I bought 2 motion sensor lights today to replace some very old motion sensor lights on either side of my garage that never worked.
I have no idea wire these together so that they will come on simultaneously. My end goal would be that any motion would trip both lights to come on at the same time, and both lights would be on throughout the night on the dusk til dawn feature. (Both lights are identical motion sensor lights bought from home depot.) The old lights were twin lights, with a motion sensor eye installed on top of the left side light. After expositing the left side, it had 2 black and 1 white wire inside the box. The right side exposed had 1 black and 1 white wire.
I have no light switch to control these lights. So I guess there is continuous current which I like. I pulled off the old lights and cant get past the initial white to white and black to black. The motion lights have a black, white, and RED in each of them (and ground).
Does anyone know wire these together??
I put white/white, black/black and black/red on the master side (left side of garage. And I put black/black/red and white/white (and also cut the whites that were merged together in the fixture by a clamp and wired them together to the white.) So 3 whites together on the slave side (right side of garage) Im not sure if I was supposed to undo those merged whites in the slave side, but the instructions said to do so...or atleast I thought thats what it was saying. Very confusing and terrible instructions IMO.
I will add that when I wired that mess together and flipped the breaker on, both lights came on together without motion. So I figured I did it all wrong because it seemed I bypassed the sensor function. I then unhooked them, capped them and here I am.
Thanks in advance, Im terrible with electricity! lol
p.s The red wire in the fixture was labelled not to use unless wiring the lights together (which is my goal)
p.s
Welcome to the forums !
For both sensors to control both lights simultaneously .......you'll need three wires between units.
The red will be used as common switching.
Welcome to the forums!
Without a wiring diagram I have to make a few guesses here, so if this doesn't work, I will need you to post it, or at least the light manufacturer and model.
All the whites should be tied together. You will do no switching with the white wires.
The red wire is the load side of the motion sensor. It is used to turn on additional lights when the sensor detects motion. As designed, you can only use one motion sensor. You may be able to parallel more than one sensor, but that will take some rewiring and for sure a diagram. (or picture of the wires of the light)
You will connect the hot coming into the first light to the black of the light. The red will connect to the black going to the 2nd light. The 2nd light will just have the black connect to the black. The red will be left alone. As mentioned above, just tie the white together.
thanks guys,
Tolyn, so your saying connect as usual, except the red from light 1 will connect to the 2nd black wire of box 1 and then on light 2 leave the red capped and hook up black to black and white to white, correct? Sounds easy enough,
but am I to cut the already attached whites in each light in order to add to the box white? (so there would be 3 white connected total - 2 from light, 1 from box)
Its confusing why they'd connect the 2 whites inside the light to each other. It looks machine clamped together, I apologize for my lack of knowledge on the terminology,
the lights are made by heath zenith. The online instructional video shows nothing about the red wire, only the white to white and black to black. I've already installed the light at front door (non motion) and it was quite simple, but throwing in sensors on each side of the garage is throwing me.
and to clarify further,
the lights came with the following in each:
-3 white wires (2 attached and 1 loose)
-2 black wires loose
-2 red wires (1 loose and 1 with warning tags only to use for joining lights)
-1 ground
My left side box has:
-1 white wire loose
-2 black wires loose
-1 ground wrapped up inside it
My right side box has:
-1 white wire loose
-1 black wire loose
-1 ground wrapped up inside it.
You need to check the box with one white wire and two black wires.
If this wiring is in conduit then it could be correct.
If you have two cables to that box..... romex or metal clad.....then you must have two whites and two blacks. The wires are in pairs.
I drew the motion lights wiring. All the white wires associated with the motion light assembly are neutral. The single black wire supplies power to the motion switch. The red wire is the switched 120 volts out from the sensor and it goes to both lamp holders.
You can parallel two of these motion sensors since the output line (red) is relay controlled.
So in looking at the diagram......you need three wires between units.
Red to red, black to black and white to white.
thanks for putting in the time to draw a pic PJmax, but I mustve described it wrong. Both lights are sensor lights, the sensor isnt seperate from the lights. Im going to take some pics right now and i'll post them. THanks
Wow, I just took pics and uploaded them to my computer but it wont let me attach them to a post. So infuriating. I have a mac, is this forum not compatible with mac uploads? any ideas?
So infuriating. I have a mac, is this forum not compatible with mac uploads? any ideas?
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html
I understand what you have. The diagram just shows how it's wired.
Picture that diagram I drew but times two.
file://localhost/Users/BrentMarie/Desktop/leftbox_zpsc7fae25d.jpg.html 2.webloc[/img]
Ok.....you have a single lamp motion sensor. Look at my diagram and picture it with only one lamp. Same exact wiring only one lamp.
Ok, so on light 1 (left side) i hooked up black to black, white to white and the red to the other black. It works great.
On light 2 I hooked white to white and black to black. and capped the red.
Flipped the breaker and they both worked...it seemed. The lights are those 2 way dimmer lights so from dusk until dawn its low light and when the motion sensor is tripped its bright.
FOr some reason the right side light is working independantly and the dusk til dawn light isnt working on it, when I turn off the dusk til dawn feature and walk near the lights they both turn on via the motion sensor but they arent at the exact same time, the right side comes on just after the left one. Anyone know what is going on with these lights?
That's the best it's going to get unless you add a third switching wire.
why wouldnt light 2 work on the dusk til dawn feature? it only works as a sensor, after the minute it turns off,
left side fully works, right side half works,
thanks again for the help with all this,
I believe it's because you have the feed going to one of the lights and then you are using that fixture's red switched line to run the other fixture.
sorry, i dont know what a third wire switch is
very frustrating.
each light has 2 buttons. 1 of them goes from 'test, 1 min, 3 min, 5 min' the other button goes from '3 hours, 6 hours, dusk til dawn'
I have them both set to '1 min' and 'dusk til dawn'
I think its obvious that the motion sensor wire isnt controlling both lights. only the first. The 2nd light is totally independant.
i walk away and the first lights dusk/dawn feature works, then the 2nd light turns off. I walk up to the 2nd light and it flicks on for a minute. Looks like i'll be taking these back.
All I wanted was both to work simultaneously on dusk/dawn and when the motion sensor is tripped to both go on bright. If the lights cant do that then I dont really need them. Im way to ocd to have lights turning on and off at different times lol.
All I wanted was both to work simultaneously on dusk/dawn and when the motion sensor is tripped to both go on bright.
Yes that's what you said and I posted that three wires would be required between units.
Tags: motion, sensors, together, motion sensor, black black, dusk dawn, white white, black white, left side, right side, white wire, black black white, black black white white, black white white
