Wiring a light sensor

[ustaad]

Hello i have bought a stand alone pir sensor for my bathroom light(MINISUN Motion sensor) I would like to know how to wire this sensor to the ceiling light.( I assume i will have to drill a hole in the ceiling and drop a cable and connect to circuit the sensor then light) I have the instructions but im not great with identifying the correct wires. can someone please tell me how to identify the live and neutral, and the wire with tape around it, usually red, what does this mean? many thank in advance. p.s I allways switch off MCB and test

 

[Taylortwocities]

How do you want / expect the set up to work?

How will the existing light switch come into play?

Also, please describe what connections you have at the light itself. There are many ways that this could have been wired. A photo might help. Please see forum information on how to do this.

 

[ustaad]

thanks for your reply, i will try to upload some pics, at the moment i have a pull cord switch in the bathroom which i want to remove and i want the light to activate with sensor only, if it helps the pull cord switch has only 3 wires connected(twin & earth)

 

[ustaad]

Hello again, I promised some pics but its too late now, as i have replaced all the fittings .... but anyhow I think i now know what the problem is....my initial impression was that this sensor will be like my porch one i installed, straight forward, which was wall mounted and replaced the existing on/off switch, but now i have realized that this sensor is not the same as it requires a 'Neutral' wire! so im not sure on how to do this, today after switching off the relevant MCB, i had the ceiling light dismantled to see what was going on, I have a bulk head florescent light operated with a rather noisy pull cord switch...Now, what do i see in terms of the wiring in the ceiling..I see 3 REDS hooked up together, 2 BLACKs together, Then 1 single black with red tape sleeve...on the switch end, 1 RED, 1 BLACK with red tape sleeve and then earth.....The sensor has 3 terminals....L.....N....A, from this detailed description, do you think you can guide me to install this senor? your help will be much appreciated....and finally i want to get rid of the pull cord switch all together, so the light will only function via the senor, hope this helps

 

[Taylortwocities]

OK

So you need to remove the pull switch. Remove its cable all teh way back to the light itself.

In addition to the earth there will be one red that goes with the other reds, and a black and that should be the one that has the red tape on it.

So disconnect all that (with the power OFF of course!)

So, now you will need a length of 3core and earth cable.
This will connect as follows

Brown to L on the PIR. At the light connect to the two reds that are hooked together. This is the permanent live.
Grey to N on the PIR. At the light connect this to the two blacks. This will be the neutral.
Black to the switched output from the PIR. I guess this is "A"?? But I have never seen a Minisun PIR. At teh light end this will go to the terminal that had the black with the red sleeve on it. This is the switched live.

The earth conductor connects to earth at the light and to an earth terminal on the PIR, if there is one. Otherwise terminate the end in a bit of choc block.

Also you must sleeve the wires as follows:

Brown, leave as it is
Black needs a bit of brown sleev on it
Grey needs blue sleeving
The earth needs a bit of green&yellow sleeve.

That should do it.

 

[ustaad]

Thanks for your reply, with your clear description, I am now rather excited to get this done once completed i shall let you know.....then same project in hallway landing, this maybe a bit more trickier as it has dual switch control....i.e upstairs & downstairs on/off switch.

 

[ustaad]

Upon following your step by step instructions, before stripping back any cables i did a dummy run which worked first time , now i have hooked it up correctly, all works well and i am a Happy Chappy Many thanks for your guidance, next project,.......... Hallway sensor

 

[Taylortwocities]

Happy to help. Don't forget to use the

Untitled

• Taylortwocities
• 9 Sep 2009
• 34

button.

It's fun!

 

[ustaad]

Hello again,

I have now installed a second stand alone PIR in the Hallway, all works but the lights tend to switch on/off during night? the light switch has been disconnected as i only want the lights to work via the senor,the hallway switch is dual way, so what i have done is taken out the cables from the on/off switch upstairs and covered them with insulation tape (Individually) but the left all cables connected in the switch downstairs, could this be the problem? I have also cleaned the sensor and checked for any bugs etc and also reset the MCB, Can you make any suggestions? Many thanks

 

[jtonline]

The passive infrared (PIR) sensor detects changes of infrared energy through the Fresnel lens on the front face of the unit. A PIR not only detects movement of the human body, but also other temperature changes within its detection zone.

To reduce false activations of the connected load, avoid locating the unit where windows and reflective surfaces, draughts or heat sources such as radiators are within the detection zone.

Different PIR's have different detection zone patterns e.g. 360° view or narrow beam. It's usually possible to cover some areas of the lens with insulating tape or similar in order to reduce range or otherwise alter the detection zone to reduce false activation issues by blocking out some of its view of infrared sources.

Some PIR detectors require two, three or four activation pulses from the sensor before they trigger.