Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both exactly
like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Few days ago they had a power 'cut'. Seems like the power went off for a
very short time, neighbours alarm went off briefly, video etc needed re
setting.

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had switched
to manual override. Light at the back (150w) stayed in auto mode.

Switching off & back on the front light put it back to auto mode.

Both lights are the same make, same PIR, same controls, same instructions.

Can't work out why the 500w light threw a wobbly, but the 150w didn't?

Problem sorted, but I'd like to know.......


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On 2007-11-24 23:11:11 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both exactly
like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Sheerness?


Few days ago they had a power 'cut'. Seems like the power went off for a
very short time, neighbours alarm went off briefly, video etc needed re
setting.

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had switched
to manual override. Light at the back (150w) stayed in auto mode.

Switching off & back on the front light put it back to auto mode.

Both lights are the same make, same PIR, same controls, same instructions.

Can't work out why the 500w light threw a wobbly, but the 150w didn't?

Problem sorted, but I'd like to know.......

Different switch-on load affecting the poorly designed controller?

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-24 23:11:11 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both
exactly like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Sheerness?

There is remote rural & wilderness matey.

Not sure Sheerness actually has electricity yet, running water is a recent
inovation.

Few days ago they had a power 'cut'. Seems like the power went off
for a very short time, neighbours alarm went off briefly, video etc
needed re setting.

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had
switched to manual override. Light at the back (150w) stayed in
auto mode. Switching off & back on the front light put it back to auto
mode.

Both lights are the same make, same PIR, same controls, same
instructions. Can't work out why the 500w light threw a wobbly, but the
150w
didn't? Problem sorted, but I'd like to know.......

Different switch-on load affecting the poorly designed controller?

Both B&Q's finest so anything is possible. Whats that mean then?



--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:27:04 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-24 23:11:11 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both
exactly like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Sheerness?

There is remote rural & wilderness matey.

And then there's Milton Regis.


--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had switched
to manual override.

It might be a security "feature" - it's not unheard of for thieves to
pull the main fuse of a property with an external meter cupboard.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both exactly
like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Few days ago they had a power 'cut'. Seems like the power went off for a
very short time, neighbours alarm went off briefly, video etc needed re
setting.

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had switched
to manual override. Light at the back (150w) stayed in auto mode.

Switching off & back on the front light put it back to auto mode.

Both lights are the same make, same PIR, same controls, same instructions.

Can't work out why the 500w light threw a wobbly, but the 150w didn't?

Problem sorted, but I'd like to know.......


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The front one was noticed so the customer was playing with the on/off switch
before you got there?
They might have done the same to the one at the back, but left it off
longer.

On 25 Nov, 00:11, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both exactly
like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Few days ago they had a power 'cut'. Seems like the power went off for a
very short time, neighbours alarm went off briefly, video etc needed re
setting.

Security light on the front (500w) stayed on all the time, it had switched
to manual override. Light at the back (150w) stayed in auto mode.

Switching off & back on the front light put it back to auto mode.

Both lights are the same make, same PIR, same controls, same instructions.

Can't work out why the 500w light threw a wobbly, but the 150w didn't?

Problem sorted, but I'd like to know.......

--
Dave - The Medway Handymanwww.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

What is the sequence for setting it to permanently on? Usually it's
something like turn it off then back on within n seconds. But n won't
be particularly accurate, so maybe the power glitch was just the right
length of time to turn one permanently on but not enough to do the
same for the other.

Chris

Bob Eager wrote:
On Sat, 24 Nov 2007 23:27:04 UTC, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-24 23:11:11 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Changed two security lights for a customer a few weeks ago, both
exactly like for like. Fairly remote rural location.

Sheerness?

There is remote rural & wilderness matey.

And then there's Milton Regis.

Steady Bob. On the map it says 'here be dragons'.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On 25 Nov, 01:48, wrote:
What is the sequence for setting it to permanently on? Usually it's
something like turn it off then back on within n seconds. But n won't
be particularly accurate, so maybe the power glitch was just the right
length of time to turn one permanently on but not enough to do the
same for the other.

Exactly what I was going to say. Expecting two lights to behave the
same way in these circumstances is unreasonable. The off-on delay for
the manual override is probably set by a crude analogue CR time
constant, likely to vary significantly between samples. It was just
bad luck that the power failed for a time which was within the set
delay for one light but not for the other. In my opinion the manual
override facility is far too prone to leave the light on by mistake,
and I would rather not have it at all.

Richard.
http://www.rtrussell.co.uk/
To reply by email change 'news' to my forename.

Richard Russell wrote:
On 25 Nov, 01:48, wrote:
What is the sequence for setting it to permanently on? Usually it's
something like turn it off then back on within n seconds. But n won't
be particularly accurate, so maybe the power glitch was just the right
length of time to turn one permanently on but not enough to do the
same for the other.

Exactly what I was going to say. Expecting two lights to behave the
same way in these circumstances is unreasonable. The off-on delay for
the manual override is probably set by a crude analogue CR time
constant, likely to vary significantly between samples. It was just
bad luck that the power failed for a time which was within the set
delay for one light but not for the other. In my opinion the manual
override facility is far too prone to leave the light on by mistake,
and I would rather not have it at all.

There are several different PIR controller chips around. The older ones
have that one-blip feature that will leave them on permanently after a
brief dropout. I recently bought one that requires tightly specified
double-blip ritual, and even then, will turn itself off at daybreak.



--
Ian White