Flooolight keeps turning on because of wind.

[mm]

My outdoor motion-activate floodlight keeps turning on because of the wind. Every ten minutes sometimes. Every hour at other times. Is this likely to lessen when it gets warmer??

(It's about 25 at night these days.)

It has 3 settings for sensitivity, and it's set to low.

Maybe the previous floodlight did this too -- do you think so? -- but I didn't know about it. This one has a radio-connected beeper in the house that beeps when the light goes on. (It would turn on a lamp too if one were plugged int.

This is the floodlight I can't reach with a ladder, but next time I have to lower it from the inside, can I make it less sensitive by putting tape over part of the the 1x2.5 inch window that looks for motion? Knowing that I won't be able to do this more often than eery two years or more, where would you put the tape, in the middle, at one edge? How much of it would you cover?

Thabks a lot.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Motion detectors are more sensitive in cold weather. Mine does the same on cold nights if it is windy.

I'm not sure that the tape is a good thing because it will reduce the sensitivity in warm weather. Taping the sides will reduce the field of vision. That is OK if a tree branch is the culprit and you can take it out of the view. You are correcting for something that happens maybe 10 or 15 nights a year that has consequences for the other 350 nights too, so do so with care.

[Van Chocstraw]

Mine only goes on with body heat. People, cats, racoons, you name it but not wind, not snow flakes, not wind, not rain, not cold.

[Phisherman]

ONe of mine does the same thing when we have windy days. I have mine set on hi sensitivity so I just turn it off during those times. I had to experiment with it to get it just right, adjusting the controls and pointing the light in various directions. You might want to get another brand--they are inexpensive and the local police say they do somewhat help with security.

[terry]

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We have two such fixrures. After dusk;

The one over the garage door seems to react mainly to 'warm' bodies. A person getting out of car at say 15-20 feet. A vehicle backing up at or coming in head first at say 10 feet. Rarely if ever triggers to motion but is some 15 feet from, at this time of year, nearest leafless tree.

The similar one at end of house seems to trigger much more frequently but mainly on windy nights. It is some 5 feet (or less) from more numerous leafless tree branches.

For info: Cheers

PS. They were fairly cheap fixtures; on sale at around $16.

[Jim]

[ransley]

There are cheap and expensive units, better ones detect both heat and motion seperately to not false read on branches blowing around in wind

[Ed Pawlowski]

Good for you. Wind can carry waves of heat and it can move branches that have a different heat load than the bare ground or air.

[mm]

Thanks everyone. That's what I paid, 15 dollars. Maybe I should have paid more. But not only was I going to save 25 dollars, it had this beeper that would tell me when the light went on. I'd never seen that before.

BTW, it works perfectly when I walk in front of it, or even to the side. It says it has 210 degree coverage. But it's mounted against a wall so I can't test that. It does have 180 degrees it seems.

And mouting 22 feet high without a ladder, from the ground and the inside of the attic worked well.

[Van Chocstraw]

They should put all the city street lights on motion detectors. Why have them on when nobody is around which is most of the night after midnight. Save taxpayers bundles of money.

[Tony]

I had a similar problem with a cheap unit. The wind was shaking the lamps and the whole unit so it "looked" like the whole view was moving but it was the cheap fixture moving in the wind. Armed with screws, super glue and caulking I stiffened it up enough so that only the windiest weather would set it off.

[Ed Pawlowski]

II did see many years ago where sections of highway would be controlled by motion detectors. Then oil got cheap again and I never saw the idea again. It would turn on the lights at some distance ahead of you. Included in that should be parking lot lights where no one is parked. Incredible how many locations of closed businesses are well lit all night. Makes no sense at all.

[dpb]

Crime prevention/detection/avoidance???

[mm]

Yeah, I think that's what is doing it. Especially the waves of comparitive-heat, but I'll go outside and look some more.

[mm]

Next time I'll go out and look for that. Or when it's windy during the daytime. Maybe I didn't tighten the nut holding the sensor on enough. And if it's the screws attaching it to the wall, I can still tighten them from inside the attic. I'll use binoculars.

My other floodlight, a name brand, behind my bed also goes on once in a while. It doesnt' beep but I don't think it's nearly as often.

The one in this thread is from Cooper Lighting. MS269R. I should have said that first.

[Stepfann King]

You need to turn off the wind at your house.

[Tony]

Also amazing what percentage of that light is going into the sky instead of to the road or parking lot. With reflectors they can focus the light and use less lumens, and less electric.

[Ed Pawlowski]

It has been shown that much of the lighting we have does not good at all for crime prevention. If a parking lot is 5 acres and has motion detectors, the light will still go on where the people that are attempting to do bad things are hiding.

Almost three years ago four additional stores were built at a nearby shopping center in town. They are still vacant. The lights, however, are on

24/7 all those years. I'd have to bet that one fixture in each would give enough light for a police patrol to see anyone hiding in the empty building. Especailly during the day.

[RobertPatrick]

mm wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Animals are triggering the lights.

[Tony]

Only when it is windy?