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Posted by Mike Ryan on January 21, 2007, 10:27 pm
>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>Mike Ryan wrote:
>>>> Is it normal for falling snow to make a motion sensor turn the light
>>>> on, or do I just have a crappy sensor? It stayed on almost all night
>>>> from the falling snow until I finally shut it off completely. I just
>>>> bought and installed this unit a few weeks ago, so it's going back to
>>>> the store if it's just this particular brand or model. I bought this
>>>> thing to save electricity, not waste more.
>>>
>>>
>>>Does it have a sensitivity adjustment?
>>>If so, adjust it.
>>>If not, you could get one that does.
>>
>> There are 2 adjustments. Distance and Time.
>> I know the time only affects how long it stays on.
>>
>> I dont believe the distance one would be considered sensitivity, but I
>> will try changing it. The manual is not very useful or detailed.
>
>
>Distance = sensitivity.
>
>The snow may not be causing the light to come on. Motion detectors work by
>detecting a change in heat, and since snow is the same temperature as the
>air, or very nearly so, something else is causing the light to go on. Maybe
>gusts of wind are picking up warm(er) air from near a window or door, or the
>sensor can "see" across the street and it is picking up cars. As someone
>else stated, motion sensors are much more sensitive in the winter than the
>summer. In the summer it may appear that it is not working at all, if you
>want to detect a person. (the body temperature being close to that of the
>ambient air)
>
>Keep in mind too, that motion sensors are most sensitive when the motion
>they're looking for is -across- their field of view. If the motion is
>towards or away from the detector, it isn't nearly as sensitive.
>
It always worked good until last night. There are no cars, this is a
rural area and it's pointed into my back yard on my shed. Normally
the only time it went on was when I walked up to the shed, but a few
times I saw it go on from my cat or from wild animals. I know that's
normal, and I have the time set to only about one minute of on time.
Last night I could not sleep because it stayed on for hours until I
finally got dressed and went out into the cold to shut the darn thing
off. It was snowing heavily. I do agree they more sensitive in
winter. Last week we had severe cold and it did not come on at all
when I went to the shed to grab firewood. Thats the main reason for
this light, so I can see what I am doing when I go for firewood at
night. I also noticed that when it was extremely cold, that switching
the switch on and off quickly did NOT keep the thing lit like it's
supposed to do. I know it was pissing me off because I was trying to
stack some wood and the light kept going off. I even thought at that
time that I may have to install the second light so it's just on a
switch so I can keep it turned on when I want it. The fixture is made
for TWO bulbs. I only have a bulb in one of them. I dont need two.
I dont see why I cant run a switched wire directly to the second one,
and disconnect it from the sensor. That "stay on" feature dont work
very well. But then I'm pretty much back to where I was in the first
place, I have to make an extra trip back to the shed to shut off the
light after all the firewood is hauled in the house. If I shut off the
light before I leave with the wood, I am likely to trip on something
and fall on my butt like I used to do before I installed the light.
I'm starting to think these lights are not as good as the advertising
for them. They are not very reliable....
Now that the snow stopped I cant really mess with the adjustment so
the snow dont activate it....
If it wasn't so darn far to dig, I think I'd just run extra wires to
the shed and put a 3 way switch in the house, and take this toy back
to the store.
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