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Motion sensor light stays on all the time?

I installed a motion sensing light in my horse barn on the inside, with the sensor pointing straight down so when the wife walks in at night, she can see where she's going.

Problem is, the light stays on all the time, regardless of light/dark. I noticed that instead of turning off, the lights dim, but don't turn off completely. When I walk under the light and trip the sensor, the light gets to full brightness again.

Here is my set up....

I have a 14-2 power wire coming in, black, white, bare ground.

The lights (2) each have one black and one white wire.

The motion sensor itself has a black, a white, and a red wire.

All the white wires are connected, the 14-2, motion sensor and the 2 lights.

The black wire from the motion sensor is hooked up to the 14-2 black wire.

The black wires from the lights are connected to the red wire from the motion sensor.

What's wrong with this set up?

Update:

Settings were tested at max and min ranges, photocell covered, on TEST timer.

5 Answers

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  • Jingo
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    The Heath/Zenith brand light I installed yesterday has this feature. The bulb is dim until motion is sensed then the bulb lights bright.

    To have the light on or off only, set the on-time switch to test and set the dusk to dawn switch to off.

  • iceman
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    Most of the motion sensor lights have at least 2 adjustment, for distance and sensitivity, it could be that the sensitivity is set too high.

  • Brian
    Lv 6
    1 decade ago

    Its in the settings on the light itself. My motion lights will do the same thing but I have to change the settings from always on to a time on. It should be in the manual for the lights how to change them.

  • 4 years ago

    Heath Zenith 5100

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  • 1 decade ago

    try shutting it off for a few minutes , some come with built in circuit boards that react to power surges and when they don't know what to do they do weird things

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