Strange electrical problem, outdoor motion light and indoor ceiling fan switch

May 15, 2004 5 Replies
O

I'm still scratching my head trying to figure this one out. I have a motion detection light outdoors on the back deck, just off the living room, the switch is just inside the door. The living room also has a ceiling fan on the same circuit. The ceiling fan switch is on the other side of the room.



When I change settings on the ceiling fan it toggles the motion detector light off or on.



I would guess that the CF switch is somehow interrupting the power to the rest of the circuit briefly, enough time to act as if the outside lights switch were toggled off then on.



Does it sound like a defective fan switch? Outside fixture is new.



Thanks, Mike


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T

It's putting a noise spike on the line and getting picked up by the motion detector's circuitry.

Probably the easiest solution is to try to get a motion detector that's less of a piece of s*it.

Maybe a noise suppressor on the fan.

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O

Any suggestions for a better MD light. How does one determine a POS motion detector? Seems like all the one's I've ever seen are Heath/Zenith. From what I've read here, it seems like they change their circuitry on a monthly basis.

Thanks, Mike

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T

That would be an interesting feat considering heath has been out of business for over ten years.

Spend more than $15 for the thing and you should be OK. Most of the ones that aren't extreme junk have RFI suppression circuitry to prevent exactly the kind of false alarms you're experiencing.

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O

So the fixture that I just bought last week by Hampton Bay uses a ten year old sensor by a company that's out of business. Somehow I don't think so. Maybe they were bought or merged or something. But the outside of the box clearly states "Motion Sensor provided by Heath/Zenith". There are tons of light and doorbell products in home depot, lowes, target, etc. That's one heck of a backstock of inventory!

Google comes up with 34,000 hits.

Will look to see if my store sells anything that is NOT Heath Zenith.

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J

-snip-

I'm not sure if Desa is the manufacturer or the distributor, but they seem to the only people that carry Heath/Zenith online.

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Unfortunately they don't have a retailer in my area other than Home Depot and Lowes & neither of them stock the SL4100 motion detector that I've decided I want. [It's a Dual Brite motion detector that sits between the lamp & post]

Jim

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