Andy,
Thanks for your feedback.
With respect to the manual, the light was on the house when the house was purchased (a few years ago). I don't think there is a manual but I'll try for one online.
In trying to economize on electricity, my friend put a CFL into the light fixture and the light stopped working correctly. When I took a look at it, I changed the light back to an incandescent and it seems to be working (I adjusted the settings a little). Unfortunately, I can not tell if it is triggering on false positives all night or not It seems to trigger off and on in the evening but it is hard to determine, why? (could be a neighbor cat or a damaged circuit).
I was hoping to figure out a way to test the darn thing to see if it is functioning correctly.
Incidentally, the device appears to trigger when I approach it but not consistently (which is why I question the functionality).
Frank P.
--- In Electronics_101@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Mathison \(Alice\)" <mathison@...> wrote:
>
> A friend of mine has a few outdoor motion sensor activated lights (for
> example, at her front door), and seems to be having trouble with them.
>
> 1)Is there an easy way to test the sensor/light? I have tried turning it on
> at the light switch (inside the house) and going out the door. When I do
> this, it seems to work properly, but we are unsure that it is working
> correctly all night. Does it come on for no reason? Sometimes it doesn't
> seem to activate until you're really close to the door.
> Is there some way to test the light functionality?
> A. Usually there are several controls under the unit, you need to read the
> instructions first to see what they do. Some have a "daylight" program for
> helping with setting up, some have a timer to set how long it goes on for,
> set this to the shortest period when setting up. Setting "how dark it must
> be" is a fiddle. The manual is a must really...
>
> 2) Also, in the light fixture at her front door, she put in a CFL bulb at
> one time and the light was having trouble functioning. Is it recommended
> that a CFL not be using in a motion sensor activated light fixture?
> I have read online that it may or may not be alright. Don't know?
> A. Some of the Triacs used in such units (usually cheap ones) are simply not
> man enough for the job of starting any CFL as the CFL take a heavy charge of
> current at switch on time, that can overload and destroy the Triac within a
> week or two...if not instantly.
>
> 3) I would like to make sure the front door, motion sensor light is working
> correctly without camping out in front of front door. ;-)
> A. As I said before, there is usually a setup method detailed in the manual,
> if the manual has been disposed of look online and/or ask the shop for a
> photocopy.....
>
> Any input or feedback would be appreciated.
>
> Frank P.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Andy
>
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