I recently just replaced the fixture on our post light and installed a new dusk to dawn sensor and bulb. I turned the power back on and the light came on and went off after about 10 seconds, but then 10 seconds later it came back on and then went off again. At this point it was overcast so I decided to wait until it was dark to try it again. I turned the power back on and the light seemed to stay on, and as far as I know was on all night. This morning I checked it again and it was going on and off again. It was still cloudy so I'm not sure how it would behave in direct sunlight. Could I have wired something wrong or could it be a faulty sensor?

For reference here is what I bought

Fixture: Hampton Bay 1-Light Black Outdoor Lamp-HB7026P-05 - The Home Depot

Photo Cell: https://www.lowes.com/pd/TORK-Photoc...tton/999910549

Bulb: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Any help would be appreciated. I'm not sure where to start.

 

Check the settings & clean the sensor.

 

Thanks for the reply. What do you mean by the settings? Also, by clean the sensor do you just mean the glass on the eye?

 

Yes, clean the eye & see if there is a sensitivity adjustment. If there is a test mode like there is on motion detectors, make sure that it's not in test mode.

 

I'll try cleaning the eye tonight. But there isn't any settings that I can see on the photo cell. It's just a black box with the eye and a nut to hold it on. Unless it's inside the casing.

 

Read the papers that came with the light.

 

The light or the photo cell?

 

Photo cell.
________
________

 

The instructions for the photo cell have a line in their troubleshooting indicating "Lamp switched ON & OFF during the day, but stays on all night. -->Line and lamp leads may be reversed - switch them around." This would suggest you have the red lead from the photo cell connected to the black power in and the black lead on the photo cell connected to the lamp. Check the wiring diagram and compare to your work. Also make sure that the sensor has a clear view of outside lighting conditions without being affected by the lighting of the lamp it controls.

http://www.nsiindustries.com/UserFil...000.Series.pdf

- Peter

 

Thanks! I will take a look when I get home. Thinking back now I bet I know exactly what happened now. The first wire nuts I used were too small small and kept popping off so maybe I switched the wires when I re-attached them.

 

So I switched the Red and Black wires and it's still turning on and off during the day. I didn't even try it at night to see if it stayed on this time. I didn't have a lot of time to mess with it. I guess I'm going to have to start from scratch and completely remove the photocell and light figure and re-wire everything again.

 

You could try a new photocell.

 

I'm looking at some wiring diagrams. It looks like i should have 3 wires connecting to one nut on the white wire. I don't recall any of the nuts having 3 wires connecting. Could this cause this problem? But all I did was switch out an older cell and connected it the exact same way. Unfortunately, it's supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so it will be a couple days until I can get out there again and look.

 

The photocell has a neutral based on your product link. Does it in reality have a white? There should be a neutral from the house, white from the light, and a white from the photocell.

If the photocell does not have a white wire try using a regular incandescent bulb instead of the CFL.

 

Yes, There is a white, black and red wire on the photocell.

 

Just to verify:

At the light:

• White from the house, white from the light, white from the photocell connected together.
• Black from house connected to black from photocell.
• Black from light to red of photocell.
• No other wires at light but grounds.

Is there a switch at the house?

 

Well, the good news is that I got the wiring fixed! I'm not sure what I had wrong so I just uninstalled the light and the sensor and started over. Now it is working correctly.

Now my problem is that the holes in the new base don't line up with the hold ones so I'm going to have to drill new holes for the screws . But I'm getting closer to finally getting this done! (Hopefully)