line, and how are the grounds tied together (what combination?)
I know that the two unshielded wires on the uf should be tied together, but
should I also combine the white wire from the sensor ? (On the sensor, it
is identified as the neutral).


I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



Last question... if I wire a 14/2 to a grounded ac plug ( 3 prong plug)
how do you decide which side of the plug the black wire goes to and the
white wire goes to ?? Although the 14/2 carries its own ground wire,
isn't there still a safety point to have the current carrying wires
connected in a standardized way ??


I know these are all very green questions, but of course I want to do
this
right, and I want to do it myself.

Can someone here help me with this please ??

Thank you very much !!

James


Well James, of course you cut the power off first. The black wire is the
hot wire, the white is the neutral and the green or bare copper is the
ground wire. On most photo controls, power is fed into the black wire
and the red wire hooks to the black wire to the light fixture. Black in,
red out. The white wires all hook together and any green wire hooks to
other green wires and the bare copper ground wire.

TDD

As above with all bare/green wires together with a 6" pigtail from the
group wirenut to the green screw on the box. Make your pigtail from
a green wire or strip a 6" peice of white or black bare and use it.

There are special geen wire nuts you can use that have a hole in the
top, leave one wire 6" long, let it stick out the hole in the top of
the wire nut and run it to the ground screw.

Randy


I would be using a plastic box outside. 8-)

TDD

Thanks so much for all of you who responded !! I think that I can get it
done right, but if I have a further question I will come back here...

Nice group !!

James

On 10/20/2010 8:18 AM, Randy wrote:

I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



As above with all bare/green wires together with a 6" pigtail from the
group wirenut to the green screw on the box. Make your pigtail from
a green wire or strip a 6" peice of white or black bare and use it.

There are special geen wire nuts you can use that have a hole in the
top, leave one wire 6" long, let it stick out the hole in the top of
the wire nut and run it to the ground screw.

Randy


I would be using a plastic box outside. 8-)

TDD

See the top quoted paragraph. You had mentioned a box with a ground
screw. Plastic boxes do not get grounded. Although somewhere in
this counrty there is more than likely a wing nut inspector who
requires it.

Thank You,
Randy

It wasn't me, it was the one armed man. Believe it or not, I've seen
plastic boxes with a spot for a ground screw. Perhaps just a convenient
place to keep a bare ground from hanging loose.

TDD

I have two related questions.... Inside the box in which I will put the
sensor, there is a ground screw. So, instead of putting all grounds
together with a wire nut, should they instead go to this ground screw ?



As above with all bare/green wires together with a 6" pigtail from the
group wirenut to the green screw on the box. Make your pigtail from
a green wire or strip a 6" peice of white or black bare and use it.

There are special geen wire nuts you can use that have a hole in the
top, leave one wire 6" long, let it stick out the hole in the top of
the wire nut and run it to the ground screw.

Randy


I would be using a plastic box outside. 8-)

TDD

See the top quoted paragraph. You had mentioned a box with a ground
screw. Plastic boxes do not get grounded. Although somewhere in
this counrty there is more than likely a wing nut inspector who
requires it.

Thank You,
Randy

Remove 333 from email address to reply.

Well, I got it wired and it works great !! Thanks to the help here, I am
sure that I did it right, and it is safe. All responses were helpful and
appreciated, and the comment that helped the most was "black in, red out"
with respect to the sensor.

It is a metal enclosure, so I used one of those wirenuts with the hole at
the top (as someone here said), and let the bare copper pigtail go out the
top, and fastened that under the green ground screw in the box.

Thanks again everyone !!

James

On 10/22/2010 5:25 PM, James Nipper wrote:
Well, I got it wired and it works great !! Thanks to the help here, I am
sure that I did it right, and it is safe. All responses were helpful and
appreciated, and the comment that helped the most was "black in, red out"
with respect to the sensor.

It is a metal enclosure, so I used one of those wirenuts with the hole at
the top (as someone here said), and let the bare copper pigtail go out the
top, and fastened that under the green ground screw in the box.

Thanks again everyone !!

James


No problem James, glad to share my experience since I've already burned
up thousands of dollars worth of equipment. 8-)

TDD