Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to change
today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security lights - they seem
dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else obliterated) -
White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On position.

Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the house to check
the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow gave
230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N (blanked off the
yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I couldn't check the switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual feature
found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3 core & E to
allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the PIR. The yellow
seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if necessary.

Any thoughts?



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

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:07:09 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to change
today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security lights - they
seem dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else obliterated) -
White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On position.

Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the house to
check the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow gave
230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N (blanked off
the yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I couldn't check the
switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual
feature found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3 core
& E to allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the PIR. The
yellow seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if
necessary.



There's nothing too odd about this arrangement. It looks as if the PIR is
a 3-wire one, with white being the switch output. Switching yellow to red
bypasses the PIR contact to force the lamp on manually. What you have
done will work fine, but doesn't have this remote override facility (at
present, anyway!).

--
Mick (Working in a M$-free zone!)
Web: http://www.nascom.info http://mixpix.batcave.net

Hi Dave
Sounds like you got the right idea, the early lights had a 4 way connector
block to facilitate bypass in fact MK made a switch to do just that being
labelled AUTO / MAN

As you say brown is live Blue Neutral and yellow switched live BUT from your
post you say you got 230v across brown & blue plus 230v across brown &
yellow this suggests switched neutral which (although wrong) would work if
wired differently.

Recommend you look at the switch in the house before trying to connect the
yellow wire.

HTH

CJ

"mick" wrote in message
.uk...
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:07:09 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to change
today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security lights - they
seem dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else obliterated) -
White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On position.

Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the house to
check the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow gave
230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N (blanked off
the yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I couldn't check the
switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual
feature found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3 core
& E to allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the PIR. The
yellow seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if
necessary.



There's nothing too odd about this arrangement. It looks as if the PIR is
a 3-wire one, with white being the switch output. Switching yellow to red
bypasses the PIR contact to force the lamp on manually. What you have
done will work fine, but doesn't have this remote override facility (at
present, anyway!).



Yes, but don't the recent ones latch on if you switch off and on
quickly? isn't that what Dave meant by the auto/manual feature?

--
Graham

%Profound_observation%

Graham. wrote:
"mick" wrote in message
.uk...
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:07:09 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to
change today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security
lights - they seem dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else
obliterated) - White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On
position. Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the
house
to check the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow
gave 230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N
(blanked off the yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I
couldn't check the switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual
feature found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3
core & E to allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the
PIR. The yellow seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if
necessary.



There's nothing too odd about this arrangement. It looks as if the
PIR is a 3-wire one, with white being the switch output. Switching
yellow to red bypasses the PIR contact to force the lamp on
manually. What you have done will work fine, but doesn't have this
remote override facility (at present, anyway!).



Yes, but don't the recent ones latch on if you switch off and on
quickly? isn't that what Dave meant by the auto/manual feature?

Indeed they do, thats exactly what I meant. From the instructions; On/Off
within 2 seconds by passes the PIR & leaves the light on all the time.
Off/On greater tha 10 seconds resets the PIR.


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

cj wrote:
Hi Dave
Sounds like you got the right idea, the early lights had a 4 way
connector block to facilitate bypass in fact MK made a switch to do
just that being labelled AUTO / MAN

As you say brown is live Blue Neutral and yellow switched live BUT
from your post you say you got 230v across brown & blue plus 230v
across brown & yellow this suggests switched neutral which (although
wrong) would work if wired differently.

Recommend you look at the switch in the house before trying to
connect the yellow wire.

I blanked off the yellow with a chocky block.


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

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
Graham. wrote:
"mick" wrote in message
.uk...
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:07:09 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to
change today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security
lights - they seem dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else
obliterated) - White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On
position. Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the
house
to check the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow
gave 230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N
(blanked off the yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I
couldn't check the switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual
feature found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3
core & E to allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the
PIR. The yellow seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if
necessary.



There's nothing too odd about this arrangement. It looks as if the
PIR is a 3-wire one, with white being the switch output. Switching
yellow to red bypasses the PIR contact to force the lamp on
manually. What you have done will work fine, but doesn't have this
remote override facility (at present, anyway!).



Yes, but don't the recent ones latch on if you switch off and on
quickly? isn't that what Dave meant by the auto/manual feature?

Indeed they do, thats exactly what I meant. From the instructions;
On/Off within 2 seconds by passes the PIR & leaves the light on all the
time. Off/On greater tha 10 seconds resets the PIR.



You will probably need to swap the red and yellow cables (ie choc block the
red) to allow for manual override and then leave the switch in the on
position until an overide is needed.

The obliterated part of the label was probably a "max wattage for the slave"
Adam

The Medway Handyman wrote :
Graham. wrote:
"mick" wrote in message
.uk...
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:07:09 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to
change today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security
lights - they seem dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else
obliterated) - White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Switch inside the house operated the light. It was in the On
position. Customer (a regular) had gone out, so I couldn't get into the
house
to check the switch (I could turn the circuit off in the garage).

Multi meter between the red & blue gave 230v & between red & yellow
gave 230v.

The new light only had the facility to wire in L, N & E.

Wired up the new light using the red as L and the blue as N
(blanked off the yellow) and all works exactly as it should, but I
couldn't check the switch.

I'm assuming the old light was 'old' and didn't have the auto/manual
feature found on 'modern' security lights, so had been wired with 3
core & E to allow it to be switched on permanently, overriding the
PIR. The yellow seems as though it would achieve that.

Going back tomorrow for some more work, so I can re wire it if
necessary.



There's nothing too odd about this arrangement. It looks as if the
PIR is a 3-wire one, with white being the switch output. Switching
yellow to red bypasses the PIR contact to force the lamp on
manually. What you have done will work fine, but doesn't have this
remote override facility (at present, anyway!).



Yes, but don't the recent ones latch on if you switch off and on
quickly? isn't that what Dave meant by the auto/manual feature?

Indeed they do, thats exactly what I meant. From the instructions; On/Off
within 2 seconds by passes the PIR & leaves the light on all the time. Off/On
greater tha 10 seconds resets the PIR.

They stay on until the next dawn, then go back to normal PIR operation
- avoids you leaving them on 24/7.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

The Medway Handyman brought next idea :
Came across a strange wiring set up on a security light I had to change
today. Not seen it before & I change a lot of security lights - they seem
dreadfully unreliable

Wired with 3 core + E cable, red, blue. yellow cores.

Old light was wired as follows;

Red - Brown to PIR.
Blue - Blue to PIR & White to Lamp
Yellow tagged "Warning Slave & Override (& something else obliterated) -
White to PIR & White to Lamp.

Put a choc block on the red to insulate it and use the yellow for the
live. That way you can use the switch to disable the light, or a quick
off plus back on forces it to stay on until the next dawn.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk