PIR Security light behaving oddly

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6 Dec 2006
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Hi folks - hope someone can shed some light on this...posted in here rather than electrics as I figured this is more down to PIR switches and how they work.

We've got a security light in our carport thats started behaving oddly.

Basically the light won't turn off - we noticed it 2 weeks ago when we got back from a wedding - the light was on but after it's 'lit duration' was up it tried to turn off but kept coming back on again (turns off for a split second but then turns on again). I figured the light was bust so off I went to screwfix and replaced it with one of these...

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/60221...ghting/Asymetric-120W-Graphite-PIR-Floodlight

This light is also refusing to turn off - it stays on at reduced power (almost like dusk to dawn lighting) even though it's not meant to have this feature (it's only meant to be active from dusk to dawn but not on permanently). When you trigger the PIR it comes on at full power for the desired duration but then instead of turning off drops back down to half power or whatever again.

I know the issue with the original light wasn't the photocell picking up on the light as it was not flicking on and off when the PIR was being triggered - only when it was meant to be off.

Can anyone shed any light on why these PIR switches are behaving like this - could it be down to a lack of power at the light (cabling issue etc.?) that's not providing enough power to the switch? The setup has been in place and worked fine for years...
 
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according to your link the light does have high low settings on it so is working properly

I assume you are referring to the bit where it says dimmable?

I had assumed that meant when the light was triggered - do you mean the dimmer will control the continuous light output from dawn-dusk - lowest setting on the dimmer being off, highest at 60% light output?
 
yes it is like a dusk till dawn light untill the pir triggers an then it becomes a floodlight for the duration of the time on period then it reverts back to a dusk till dawn light again
 
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Thanks - instructions that came with the unit (as ever) as clear as mud - they just refer to adjusting the output of the light!

Unit seems to be operating as intended now I've dropped the dimmer to minimum so many thanks!
 

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