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View Full Version : Help w/ wiring 4 dusk 2 dawn sensor


gregm65
01-26-05, 06:38 AM
I have a light switch that controls two lights...the porch light and a flood light over the driveway. (I believe the floodlight was added) It had a dusk 2 dawn photosensor installed at flood light fixture that quit working after several years. (The photosensor simultaneously turned off or on BOTH lights) I cannot figure out how to properly install the new dusk 2 dawn switch...everything it seems I've tried does not work. (Like an idiot, I did not make notes of how it was previously wired :wall: ) Here is the wiring at the flood light: -I have a black, white, & copper (bare) wire coming from house. -The floodlight has a black and white wire. -The photosensor has a red, black, and white wire. I tried wiring all 3 white together, along with black from house and photosensor together, red from photosensor and black from floodlight together, and copper (bare) to a screw in box. When I turn it on, the porch light is semi-bright, but the flood light is just barely on...very dim. (I am almost positive that the bare wire was previously connected to other wiring...not to a screw.) I have tried wiring w/o the sensor...black 2 black; white 2 white; bare wire w/ the whites....then flood light works, but porch light doesn't. Also w/o sensor, I've tried white 2 white, black 2 black, and bare wire to screw...result= dim flood light and semi-bright porch light. I know it works when wired correctly...it did for many years. I'm a rookie and confused :confused: ....plz help :thinker: !!

Scotaku
01-29-05, 04:32 AM
I cannot be certain, but it sounds as if the dusk 2 dawn photosensor on your floodlight has developed an internal short which is interrupting the whole circuit instead of just the lamp it is attached to. You described the unwanted behavior of both the floodlight and porch light being controlled when it "quit" working... which is ironic because I'm looking for something that does that very thing. ;)